Truth or Consequences

This week, my town is being graced by visitors fleeing from the path of tropical storm Ernesto.
The couple's name is James and Marjorie. James grew up in Clayton. For years, James, Marjorie, and their son would make the trek from their South Carolina homestead to visit James' mother, "Miss Effie" each summer. Oftentimes, James' brother would also stop by and bring his two children. Miss Effie's husband, Gilbert, built a grand tree house for all the neighborhood children.

The neighborhood children looked forward to the yearly summer visits from Miss Effie's grandchildren. We thought that playing in their tree house was the ultimate in childhood entertainment.

One time when I was about eight, I grew bored with the usual round of childhood games. I thought that the other children weren't paying enough attention to me. So I decided to hide and see how long it would take for the others to notice I was missing.

It didn't take Miss Effie long to notice my disappearance. She had a grease trap in her backyard that was open. Before we were allowed to play in the yard, Miss Effie rounded each of us up, and showed us the grease trap. She warned us to stay away from it.

At some point that afternoon, Miss Effie went out to inspect the infamous grease pit. To her horror, she thought she saw something suspicious looking floating at the surface of the slime pit.
Frantically, she called all the children to come to her so that she could do a head count. I am ashamed to admit that I kept on hiding, because this scenario was starting to get interesting. When I failed to show up, poor Miss Effie went into hysterics. She just knew I had fallen into that grease trap and had drowned! Bawling, she began to call for her husband to come dig my "body" out of the pit. By this time, her husband Gilbert was confined to a wheelchair, and there was little he could do to help her.

When I heard Miss Effie crying, I knew I was in deep trouble. My mama would skin me alive if she knew what a trick I had played on Miss Effie and the others. So, I cowardly sneaked off home without allowing anyone to see me.

Finally, my sisters went home and found me innocently playing. They fetched a very relieved Miss Effie over to the house so that she could see with her own eyes that I was okay.

I never told my parents what I had done until years later. Unfortunately, children sometimes fail to grasp the consequences of their actions until they can see the hurt it causes in others. Even then the baser aspect of human nature takes over, and the misdeed is often hidden because of the potential punishment that could result.

At least as a teenager, I was able to partially atone for my misdeed by volunteering my time to drive Miss Effie to Columbia, Georgia, to buy vegetables at the farmer's market. We spent some pleasant hours driving to Georgia. During this time, we had the opportunity to get to know each other better. I will always cherish this memory of our time together. Unfortunately, Miss Effie passed away in the 1980's.