Roxie is now in charge of taking the eggs to Mr. Call in the mornings, and handling the money for school supplies. She starts eighth grade this year and Nell starts the sixth. I am in fourth and Charles is in the second. Jewel will start next year. I like my new teacher, Miss Mays. She is so pretty, all the boys are in love with her. She brags on me for how good I can read and write. I’m good in grammar too. I like to say things right. Such as saying brought instead of brung. Most days before going home, we walk over to Mr. Call’s store to pick up our mail, if we have any. Mrs. Call is an official worker for the U.S. Post Office, and she puts all of our mail in a wooden cubby hole marked W. STARR. Once in awhile there’s a letter from Mommie’s kin, the Browns, who live over at Stormy Ridge, or there might be a catalog or a calendar from a farm supply, or a newspaper from Bluefield or Richmond when Samuel has the money to buy a subscription. Mack Call works for his daddy doing this or that, and most of the time he is in the store when we go in. He’s been real chummy with us since he drove us to Skylark. He gives each one of us a piece of penny candy to munch on the way home. Then he has a private talk with Nell.
