BONE OF MY BONE, FLESH OF MY FLESH

The General had five children. All five survived to become adults. We had mumps, whooping cough, pneumonia, measles, chicken pox, strep throat, influenza, colds, cuts, scrapes, burns and puncture wounds from sticks and rusty nails. We’d been knocked unconscious and mules and horses had kicked us. When Jeaner Jackson was three years old, she was even run over by a wagonload of wood. We had untold numbers of aches, pains, various infectious diseases, parasites and as you know from a previous story, the famous seven year itch. We weren’t any healthier than a lot of folks who had died. The deciding factor was the General. She had no degree as a doctor, or nurse, but she had something more important, an undying love for her family. Her will and determination was passed on to us. We seemed to have absorbed it from her at our birth. She molded us into an unflinching people. We didn’t come here to die, but to live. No sacrifice was too great for her to make for the well being and comfort of one of her own children. All night vigils were her answer to anything that looked like it could threaten one of our lives. Sitting on my bed and rubbing my back until I fell asleep was her treatment for my many illnesses and chronic bellyaches. In all my years of growing up, I only remember going to the doctor one time. I’d fallen from a tree and struck my head and was knocked out. However, I regained consciousness by the time we arrived at the doctor's office. There no longer being any use for a doctor, I was returned home.

When there was a need in our family, sacrifice was the norm for both the General and My Daddy. I don't ever remember this being discussed. It was just expected. Unconditional love meant giving of oneself completely for the good of the others and not expecting anything in return. The dog lying on the porch would give his life protecting the family home. The mare in the lot would die pulling the plow in the field. This was the unwritten code of our family. It was taught to us by example. We trusted in each other absolutely. The General breathed in our nostrils at birth the need to go to any length for our overall good. If we were to survive, this is what would be required. She knew that. So, it would be. We’d all live.

The General was strong physically and had a will of iron. I never knew her to shrink from any duty. Her children were bone of her bone, flesh of her flesh. Her life's ambition was to serve and care for them. Her every action was to see to our needs and comfort us. Her rulebook was the Bible. When confronting problems or troublesome people, she’d examine the action to be taken within the context of what she felt Jesus would have her to do. Once this was decided, her action would commence. She went forward from there with her will and determination. You could see the force of character in her face and the strength in her body when she moved. She was a great lady to have on your side. She came with all that she had, and brought the Lord with her.

The General had suffered for years with bad teeth. Each time she’d give birth, she’d lose a few. Her diet had been poor and the calcium had been pulled from her body to make babies. My earliest memories of her are with a white rag wrapped around her jaw and tied at the top of her head. The warmth seemed to give her some small measure of relief. By the time we arrived at the Company Farm she had thirteen left and they were all in bad condition.

In the winter of 1949, and on into 1950, the suffering had become unbearable. My Daddy employed a neighbor with a car to take her to Walnut Ridge to see a dentist. Upon his examination he advised her to have all her teeth pulled and to get false ones. To do otherwise, wouldn’t have been economically possible. To pull the teeth, he would need two dollars a tooth. The false plates would be twenty-five. The extractions could be paid for as they were done over three visits. The impression of the gums would then be taken and her teeth ordered. The twenty-five dollars would need to be paid in advance.

Finally, in March, the three trips to the dentist were completed, and all her teeth had been pulled. My beautiful mother, the General, now stood before me toothless. I felt such pain to see her with a sagging jaw. To see her smile moved me to pity. At least, she was pain free. She’d often play funny games with her toothless mouth trying to get me to laugh. I couldn’t. “Mom, please don't smile in church,” I pleaded. She’d smile, knowing my embarrassment.

My Daddy borrowed money to make the cotton crop as he did every year of my growing up. There was money for seed and fertilizer and twenty dollars a week for living expenses until the middle of September. Then, we’d have our cotton-picking money. We were allowed to keep three dollars a hundred, for what we picked, no matter who or what we owed. My Daddy arranged to have an extra twenty-five dollars added to the crop loan to pay for the General's teeth. It would be a long time before we had this much extra money again.

Each day in our community another home would be hooked up for electricity. This put a lot of old kerosene refrigerators up for sale that no one really had any use for. My Daddy knew a feller who lived up on the ol’ rock road about four miles from us. He’d just wired his house for electricity. He now had a very nice Norge kerosene refrigerator for sale. He only wanted twenty-five dollars for it. Everyone said it was worth at least a hundred, but there just wasn’t much of a market for them old units.

The following Sunday, after we’d heard about it, we were asked to stay at the table when we finished eating. We weren’t sure what it was all about but I’d got the notion it had something to do with the General's teeth. We had pained at her every extraction and suffered right along with her as we watched her spit forth the red froth. The toothless smile was a family shame and the subject of a lot of concern. We did have our pride. The Messers are a beautiful people, especially the women. The General started out the conversation. “We have a chance to buy a refrigerator for twenty-five dollars. If we buy the refrigerator, we can have ice all summer and ice tea everyday. I can make ice cream for us too, when it's hot,” she said and stopped and looked at us for our reaction. We children all glanced at each other. “Won't it be wonderful when we are chopping cotton to come home to ice cream and fried chicken?” she asked. Gosh, I could see it already. Chicken piled high, green onions, fried squash, mashed potatoes with gravy, big brown dinner rolls, big tumblers of rich, red iced tea, then ice cream. Yeah, I could go for that. We were all smiling now. “Problem is, if we buy the refrigerator, I won't be able to get my teeth until the fall of the year.” she added. My heart dropped. No, this can't be, I thought to myself. “Dick, I know how you feel. We have to think of everyone. My sacrifice is small considering the benefit it will be for the whole family,” she went on, looking directly at me. My Daddy cleared his throat “This is no democracy. Mom and I will decide, but we want to know how you feel. After that, we‘ll make the decision,” he said. We took a family vote. I voted teeth. To hell with ice, ice tea and ice cream.

The General was my mommy. I knew that this was a love offering of the highest order. I made up my mind right then and there I wouldn’t be embarrassed about her toothless smile in the future. I’d hold my head up high and be proud of her. I’d laugh at her silly games of sucking in her gums and pretending she couldn’t speak. The two of us sat in the porch swing that evening. She explained to me about a mother's love and the duty one has to always put others first. She talked of Jesus and how he loved us enough to die. “Where would we be without His love?” she asked. I sat quietly and didn’t answer. “What a small thing to go four months without teeth so all of you can have ice and ice cream this summer,” she concluded. I accepted the final decisions through my tears. I ate more ice cream than the others did and drank gallons of iced tea that long hot summer. I never loved the General more. I should’ve known that she was almost always right about these things.

The impression of her gums had been taken when the last three teeth were pulled. When the dentist was paid, he’d order the teeth. First load of cotton went to the gin on the seventh of September in 1950. A money order for twenty-five dollars went to the good dentist on the tenth, requesting that he please send the General’s teeth to us by mail. After a week had passed, we became very eager. I’d ride Ol’ Blackie the two miles to the mail box everyday in hopes that they had arrived. Ten more days passed. I began to wonder if the dentist was just going to keep the money and not send the teeth at all.

On the twenty-first, I rode Ol’ Blackie to the mailbox. I leaned over without dismounting and looked inside. There I saw a little gray cardboard box about 3 x 5 inches. It had a white label with a return address of:

BD Chambers DDS
213 Main Street
Walnut Ridge, Arkansas

I swooped it out with one quick motion and headed back to the cotton wagon where all were waiting for me. I spurred Ol’ Blackie into a lope with my bare feet and hung on for dear life. When I got to where I could see everyone, I started screaming, “MOM, I GOT YOUR TEETH.” I’m fast approaching and they’re all smiling. I slowed Ol’ Blackie to a trot, then a walk and reached out to hand the box to the General. It didn't quite make it into her hands and went clattering to the ground. Ol Blackie’s back hoof came down on the box, squashing it flat. “Oh, My Lord!” screamed the General and grabbed for the box like a dog for a bone. My throat went into my mouth. All these months of waiting we’d all done. The sacrifices the General had made. The twenty-five dollars we’d put together from our first load of cotton. All of it lost. I was in tears, as the General ripped opened the box. “They’re okay,” she laughed and popped them in her mouth. They were a perfect fit.

She gave me her first smile. My Mommy was 38 years old with a beautiful pearly white smile, holding the rank of General, serving in the Army of the Lord. It was truly a fine day. There was not a happier family in the whole wide world, than we were on that grand day, when the General got her brand new teeth.