Daddy stops the pickup in front of the gas pumps and I jump out of the back end and I skip into the Old Store and I buy me a nickel coke and then sashay over and buy me a bubble gum ball and then I watch Old Man Ricks slice some Longhorn cheese for Old Lady Kirklan. My daddy is pumpin gas in the Ole International and scratchin his head underneath his straw cowboy hat and rubbin his face and yawnin and he looks sad kinda and I wonder why but then I remember that him and mama had a ruckus last night cause it woke me up about midnight I reckon although I ain’t no expert like my daddy cause he knows purty near ever star in the sky and ever planet and how to tell time by the sky but anyway last night mama fussed so loud I thought maybe her blood pressure had got high again but I heard daddy laughin but it was kind of an ornery laugh and sayin kinda mumblin, you knew what you were gettin, and now I'm all you got, so you might as well give up and get along and mama sayin, well, the lord says, behold, thy time was the time of love; and I spread my skirt over thee, and covered thy nakedness: yea, I swore unto thee, and entered into a covenant with thee, saith the Lord God, and thou becamest mine, but that was then, this is now and I got enough burdens to bear, you can put that thang away, I got enough trouble got enough hardship got to take care of the two we got, and I’m not worried about gettin along with a hardhead and for your information I ain’t never goin to give up more than I can get, you hear me, William Moon?

And daddy said in a loud whisper, I hear you, Emmie, and I bet Jimmy and Daisy hear you too. You're goin to wind up back in the hospital.

But daddy was wrong about Daisy hearin. Daisy was asleep with her head under the pillow cause I could see her yella hair stickin out from under the pillow in the moonlight comin in through the winda and I could hear her whimperin like she always does. She's a sweet little whimperer but bless her heart she has nightmares. I snuck out the window and curled up next to Pooch and let the crickets and the coyotes sing me to sleep. I liked sleepin on the porch.

Old Lady Kirklan says see you in Sunday School to me as she leaves and I just grin and blow a bubble. Daisy catches my eye through the store winda and makes a funny face at me. I’ll take her some gum and she’ll let me listen to her transistor radio for a while. I lost mine somewhere like I lose everything except my head cause it’s tied on. Daisy didn’t want to come to the store with daddy and me cause she was makin mud pies but mama made her come cause she said she needed some peace and quiet, which I thought was strange to say since Daisy is the quietest person I know. She gave us both ten cents and said we owed her a bushel, a peck, and a hug around the neck. I told her to at least give Daddy the bushel.