January 15, 2018
Hope you’re feeling good. I’ve been wondering about you.
Hahaha. I think Effie Bowlegs is after you – still after you – and maybe you’re after him.
One summer he was having a hard time there. Every time he’d go to the bathroom you wanted to go. And one time you told Barbara, “I’ll beat you to the toilet.” And she ran around the old shop and pulled the door open and pulled him off the commode. Hahaha.
And then another time you had me get off there behind the new shop and throw rocks at the toilet when he was headed in. Bang! Bang! It seems like that year he left work early because he had stomach trouble. Hahahaha
You didn’t like the way he drove Nina & Dolly. I didn’t either. You rode with him and put your foot on the lines so he couldn’t pull them up and swat old Nina to have her keep up to Dolly.
Do you remember the first time you were in jail? Uncle Ed let us sit in the jail cell that Betsy Bowlegs had used when she was his guest. We got to sit in jail early. We thought that was quite a treat. Betsy Bowlegs had been in jail because it was just her time for that. Betsy Bowlegs was – I don’t know her name except Uncle Ed always called her Betsy Bowlegs. He would get a telephone call on weekends from the Big Timber city police. They would say, “Mr. Brannin, so ‘n’so is down here and we want you to come down and get her because we can’t handle her.” So he would come and she would call him, “Yes sir,” and “no sir,” and “Mr. Brannin,” and he’d keep her in the jail. Sometimes it was overnight and sometimes two days. One time she got so bad he had to escort her to Warm Springs to the nut house and she stayed awhile. She wasn’t related to Effie Bowlegs. Aunt Dora was related to Effie Bowlegs. I don’t know if Betsy Bowlegs was bowlegged or not. She was the Big Timber extra work for the city police. Sheri asked, “Did she drink?” Oh yes, she drank, I expect she did. Well, she couldn’t have drank because alcohol was – the states were dry – wasn’t allowed to be sold or drank. Her sober spells were kind of special. But the city police couldn’t handle Betsy Bowlegs, whatever her name was, and they would call him and he’d come and lock her – put her in jail – and she had one cell he called Betsy Bowlegs’ cell. He let you and me sit in it. He even closed the door on us.
I hope you’re doing real good.
If one of us lives to be a hundred I hope it’s you and not me.
Much love,
Buck
