I hoped she was lost in some other memory when she told us this because the reality was too horrible to believe.

For a brief time my family lived in Louisiana; this is where my mother was originally from. I do not remember the trip out there, I know my father wasn't with us at first; I think this was another instance where my mother ran off. The first place we lived was with my great grand mother, Granny and I think my grandfather PawPaw lived there, too. It was a little old house full of sunlight and away from the crowded noise I was used to in Pasadena. I was six years old and would attend my first and only little red school house just like the one you saw on Little House on the Prairie! I made some friends, learned what a poisonous spit was (grasshopper) and had my first experience with Down's Syndrome. There was this sweet little girl (I can say this now as an adult) that kept wanting to hold my hand at church. She looked different and acted different and she scared me so I cried and clung to my mother who shamed me for my actions instead of explaining to me how special everyone is no matter what their circumstance. I only have one bad memory at Granny's and it involved a kitten; my little sister and I found a sweet orange kitten and fed it some milk. Granny through a fit and put the kitten in a sack and threw it in the pond or so she said that is what she did with it. Granny didn't always seem to be in her best mind and would wonder off in her recollections so I hoped she was lost in some other memory when she told us this because the reality was too horrible to believe. My little sister and I seemed to get into a lot of trouble at Granny's but I chalk it up to just being curious kids who didn't have all the facts. One time we decided we wanted some baby chicks and had learned about incubation at school so we grabbed some eggs from the fridge and put them in the grill; we figured the sun made it nice and toasty in there so the eggs would soon hatch. We forgot about them and instead of baby chicks we had a whooping because of the mess and smell the eggs made when they finally burst open. Another time we decided we wanted to gather all the toads that lived around Granny's house; we found an empty box and started our toad collection. I think we gathered about 40 or more toads that evening and when it was time to come in we left the box, with the toads in it, by the kitchen door. That night when PawPaw came home he inadvertently knocked the box over unaware that it was full of toads; he had to use the toilet so he didn't bother to pick up the box and close the door as he had more important things to attend to. My sister and I were already in bed but were startled awake by a lot of hollering going on in the kitchen. I got up sleepy eyed to find my PawPaw gathering up the the toads that had escaped into the house; thankfully my PawPaw had a sense of humor and we didn't get in a lot of trouble just a talking to. It was my understanding that PawPaw told that story to anyone who would listen, up until the day he died.