Cousins. (original) (raw)

When growing up, I treasured the friendship of cousins -- especially Dan and Gloria Lamb.

Conveniently, Gloria and I were the same age, graduating in the Robert E. Lee class of '52, in Baytown, and we were close friends, as our mothers were.

But kids will be kids, and at times Gloria and Dan liked to tease this overly sensitive only kid. When I was about 4 years old, one such incident concerned a watermelon seed. We three were munching out on the watermelon in our backyard when I swallowed a seed. "Uh-oh," the cousins warned. "A big watermelon is going to grow inside you."

Frantic, I rushed inside the house where our mothers were visiting and, between sobs, managed to tell what Dan and Gloria said. First, the mothers suggested I stop crying. Next, I could rest assured that a watermelon would not grow inside me. Dan and Gloria were just teasing.

I quit crying then.

Of course, they were just teasing. What are cousins for.

(To this day, however, I'm mighty careful about swallowing a watermelon seed.)

A happier memory revolved around - literally -- a coconut cake when Gloria and I were in the 8th grade.

We went to the annual Baytown Junior High Festival, where we noticed people gathering around in a circle for a cake walk. We decided to join them, walking around and around in the circle until the music stopped.

All eyes were on the prize, a large, luscious, three-layer coconut cake. Can't remember whether Gloria or I won the cake, but that didn't matter. She was spending the night at our house, so we claimed joint ownership. We walked several blocks from the festival to where I lived on Maryland Street, carefully carrying the cake. Now, that's what you call a cake walk!

While I lived in Old Baytown and went to BJH, Gloria was a Goose Creek girl and attended Horace Mann Junior High. She also went to Memorial Baptist Church in Goose Creek and invited me several times to her Sunday school class. (Goose Creek is now part of consolidated Baytown.)

Neither of us will forget the trip to Alto Frio with a church group, staying in a cabin on the Frio River, attending the Baptist encampment and enjoying the splendid scenery

But every good trip contains at least one bad moment, and mine was a close encounter with a scorpion. As we were standing around, visiting with friends outside our cabin, Laurence Bourge interrupted the socializing with a sudden command, aimed directly at me. "Do not move. Be perfectly still."

Before I could say "Huh?" he knocked a scorpion off my skirt.

A rather comical incident -- regarding someone who lacks common horse sense -- occurred at Garner State Park. Gloria galloped away on horseback while someone (guess who) remained motionless on a horse that would not budge. I hadn't been that still since the scorpion skirmish.

I kept telling the horse to "Giddy-up" but apparently he didn't know what I was talking about. I finally left the scene - on foot - and waited for Gloria to return from Happy Trails.

She wanted to know where I had been.

Well, as a matter of fact - nowhere.

©

Wanda Orton Baytown Sun Columnist
"Wandering" September 9, 2018 column