Mom always erred on the cautious side if she erred at all. Like when she would say, "Don't go near that river until you learn to swim." She would tell me not to go near the river because she was afraid that I would drown. Came real close on a couple of occasions, but for the grace of God. It was never the fear of a whipping from Mom that kept me away from the water. As a matter of fact I did what I really wanted to do most of the time, even knowing that I had one coming when I got caught for doing something I was forbidden to do.
I am sure that even if I would have convinced her that I could swim, she would have found some other reason to tell me not to go near the river. So what was a boy to do surrounded by all that water on a hot summer day? I would go swimming, then lie out in the sun until I was completely dried out.
There was one other check which remained to be completed. That was having your swimming buddy check your eyes for the tell-tell signs that you had been swimming. We would ask each other, "Does it look like I have been swimming?" This didn't always work. When I got home, my Mom would give me an inspection that any US Customs or DEA Agent would have been proud of. Many times I was betrayed by bloodshot eyes. But as I said, it was hard to get by Mom.
I remember wanting to go on an overnight camping trip on Pine Mountain with our scouting group. It wasn't actually the Boy Scouts of America, but a group like it that was organized in Wallins. Mom said that I couldn't go. Did that stop me? Not on your life. All of my friends were going. So I slipped off and was gone for a couple of days. All the while I had a sense of doom hanging over me. That took a little of the fun out of it. When I got home I remember that I got a good one. But I told my Mom that it was worth it.
