"It's
The Rock Steady Boogie..
Bahoo
Bahoo Bahooba."
Donnis, Lois, &"Old White"
There is an old tale
told of the existence of a doppleganger
which is suppose to
be another "you", roaming around
somewhere in the
world. I guess one could assume a
"split apart at
birth" occurs. Well if there is aany truth to
this tale then
my "doppleganger" was Lois Marie Davison,
also known as
"Runt" and "Loismree", all one word. But my
doppleganger wasn't
roaming around in the world somewhere,
she was as much
a part of my daily life as I was. In truth it
was my "first
cousin", but different than cousins of today.
The Cousin Connection
has lost some of it's properties along
the way.
It's just not the same as I remember, but then Lois
wasn't like anyone
I remember. What she did, I did. What
she knew, I knew.
It seems every dream, idea, or mission
accomplished was
a joint effort.
THIS
WAS OF COURSE, AFTER BUBBA HAD SHED
The
Pecking Order/Generic Boob Job
She was older than me, and this had it's perks and privileges.
It
was never questioned or challenged. It was the undisputed
"Pecking
Order." If we were going to see-saw, she got her
choice
of the end of the plank. If we were jumping rope, she
was
first jumper, and Juanita , her younger sister and I held
the
rope. This isn't to say we didn't sometimes hold that rope
as
"high" as we could in futile attempts to make her "miss." If
we
played school, she was the teacher. I believed she knew
everything.
She was the "pipeline" between the grownups,
the
almost grownups, and us, who really were grownup, but
it
just hadn't come to anyones attention yet. And she passed
all
this wonderful, juicy knowledge on to me. It seemed as
tho
we shared every aspect of our existence. If there was
to
be a day, there was to be a "Lois and me."
The Pecking Order
Front left to right:
Juanita, Donnis. Lois Center:
Roy, Sonny, Willie
Back:
Wanda(Kee-Kee) and Helen
I remember playhouses etched out in the dirt and acting
out
our life's plan with the man of our dreams. Cowboys were
the
rage then, and we had such hunks as Roy Rogers, Tom Mix,
Rex
Allen, and of course the dark eyed mysterious man with
a
whip called "Las LaRue." He was my choice of partners,
but
this was held secret, because Lois got to pick first.
These
little episodes of discovery and acting out life paled in
comparison
to "generic Boob Job", which was soon to follow.
Oh
we were unstoppable!
I
haven't the faintest notion what possessed us to determine
that
we should enhance our anatomy on that day. Perhaps we
had
waited so long for this wonderful thing to happen,
this
boob thing, and maybe Mother Nature needed some help.
And
oh we would be so generously endowed!! All in one day.
Our
"implants" were carefully chosen plums picked and
strategically
placed under our blouses, and we were off to
Omega
Baptist Church, with everything in tow.
Church was a big part of our lives in those days. I can still
see
Mrs. Blanche Manning, or rather her backside, as it eased
over
the piano stool where she pounded out old hymns.
And
I remember her dresses. They were starched and ironed
so
neat, they could have come to church without her.
Our grand scheme of things was to make our grand entrance
with
all this" new development" in place, becoming the envy of every
young
girl, and the wanton desire of every young boy present..
Upon
reflection, neither of us were mentally retarded, thaT
we
knew of, we had no outward physical disabilities,
and
didn't uncontrollably drool on ourselves.
But
this must surely have been a sign of minimal brain damage.
HOW could we believe we could get past her Mother
,
Aunt Ethel Mae, and convince anyone we had suddenly and
miraculously
evolved from "The Young and The Breastless"?
And
all in one day?
It's a hard fact to face, but I think I was the most severely
brain
damaged, because I thought the only reason anyone knew they were
fake
was because one of mine fell out!
And
it seemed to roll and roll forever before finally stopping.
The "switching" we got from Aunt Ethel Mae
drew
to an end our "coming out" planned for the Church Service.
And
to add insult to injury she gave us a switching
with
a switch from the same tree from which
OUR
HOOTERS had come.
And while on the subject of Aunt Ethel Mae...all of Lois's
feisty
and energetic nature I feel sure came from Aunt Ethel Mae.
She
had a "perpetual motion" personality which drew you to her.
Call
it gift of gab, conversation magic, gossip, whatever, whenever
she
was around, there was movement. There was life. She and
Aunt
Jewel both possessed the same "show of affection" personality.
If
you were coming to see them, the'd run half way down the lane
to
meet you. Here is a story told so well by Aunt Lillian, the
Great
Teller of Stories..on Other People.
"Rumor somehow mistakenly got out that Grandpa had died,
when
in fact he was very much alive and hard at work.
But
Aunt Ethel Mae heard this terrible news in town and came
running
down the lane to Grandpa's house, believing her daddy
to
be dead and laying in state.
"Where's
my daddy?" she cried, overwhelmed with grief.
"Where's
my daddy?"
Now
Grandma had not heard the rumor, and was shocked at
Aunt
Ethel Mae's wailing, and simply yelled, "Well good grief, he's
down
in the potato bin!"
A
distraught Aunt Ethel Mae, still believing her daddy to be
dead
cried, "Oh Lord, what have yall got him in there for?"
To
know her was
to simply be around her. There were no
hidden
emotions with her. If she was happy she laughed out loud.
If
she was sad she cried the same way.
If
she loved you , you knew it...and I did.
Clutching these traits handed down by her Mother,
Lois
was not just a dreamer. She was a planner!
"...and
we dreamed of cities where we would live one day,
But
did you even notice, when I went away?"
This
girl at this very early age had her unborn children named.
She
was the most energetic, entertaining, imaginative,
curious/nosy,
bossiest, sharp tongued mass of human matter
ever
conceived. SHE WAS A COMMITTEE OF ONE.
Lois and Willie
But
for all that Lois was, her twin brother, Willie was not.
To
me, there was no stopping Lois, while Willie didn't seem to
want
to bother with even getting started. Willie could have gone
thru
life oblivious to a C or D average, and an open fly, while
sister
Lois, would have straight A"s and a good start on an ulcer.
But
it seemed without her, Willie would just cease to be.
And
she loved him. She loved him with a deep forever lasting love
that
carried them all thru childhood, adulthood, and now
rests
with Willie, and lives on in Lois's heart.
We
miss you Widdlelee.
Lois had the ability to make things happen, while I was
still
following along, content with letting things happen. With little
effort at all
she
could convince me to faithfully follow her,
when
she would try to lose me in the woods.
Of
course not "literally" lose me, but looking back I feel we
probably
did try to lose her little sister Juanita, also known as
Marthy,
Wuneeter, and one more tag, better left unsaid.
It
was an on going task trying to hide from Nita, we would
drag
a quilt into tall grass,
so
we could look at "True Story" magazines. If we
couldn't
successfully sneak one from the house,
Lois
could almost recite the stories. Verbatim.
I
had some questions about these stories!
In
all the forbidden (to us) stories, which she could manage
to
smuggle out and read, or commit to memory, we were always
led
up to wild passion and swept away on a tide of desire right
up
to where the waves came crashing to the shore!
Always
the waves crashing! " Where did the waves come from? " I wondered.
And
then...always, without fail, it would say..."later I cried."
Why
did they cry? From the waves hitting them?
I
don't remember her explanation for this, or if I even dared to ask,
I
just figured it was gonna take more than water and waves to make
me cry!
And
The Rock Steady Boogie.....
It
was in our "True Story" hideout where she would do
something
that just messed with my mind. There was a little "snippit"
of
a song that she use to sing, just one or two lines,
..."it's
the rock steady boogie..Bahoo Bahoo Bahooba.
Now
this was her interpretation, and she had mastered it so well.
When
she sang this one little line, she would pucker her mouth just so,
and
get a pitch to her voice, that I felt, only those truly blessed with
talent
could do. But I was not truly blessed, but I must have tried
feverishly,
because that one little line and Lois's presentation of it
is
so clear in my memory. For the most part, a sound, a phrase,
a
smell can take me all the way back. Sounds of "Kick The Can",
"Red
Rover," "Annie Over", "Giant" and some other game where
you
got slung around until you were dizzy and then had to play
like
you were a statue, come to mind.
BUT
WHAT IN BLAZES WAS ROCK STEADY BOOGIE?
WHAT
DID IT MEAN? Could it really have been Rock City Boogie?
Could
Lois have possibly had the words wrong? Oh perish the thought.
Be
still my vicious heart! Not possible. The pipeline couldn't have
heard it wrong on the radio!
For
Lois and me our relationship as we knew it would soon come to a close.
For
awhile when I no longer spent summers with my Grandparents,
she
would come to the city and visit me. But things were different now.
She
had been my playmate, my doppleganger, the sister I had not had at the
time.
She
still had the tenacity for asking questions, getting all the details.
Other
peoples lives intrigued her. She was still taking small bites of
life
and
I seemed to be trying to swallow it all at one time. As we got older
I
felt she thought the "dream come true" road was past Indian Switch
and
out of Chicot County, and that I got to travel that road first.
And
that was against the natural order of things.
Against
the rules governing "The Pecking Order."
The Pecking Order Grows Up
You
know come to think of it, I seem to remember
she
pronounced it "Rock Stiddy Boogie" rather than Rock Steady. Well
what a hoot! Busted! Lois may have been wrong!
I
may have found her out!! I think I'll email her right now!
You
can bet she's in a Chat Room.
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