Won't You Bray for Me

 

I think by now, you can see how much I love telling funny things about my childhood.  The one major thing I've learned from this adventure, is I was a horrible child!  I told myself I need to tell stories of what a sweetheart I was, but those stories are really hard to remember.  So, in the meantime, I will just tell you another little ditty about good old Turkey Hop Hill.  Every second and fourth Saturday nights of the month, the hill was rockin'.  The Red Barn was a place that saw many bluegrass pickers of all walks of life.  Some were bigger names than others, but everyone was welcome.  At least once a night, we would hear a big crash, and some "fluffy" lady was being picked up from the floor after her metal chair had broken.  It was sort of expected, but I'm glad it never happened to me!  The interior of the barn was in two different sections.  The top part was where all of the chairs were.  There were two sets of steps leading down to the bottom part, where there was a dance floor and the stage.  Behind the stage was a door that led down into where Paw kept the milk cow.  I guess since his other place wasn't suitable for milking since some little girl swarped the cow on the rear that resulted in the cow destroying the back wall. On each end of the place were windows, with the south end window being open to the pasture.  One Saturday night, the special guest was a band who was pretty big in bluegrass at the time.  Around 5:30 or 6, people would start arriving and it was basically the same crowd every week.  I think they only came on a regular basis, just to use the outhouses.  Us girls had it good with our outhouse.  We had a two holer, while the men had to struggle with a single hole.  The people had arrived and had taken their seats, and the smell of ham, biscuits, and coffee had filled the building.  The band was tuned up and wearing their best stage suits, while the animals out in the pasture were headed to the barn to join in the fun.  It wasn't out of the ordinary to see Paw come thru the door at the back of the stage with a bucket full of milk.  The show always started with Mama and Daddy's band, and they would set the tone for the night.  After they had played for a while, the guest band took the stage.  There was a huge crowd there that night, because of the big named group.  The crowd was on fire!  The first song from the band brought the people to their feet.  The second song was just as exciting, followed by the same reaction from the third song.  The fourth song slowed things down a bit, and it was a tearjerker.  It made men take their ladies to the dance floor, squeeze them tight, and sway to the sounds of the fiddle and banjo.  It was extra warm that night, so every window in the place was propped open to give a little relief to the sweltering heat.  The hotter it got, the more onions we smelled.  After the band played a few more fast songs, they slowed it down again.  This one was even more of a sad song!  The dance floor was full, and people were mesmerized by the crooning of the lead singer.  The end of the song was about to happen, so the music got louder and stronger.  The final note was as high as the singer could go, and I believe it may have cracked a light bulb in one of the outhouses.  When the last note ended, and every woman was dipped, a hush fell over the place.  UNTIL.....  Paw's big mule stuck his head in the open window and let out a bray that could be heard miles away!  Not only did he bray once, he did it over and over.  Every eye was on him with his big mule ears perked up with his head held high.  He had a look on his face of, "Now that's how it's done son"!  When he was finished, he chewed the hay that was left in his mouth and slowly pulled his head out of the window and walked into the darkness of the pasture. The show went on, but somebody decided to close that window just in case Jack the mule decided to come back and join in on another song.  If memory serves correctly, that band never came back....