Moccasin Gap - July 2011

Uncle Ralph was married to my daddy’s sister Emma. He owned the general store in Moccasin Gap and I used to work there when I got out of elementary school which was right across the street. It was a beautiful school, looked like the old schools of the 40’s and 50’s looked and it was owned by John Long who also owned the cotton mill in Moccasin Gap. I always got paid with an oatmeal cookie, never money, but I was happy, that’s all that mattered.
Next to the general store was the pharmacy. I don’t know why they called it that, Alvin Clayton who ran it didn’t have a pharmaceutical license and all he sold was aspirin. We just called it the Drug Store. It was more like a hangout for the school kids and the old guys to sit around and gossip and play checkers. I used to go with my dad there when he had a night off. It was usually open until around 8:30 PM which is late for Moccasin Gap. There was a pool table in the back room and that’s where the school kids hung out. The drug store was sort of like a poor man’s country club.
I used to buy donuts and long john’s and a fountain drink. I remember every time I’d buy a donut, Alvin would tell me, “Save the hole and you will get a free donut.” I’d eat all around the hole and take it back to him. He’d say, “There’s still donut around the hole. All I want is the hole, not the donut.” I’d eat a little more and take it back to him, but still too much donut around the hole. I finally figured out, there is no way you can save the hole, because if you eat all the donut around it you won’t be able to see it. So I gave up and started eating honey buns instead.
A lot times during recess me and a couple of other mischievous little boys like Ronnie Dixon would sneak across the street and get a fountain drink. We weren’t supposed to do it, but that’s what made it so cool. We were doing something we weren’t supposed to be doing and getting away with it. That’s gold to a twelve year old.
Once during recess me and Ronnie ran across the street to get a drink and when we came out of the drug store we saw the principle, Mr. Weldon, a huge man with an angry look of his face all the time, standing on the front porch of the school staring right across the street. We didn’t want him to see us, so we ducked behind a car and squatted down so we could be hidden from his view. We were squatting there, giggling, thinking we were getting away with something when the guy who drove the car got in it and pulled away. And there we were, squatting with drinks in hand and in plain view for everyone at school to see. Kids on the playground were laughing and pointing at us. It was humiliating.
What we got away with was a spanking. We didn’t get expelled. Actually we got two spankings, one from the principle and one from our parents. Back then it was okay for teachers to spank the children if they got out of hand. Try that today and you will get slapped with a lawsuit. My how times have changed? And you wonder what is wrong with children today. We never went across the street during recess again after that. Instead, my dad would bring the drinks across the street to us.
Uncle Ralph was a pretty cool guy. He never had much to say and he was always nice to the kids. I remember women used to come in the general store with a list of groceries. They would give it to Uncle Ralph and he would get the groceries off the shelf, bag them and give them to the ladies while they patiently waited.
One Sunday afternoon after church, Uncle Ralph took me and my cousin Lee to the Moccasin Gap Airport. Actually, it was just and old deserted cow pasture where small cub planes would take off and land. They had a couple of old wooden hangars there and Uncle Ralph knew one of the pilots. He asked him if he would mind taking all of us up in the plane.
I had never been in a plane before so this was a treat for me and Lee too. We went up in the air flying around and I asked Uncle Ralph, “What’s that small village down there?” Uncle Ralph said, “That’s Moccasin Gap.” I had no idea my hometown was so small. And what’s amazing is if you fly over it today it looks even smaller. My hometown, jjust like the old people in it, is actually shrinking.