Huff and Jenny (part 3)

Winter came on quick that year. Everything green turned brown,

everything brown turned gray, and the sky froze ice blue. The family

sat around the fire place and listened to Huff read the official paper,

over and over. Huff had the distinction of being the first person in his

family to finish high school. He had missed a lot during planting and harvest,

but managed to graduate with a little help from FFA and 4H. Now he had been

honored with a Draft Notice.

Everybody agreed , he needed to get married. So the next morning, Huff’s

momma ironed-up his best shirt and pants and shined his work boots with

some KiWi shoe polish. Huff took a bath and found the Aqua Velva.  Old man

Huffman fueled up the truck and slipped Huff a five dollar bill out of the savings

jar.

Sister Ethel saw him coming first and she told Sister Kate. Sister Kate told

Brother who met him at the door.

“Daniel Wayne Huffman, what brings you out to these parts,” Brother

asked? Jenny was hiding in her room, but she knew what he was there

for.

The ceremony took place the week before Thanksgiving. Jenny Louise

took Daniel Wayne till death do ‘um part, after he’d done the same. The

buffet tables were covered with the best white sheets and stacks of MelMac

dishes bought piece by piece at the Big Star store. There were several  variations

of sweet potato casserole at all four corners of the table. The Huffman’s brought

a smoked pork shoulder and big bowls of deep fried sweet potato’s. The Barnhills, had

killed six young, tender chickens and fried them with Mertle’s secret ingridents.

Others brought funnel cakes and fritters, stuffed eggs, snap beans, and corn bread.

Everybody prayed for Daniel Wayne that Christmas and watched

Walter Cronkite hoping not to see Huff. He never made the evening news,

but by Easter, he was back in Mississippi. The only problem was, Huff was a

patient at the VA hospital down in Jackson. While in Vietnam, a land mine

blew up about a 100 feet away, and Huff had caught a piece of shwrap

metal in the knee.

Huff spent his recovery days thinking of his Honorable Discharge, his

Purple Heart Medal, and the fact that he was now a War Veteran, proud and

true. Jenny sat with him, day in and day out with loving attention and care.

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