On the way between the beach and the mountains and back, we would stop at the old home place in TyTy, Georgia. Grandma and Grampa Williams’ big two-story frame house was always there waiting for us. They had an old, blind horse named Jake. Jake had been a fire horse until he went blind. His back was as broad as a table, and we kids could just sit up there and ride. He was very gentle and always went very slow, because he couldn’t see where he was going, so it was safe for us. We spent many happy hours riding Jake around the farmyard.
Grandma also had chickens. On chicken butchering day, she would catch a chicken, hold it by its neck, and whip it around quickly to wring its neck. She let me try one, but after I whipped it around and dropped it like she showed me, it just hopped up and ran off. I never tried that again.
One day we were out in the yard with Grandma when Rose, the cook, came calmly out and said to Grandma, “Miss Kaaatie, Miss Kaaatie, the house is on fire.” Everyone ran for water, but a spark from the kitchen fire had gotten onto the roof. The kitchen was a lean-to on the back of the house. The house was saved, but the kitchen and the shed out back burned to the ground.
Miss Maude was the town busybody. She lived on the corner across the street from the old home place. She had a cow, but not much lawn for the cow to graze. She had permission to stake out her cow on our grass. She would come over occasionally to move the cow from place to place and linger under our windows, listening.