He had been hearing quite a bit about 'courting' from the older boys, and he wondered what it was and how it was done. One day he took his question to his mother, who became rather flustered. Instead of explaining things to Johnny, she told him to hide behind the curtains one night and watch his older sister and her boyfriend. This he did. The following morning, Johnny described everything to his mother.
'Sis and her boyfriend sat and talked for a while, then he turned
off most of the lights. Then he started kissing and hugging her.
I figured Sis must be getting sick, because her face started looking funny.
He must have thought so too, because he put his hand inside her blouse
to feel her heart, just the way the doctor would. Except he's not as smart
as the doctor because he seemed to have trouble finding her heart. 'I guess
he was getting sick too, because pretty soon both of them started panting
and gettin all out of breath. His other hand must of been cold because
he put it under her skirt. About this time Sis got worse and began to moan
and sigh and squirm around and slide down toward the end of the couch.
This was when her fever started. I knew it was a fever, because Sis told
him she felt really hot. 'Finally, I found out what was making them so
sick-- a big eel had gotten inside his pants somehow. It just jumped out
of his pants and stood there, about 10 inches long, honest anyway, he grabbed
it in one hand to keep it from getting away. 'When Sis saw it, she got
really scared -- her eyes got big, and her mouth fell open, and she started
calling out to God and stuff like that. She said it was the biggest one
she's ever seen; I should tell her about the ones down at the lake. 'Anyway,
Sis got brave and tried to kill the eel by biting its head off. All of
a sudden she grabbed it with both hands and held it tight while he took
a muzzle out of his pocket and slipped it over the eel's head to keep it
from biting again. 'Sis lay back and spread her legs so she could get a
scissor -- lock on it and he helped by lying on top of the eel. 'The eel
put up a hell of a fight. Sis started groaning and squealing and her boyfriend
almost upset the couch. I guess they wanted to kill the eel by squashing
it between them. 'After a while they both quit moving and gave a great
sigh. Her boyfriend got up, and sure enough, they killed the eel. I knew
because it just hung there, limp, and some of its insides were hanging
out. 'Sis and her boyfriend were a little tired from the battle,
but they went back to courting anyway. He started hugging and kissing her
again. By golly, the eel wasn't dead! It jumped straight up and started
to fight again. I guess eels are like cats -- they have nine lives or something.
'This time, Sis jumped up and tried to kill it by sitting on it. After
a 35 minute struggle, they finally killed the eel. I knew it was dead,
because I saw Sis's boyfriend peel its skin off and flush it down the toilet.'