STORY COURTESY OF THE WAYNE COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY
PICTURE COURTESY OF SHUTTERSTOCK
"STORIES YOU WON'T BELIEVE" BY LONNIE E. BROWN, IS A BOOK FILLED WITH SHORT STORIES, THAT I AM SHARING WITH ALL OF YOU, WE'LL GO THRU IT FULL STORY BY FULL STORY.
THIS ONE IS -
"UNCLE BUCK RAISES THE DEAD"
"UNCLE BUCK RAISES THE DEAD"
MY GRANDMOTHER SALLY WASN'T THE ONLY ONE TO BE INVOLVED IN FUNNY ESCAPADES. MY GRANDFATHER ROOKS, WHOM EVERYBODY CALLED UNCLE BUCK WHEN HE WAS GROWN, HAD HIS OWN COMICAL EPISODES.
ONCE WHEN HE WAS A BOY IN ADAIR COUNTY, KENTUCKY, MY GRANDFATHER-TO-BE HAD TO ACCOMPANY HIS FAMILY TO A WAKE. A WAKE WAS A GATHERING OF RELATIVES, FRIENDS, AND NEIGHBORS TO STAY AWAKE ALL NIGHT WITH THE FAMILY OF SOMEONE WHO HAD DIED. THERE WERE NO FUNERAL HOMES, SO THE DECEASED WAS KEPT AT HOME FOR VISITATION UNTIL TIME FOR THE FUNERAL, LADIES WOULD BRING FOOD, AND MEN WOULD SOMETIMES BRING SOMETHING TO DRINK. THE CORPSE LAY IN BED WHILE THE MEN MADE THE COFFIN. IT WAS NOT ONLY A SAD TIME BUT ALSO A TIME FOR CELEBRATING THE LIFE OF THE DECEASED.
THIS TIME, THE DECEASED WAS A MAN IN THE COMMUNITY THAT EVERYBODY CALLED OLD MAN CAMPBELL. HE HAD SPENT HIS LIFE RAISING SHEEP, IN FACT, HE WAS ONE OF THE FEW TO DO SO. HE LOVED HIS SHEEP AND ALWAYS TENDED THEM WITH CARE, MAKING SURE THEY HAD FOOD, WATER, SHELTER, AND SALT. BUT NOW, ALL THAT WAS OVER. HIS HEART HAD GIVEN OUT.
WHEN YOUNG BUCK ARRIVED WITH HIS FAMILY FOR THE WAKE, THE OLD LOG HOUSE WAS FULL OF NEIGHBORS WHO HAD COME TO MOURN AND PAY THEIR RESPECTS TO THE FAMILY. THE CORPSE HAD BEEN WASHED, DRESSED, AND LAID OUT ON THE BED BY THE WINDOW SINCE HIS COFFIN WAS STILL IN THE PROCESS OF BEING CONSTRUCTED OUT IN THE BARN. ONE BY ONE, EVERYBODY FILED BY THE BED TO SAY THEIR GOODBYES BEFORE MOVING ON AROUND THE LARGE ROOM TO MINGLE WITH OTHERS WHO WERE THERE.
THERE WEREN'T ANY CHILDREN HIS AGE FOR COMPANY, SO YOUNG BUCK SOON GOT BORED AMONG ALL THOSE GROWNUPS. SINCE NOBODY WAS PAYING ANY ATTENTION TO HIM, HE DECIDED HE'D SLIP OUTSIDE AND FIND SOMETHING INTERESTING TO DO. THE MOON WAS FULL, SO HE HAD PLENTY OF LIGHT TO SEE.
AT FIRST, HE DIDN'T SEES ANYTHING THAT CAUGHT HIS FANCY. AS HIS GAZE WENT BEYOND THE YARD, HE SAW SOMETHING THAT CAUGHT HIS ATTENTION. HE SPIED A LONG RAIL PROPPED AGAINST THE RAIL FENCE THAT SURROUNDED THE SHEEP PEN. THERE WAS SOMETHING ABOUT THE ANGLE OF THE RAIL THAT REMINDED HIM OF A SEESAW. NOW THAT HAD POSSIBILITIES! HE LOOKED AROUND TO FIND A PLACE WHERE HE COULD SET UP THE SEESAW AND MAKE IT WORK.
HE WAS ABOUT TO GIVE UP WHEN HE NOTICED A CHINK HAD FALLEN OUT UNDER THE WINDOW OF MR. CAMPBELL'S OLD LOG HOUSE. HE FIGURED THAT IF HE SLID ONE END OF THE RAIL INTO THAT CHINK BETWEEN THE LOGS, HE COULD HAVE A GOOD TIME BOUNCING ON THE END OF THE RAIL THAT WOULD BE LEFT STICKING OUT.
HE DIDN'T HESITATES TO PUT HIS PLAN INTO ACTION. HE IMMEDIATELY TOOK THE RAIL FROM THE FENCE AND CARRIED IT TO THE SIDE OF THE OLD LOG HOUSE. WITH LITTLE EFFORT, HE PUSHED IT THROUGH THE OPENING BETWEEN THE LOGS. THEN HE JUMPED ON THE END HE'D LEFT STICKING OUT, HAPPILY BOUNCING UP AND DOWN.
HIS HAPPINESS WAS SHORT-LIVED. TO HIS AMAZEMENT, HE HEARD SCREAMS BEGIN INSIDE THE HOUSE. BEFORE HE COULD DISMOUNT, PEOPLE CAME POURING OUT OF THE HOUSE, SOME CLIMBING OUT WINDOWS, OTHERS RUNNING OUT THE DOOR. SOME STOPPED AND STOOD THERE GASPING, WHILE OTHERS KEPT ON RUNNING AND DIDN'T EVEN LOOK BACK. HE SAT ON THE RAIL THINKING THAT THE HOUSE MUST HAVE CAUGHT ON FIRE UNTIL HE FELT HIS MOTHER'S HAND CLAMP ON HIS SHOULDER.
"JUST WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING, YOUNG MAN?" SHE ASKED, PULLING HIM OFF THE RAIL TO THE GROUND. "WHAT DID YOU MEAN BY PUTTING THAT RAIL THROUGH THERE? YOU SCARED US ALL HALF TO DEATH!"
ONLY THEN, LOOKING INTO HIS MOTHER'S SCOWLING FACE, DID HE REALIZE WHAT HAD HAPPENED. THE WINDOW WHERE HE HAD PLACED THE RAIL WAS DIRECTLY BESIDE THE BED WHERE THE CORPSE WAS LAID OUT. THE RAIL THAT HE HAD INSERTED IN THE OPENING HAD ACTUALLY EXTENDED UNDER THE BED WHERE MR. CAMPBELL RESTED, WAITING FOR HIS COFFIN!
WHEN YOUNG BUCK HAD JUMPED ON THE END OF THE RAIL OUTSIDE, THE END OF THE RAIL UNDER THE BED INSIDE WENT UP, CAUSING POOR OLD DEAD MR. CAMPBELL SUDDENLY TO RISES UP IN A SITTING POSITION AND SEEMS TO COME TO LIFE.
"LORD A-MIGHTY!" SAID JESSE GREEN, A NEIGHBOR WHO HAD BEEN STANDING BESIDE THE BED. "OLD MAN CAMPBELL HAS COME BACK FROM THE DEAD TO SALT HIS SHEEP!"
NOBODY WAITED TO SEE IF THAT WERE TRUE! SCREAMING TO THE TOP OF THEIR LUNGS, THEY SCATTERED IN ALL DIRECTIONS.
BUCK TRIED TO EXPLAIN, BUT HIS MOTHER WAS IN NO MOOD TO LISTEN. SHE TOOK HIM BACK INSIDE AND HE HAD TO SIT QUIETLY WITH HER AND THE FEW ADULT WHO HAD RECOVERED FROM THEIR FRIGHT AND STAYED BEHIND. TOGETHER, THEY PLACED MR. CAMPBELL ON THE BED IN A RESTING POSITION AGAIN. AND AT FUTURE WAKES, UNCLE BUCK'S MOTHER MADE SURE HE WAS NEVER AGAIN OUT OF HER SIGHT LONG ENOUGH TO RAISE THE DEAD.
WRITTEN BY: LONNIE E. BROWN
FROM THE BOOK "STORIES YOU WON'T BELIEVE"
COMES THIS ONE TITLED "UNCLE BUCK RAISES THE DEAD"
COURTESY OF THE LOCAL LIBRARY I RENT BOOKS FROM.
02/12/2022
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