![]() ![]() A fire had been lit behind the barn, and they were huddled near it as if they were cold. The only light came from a pale bulb hanging from the hayloft. ![]() Now that we'd roused the chickens, the roosters began crowing. We headed to the barn, where Isabel was waiting. My father filled a straw bowl with a dozen eggs and handed it to me. My mother, however, intervened with a fury, and for the time being, I was not permitted to collect eggs alone. At first my father had not been sympathetic rat snakes are harmless and just a part of life on the farm. I was told to wait in front of it, since last month while gathering eggs in the darkness, I'd stepped on a huge rat snake and cried for two days. ![]() We stopped at the chicken coop, where he bent low and slipped inside. ![]() There was no hint of sunrise as we walked across the backyard, the dew soaking our boots. I dressed quickly and met him on the back porch. I was already awake when he shook me and said it was time to go. It was difficult to sleep, though, with all those people on the farm and all that cotton to pick. I was allowed to stay in bed until my father came after me. If one person chose to wake up the rest, he or she could certainly do so. The house was not largethree bedrooms, a kitchen, a living room-and it was so old the plank floors sagged in places. At some point in the vast darkness of the night, Pappy, our human alarm clock, awoke, put on his boots, and began stomping around the kitchen making the first pot of coffee. ![]()
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