Letters from Papaw
39 letters, most recent first.
- Wednesday, July 22Was hunting a stamp in the junk drawer yesterday and pulled the whole thing out on the floor. My hands did that — got tired of holding the…
- Tuesday, July 21I'll say something now I've been chewing on all week and haven't put words to.
- Monday, July 20Neighbor's boy — grandson, I mean — come up the drive yesterday afternoon selling something for school. Popcorn, I think it was. Catalog in…
- Sunday, July 19One of the grandkids sent me a picture two nights ago. Little girl at the kitchen table at her mama's house, coloring something, tongue…
- Saturday, July 18Going to tell you something I have not told a soul.
- Friday, July 17Before light. Kitchen linoleum cool under my feet, that yellow patch by the stove I've been meaning to replace since '92.
- Thursday, July 16Ran into town yesterday for a box of screws. Fella behind the hardware counter — same one's been back there years, knows what I need before…
- Tuesday, July 14I'm going to say this plain and I'm only going to say it the once.
- Monday, July 13I'll admit something. There was a fella at the gas station off the highway last month I was short with. Filling the Ford, radio going to…
- Saturday, July 11Yesterday the heat had Hank flat all day. Wouldn't eat till near dark. Just laid on the cool of the floor and watched me move around him.
- Friday, July 10Went hunting a flashlight in the cabinet under the TV last night and put my hand on Ruth's church directory from '02. Hadn't seen it in…
- Thursday, July 9I'm going to tell you a thing I've carried fifty-some years and never put down for anybody to see.
- Monday, July 6Went out to the shed this morning to hang a rake back on the wall and there was the outline on the pegboard where the reciprocating saw…
- Saturday, July 4Went into the drawer for a book of stamps and put my hand on my time card from the mill. Not the last one — one from the middle years, '84…
- Thursday, July 2Listen to me.
- Wednesday, July 1Pulled a photograph out of the drawer this morning looking for a fuse. Ruth on the back steps, summer of I don't know when, holding a dish…
- Tuesday, June 30I was looking for the long screwdriver, the one with the yellow handle. Wasn't on the pegboard where its outline says it ought to be. I…
- Monday, June 29The neighbor's grandson came to the door about an hour ago. Skinny boy, maybe twelve, holding a paper bag full of candy bars and a…
- Sunday, June 28Listen to me, because I'm only going to say it the once.
- Saturday, June 27I went looking for the registration on the Ford last night. Glove box. Drawer in the kitchen. The folder I keep with the truck papers.…
- Friday, June 26Would have been forty-five years this week, me and Ruth.
- Thursday, June 25Saw an obituary in last Sunday's paper for a fella I sat next to in tenth grade algebra. Stood at the counter and read it twice.
- Wednesday, June 24Read in the paper they're widening the road into town. Two lanes to four. Going to take a year and a half they say, which means three.
- Tuesday, June 23I'll tell you something I've been chewing on since yesterday.
- Monday, June 22Listen.
- Sunday, June 21Spent twenty minutes hunting for my glasses this morning. Tore up the kitchen. Looked in the truck. Came back in and Hank gave me the look…
- Saturday, June 20Earl brought the saw back. Eighteen months. Set it on the porch step and said, "There. Don't say I never gave you nothing."
- Friday, June 19Found my time card from the mill in there. Don't know how it ended up in a kitchen drawer. It belongs in the shed if it belongs anywhere.…
- Thursday, June 18Earl came by to borrow the long extension cord and stayed three hours. Sat on the porch step the way he does. Talked about his back, the…
- Wednesday, June 17Went out to the shed looking for the small wrench. Found Wendell's tackle box instead. Sat down on the floor with it.