We were a creative bunch. We were blessed with excess energy and low on spending money for toys.
We were creative.
My older brothes, Rayford and Jarvis ( aka Humpy ) built things for making our fun more fun.
Our land had several natural ponds, one being, "the pond".
Daddy had given instuctions on building a billy.
What is a billy you ask.
A " billy" is a contraption that looks like a ladder and will float on water.
We needed a billy.
We would enjoy floats into "the pond" while riding the billy.
My older brothers did the hard work on constructing the billy.
Daddy had helped them cut down two cypress trees for the contraption.
We all scavanged for planks to take out to the edge of the pond where the construction was being done. The logs would need to be as close to the waters edge as possible when the billy was finished. It would be very heavy, but would float.
The billy looked to me like a sure fire reason to watch the maiden voyage from the edge of the pond.
Rayford and Humpy dragged the billy through an opening of cypress knees and clumps of sedge grasses and briars to launch it into the tannic waters of the pond.
"Hey, it floats".
My oldest brothers stood on the planks to pole the billy between cypress and blackgum trees to the center of the pond.
Daddy had warned us about moccasins and the depth of the long abandoned aligator hole way out in the center of the pond.
That pond was so beautiful, with being almost a perfect circle outlined with growth of longleaf yellow pine trees underlaid with a soft carpet of pine straw. The next growth closer in was a mixture of sweetgum, blackgum, gallberry, sawbrier, cypress knees, clumps of sedge grass growing into the stand of tall cypress trees surrounding the center of the pond. It had the look of a sacred cathedral with the sunlight streaming through the tops of those tall cypress trees holding garlands of Spanish moss that moved with the soft winds overhead.
Sounds in the pond were magnified. Birds chirping, crows cawing, squirrels chiting, frogs croakng, splashing of unknown things made for a wonderful place for us to get up close and pesonal with nature.
The wind in the treetops spoke to us.
The words were foreign, but I believe the spirits of our ancestors were watching and enjoying this time with us as they spoke in the winds.
I could feel love in that place.
Shadows gave notice to things not usually noticed.
A world of wonderful lay waiting in our pond.
God himself had to love that pond.
He surely did some forward thinking when he put it on our land. He knew we would ride a billy there someday.
God loved us.
I thanked him just now as I write this memory.
So the maiden voyage was done with polling the billy between the trees to float around the center of our pond and wonder on the depth of the ancient gator hole.
The pushing poles weren't long enough to reach the bottom of the pond in the center.
Minnows swam there, clumps of frogs eggs floated, frogs jumped off roots to splash.
We got boogered.
We laughed.
We pushed each other off the billy.
Life was grand in that ancient place.
A hacked out plank oar always carried, came in handy for billy floating when the pushing poles were too short.
Daddy had played there in that pond on a long ago billy with his own siblings and knew with certainty how much we would enjoy the hours of our youth spent there.
No time on our billy foating in our pond was wasted.
Drama abounded.
Finally me and Buddy were allowed to float on the billy. I remember sitting on the front plank with my legs dragging in that black water. Rayford and Humpy were cautious with their baby brother. I was there to ride and drag a stick through the water.
What fun.
One time we were deep in the center of the pond when Humpy hollers,
"Moccasin"!
My big feet dragging on my skinny legs as the moccasin swam right towards the billy.
Somehow I was standing on the planks of the billy as we floated right over that demon.
Loud laughing and paddle splashing as we drifted on to our destinaton in the center of the gator hole.
Humpy could tell time by the lay of shadows. If he was standing on his shadow head, it was high noon and time to go home for dinner, yes dinner. Lunch didn't exist for our family. Breakfast, dinner and supper.
There you have it.
That pond had the look and feel of a sacred cathedral. Sun beams streaming down through the cypress and blackgums gave such a spiritual feeling to the place.
The birds and other critters seemed to quiet at high noon as if they too knew time.
I wanted to sit there and feel the fleeting moments of our happiness in childhood.
I see that place in my memory and pray that my own children and grandchildren have memories of special places to remember and visit in their golden years.
