by water to get him, wa'n't no bridges, you see. Sometimes you died 'fore he got there. But Doctor Gardner was with my mother when I was born.
"Most all my people were Service. My father and grandfather were in the Coast Guard—it was the Life-saving Service, years ago. My father was a surfman. His father died when he was thirteen years old. He died in that storm of eighty-nine trying to save them people in the Henry P. Simmons. So my father couldn't go to school. He had to go out and work to take care of his mother. He had it pretty hard.
"All my people come from around here. My mother's people were Claffords. Seems I heard her say they originally come from somewhere in the mainland. Little Washington, or somewhere that way. Now my father's father, he came from Manteo. There's Stories still on Roanoke Island. And my father's mother, she was a Etheridge. There were four of them, Etheridge girls. My grandmother Casey, and Lizbeth, and Clara, and Kelly Lea. I didn't know them, that was before I was born.
"My mother died having my sister when I wasn't quite three. She's buried in Avon. All my people are in the Methodist cemetery there.
"My daddy was a hard-workin' man. And he raised a big family. I had four sisters, and I had one, two—three brothers. So there was eight of we children to raise up. And I'm telling you he had a hard time of it. But since he was in the Service we always had something to eat and a house to stay in.
"I was a little barefooted girl We didn't have to wear shoes, no, even to school. We had a little one-room schoolhouse in Avon. The teacher she would stand in the door and ring, ring this hand bell, when we children would be playing, for us to come in. And we had to stay in at recess a lot, we'd misbehave and done something we shouldn't. Whisperin' in school, or laughing."
Keyes was eyeing Galloway. Galloway ignored him. "What kind of games did you play?"
"Oh, you'd hardly believe the silly things we did in them days. We had ball games. We had a game we called fifty-oh. And ring around the roses. And a game we called sheepie."
"I remember playing sheepie. But how do you play fifty-oh?"
"Oh, some'd go off and hide, and we try to find them. And if you found them and could make the home before they did we'd win the game. Hide and seek was what it was. Oh, and we played cat. That was like baseball sort of, but we made our own ball out of string, didn't have no factory made.
"And on Sunday afternoons we'd go to this big hill out near Kinnekeet. It wasn't as big as Jockey's Ridge, but it didn't lack much. We'd run up and down it and play until we were so tired we couldn't hardly get back. You wouldn't believe it to go down there. I hear there's all kind of cottages and such there now."
"Tell us some more about your father," said Galloway. 'You said he was in the Service."
'Yes, at Kinnekeet Station, with Otinus and Lyle and them other Galloways they give the gold medals to. Most times he had to walk the night. If it was a stormy night he'd patrol twice a night. He'd walk up and down the beach—that ocean had to be watched for ships, y'know. Then when one of them got in trouble, he pulled an oar. I remember how I used to worry when there was a shipwreck on the beach. Because then the rule was you had to go, you didn't have to come back.
"I remember seein' 'em come ashore. Ships from different countries. Some men got lost, some got saved. I've seen women and little children too torn to pieces, washed ashore on the beach drowned."
Keyes glanced at Galloway again. "Sounds like a rough life," he muttered.
"Oh, you wouldn't hardly believe how people lived them days. Nobody got nowhere much—I think I did go to Norfolk once or twice when I was growin' up. That was when we saw the Wright brothers. My daddy took me through Kitty Hawk on the way up. And they flew over our cart It looked different from planes they have now. And we were scared. Wouldn't you have been?"
"Well, I guess so," said
"Most all my people were Service. My father and grandfather were in the Coast Guard—it was the Life-saving Service, years ago. My father was a surfman. His father died when he was thirteen years old. He died in that storm of eighty-nine trying to save them people in the Henry P. Simmons. So my father couldn't go to school. He had to go out and work to take care of his mother. He had it pretty hard.
"All my people come from around here. My mother's people were Claffords. Seems I heard her say they originally come from somewhere in the mainland. Little Washington, or somewhere that way. Now my father's father, he came from Manteo. There's Stories still on Roanoke Island. And my father's mother, she was a Etheridge. There were four of them, Etheridge girls. My grandmother Casey, and Lizbeth, and Clara, and Kelly Lea. I didn't know them, that was before I was born.
"My mother died having my sister when I wasn't quite three. She's buried in Avon. All my people are in the Methodist cemetery there.
"My daddy was a hard-workin' man. And he raised a big family. I had four sisters, and I had one, two—three brothers. So there was eight of we children to raise up. And I'm telling you he had a hard time of it. But since he was in the Service we always had something to eat and a house to stay in.
"I was a little barefooted girl We didn't have to wear shoes, no, even to school. We had a little one-room schoolhouse in Avon. The teacher she would stand in the door and ring, ring this hand bell, when we children would be playing, for us to come in. And we had to stay in at recess a lot, we'd misbehave and done something we shouldn't. Whisperin' in school, or laughing."
Keyes was eyeing Galloway. Galloway ignored him. "What kind of games did you play?"
"Oh, you'd hardly believe the silly things we did in them days. We had ball games. We had a game we called fifty-oh. And ring around the roses. And a game we called sheepie."
"I remember playing sheepie. But how do you play fifty-oh?"
"Oh, some'd go off and hide, and we try to find them. And if you found them and could make the home before they did we'd win the game. Hide and seek was what it was. Oh, and we played cat. That was like baseball sort of, but we made our own ball out of string, didn't have no factory made.
"And on Sunday afternoons we'd go to this big hill out near Kinnekeet. It wasn't as big as Jockey's Ridge, but it didn't lack much. We'd run up and down it and play until we were so tired we couldn't hardly get back. You wouldn't believe it to go down there. I hear there's all kind of cottages and such there now."
"Tell us some more about your father," said Galloway. 'You said he was in the Service."
'Yes, at Kinnekeet Station, with Otinus and Lyle and them other Galloways they give the gold medals to. Most times he had to walk the night. If it was a stormy night he'd patrol twice a night. He'd walk up and down the beach—that ocean had to be watched for ships, y'know. Then when one of them got in trouble, he pulled an oar. I remember how I used to worry when there was a shipwreck on the beach. Because then the rule was you had to go, you didn't have to come back.
"I remember seein' 'em come ashore. Ships from different countries. Some men got lost, some got saved. I've seen women and little children too torn to pieces, washed ashore on the beach drowned."
Keyes glanced at Galloway again. "Sounds like a rough life," he muttered.
"Oh, you wouldn't hardly believe how people lived them days. Nobody got nowhere much—I think I did go to Norfolk once or twice when I was growin' up. That was when we saw the Wright brothers. My daddy took me through Kitty Hawk on the way up. And they flew over our cart It looked different from planes they have now. And we were scared. Wouldn't you have been?"
"Well, I guess so," said
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