Sepia Saturday challenges bloggers to share family
history through old photographs.
This week’s
Sepia Saturday photo prompt is one I can
hardly look at without getting chills. Snakes – hate ‘em, even the supposedly “good”
ones. My aunt Betty (my father’s sister) shares my fear. Actually, she exceeds
it. The day she started hating snakes is permanently etched in her mind.
This picture was taken on that very day.
 |
| Beverly Ann Slade about 5 years old 1939 |
Aunt Betty had been sent to live with Richetta Moss, a
family friend, since her mother (my grandmother) was in no emotional or
physical shape to take care of a baby due to alcoholism. Mrs. Moss’s family
owned a beach cottage at Ocean View. On that fateful day in 1939, the family
was constructing a walkway from the cottage to the road using bricks that were
piled up in the back yard.
As anyone who has ever done a major home project knows,
keeping the youngins busy and out of trouble is key to making progress.
Assigning Betty and Jackie (another child in Mrs. Moss’s care) the job of
gathering bricks and hauling them in their little wagon was the logical thing
to do. Surely it was both work and fun for two little girls to fill the wagon
and pull with all their might through the bumpy yard.
However, on one trip with the wagon, Betty picked up a
brick, unaware that danger lurked beneath. But there it was – a snake. As if
just seeing it were not bad enough, she accidentally stepped on the thing. With
that, she dropped the brick and just ran.
When it comes to those limbless reptiles, Aunt Betty has
been running ever since.
Wendy
© 2017, Wendy Mathias.
All rights reserved.
