Immokalee


I got blue jeans when we moved to that little
Florida farm town.. Joy got a little red cowgirl outfit..
Mama told us before we moved there it was like a
Western town - and so it became that for us!

We played cowboy games in the palmetto woods ...
ever mindful of the abundant cactus plants, with stickers
almost impossible to get out if touched…

and snakes!!


My new friend, Eugene, and I, dug shallow holes in the sandy ground, and lined them with -
very carefully gathered -cactus plants.
The plan was to ambush imagined (or real) enemies!
To my knowledge, none of our enemies actually fell into the camouflaged cactus traps, covered with palmetto fronds!

Mama never knew of all the cowboy games we
invented during that time.
…But we did watch out for snakes! :)

Eugene had a bike. I had never had a bike of my own (never DID have a bike)
so was thrilled that he wanted me to ride with him, though he never let me try it solo!

When we weren't involved in our cowboy games and cactus traps, we would be on his bike,
looking for discarded soda bottles along the roadside. We would take those to the local store
a few blocks from our houses (which were side by side) and get enough money for a treat of candy
or a soda for each of us!

Other times we would just ride on his bike, exploring. Once he dared me to crawl through a culvert under a road...
Not a big one- but , hopefully, big enough for Ten year olds. (I had my doubts)
To be fair, he did it first, leaving me no option except to match his feat! I couldn't back down, even though,
ten year old girls are sometimes chubbier than boys of the same age! I did it and luckily, didn't get stuck!

...As with the cactus traps, Mama never knew of this either! :)


Alas - Our friendship was to be shortlived because of our little sisters. They were about the same age-
about age seven.

One day the two little girls got in a fight. As I recall- it was about which was
the prettiest! Blonde hair flew! Dust swiriled! Tears flowed! ...And no way to judge the winner by the
amounts of hair balls at the end of the fight, since both little girls were blonde!

Being a witness to the event , I would say it was a tie! ;)

During our time living in Immokalee, Fl, we saw movies almost every Saturday at the movie house
a few blocks from us. They were usually westerns or Tarzan movies! BIG adventure movies for kids
our age, in those days!

The Carnival came to town. Mama and Daddy took us two nights -a real treat!
We rode the Ferris wheel...something new and scary for us!
Daddy won a teddy bear in some game, for my sister, since she was the baby! He tried again
but couldn't win one for me!

The thing that stands out the clearest about this event was the baby with two heads -
in a jar of some liquid preservative. At the time I had no doubts of it being real.
Daddy and Mama thought so too!...But was it?

...Still wondering...

We walked to school, through the sandy, Palmetto and Cactus filled lots. I DID NOT like the school but made
decent grades!

One memory stands out about my school experience there in Immokalee.
I was in 4th. grade, and until that time had not admitted to myself that we were Poor!

We were asked to write a little story about our life, our families. That, in itself, (reflecting on it now)
seems a callous thing to ask of children who are obviously from poor families;
which many others were , besides us!

With that request from the teacher, I made up a brighter make believe story... of my family owning
a big farm in Georgia. A story, I'm positive, was not believed for a moment!

I felt guilt for that story (LIE) for many years...well, I still do- *truth be told!* Because, I realize now, it is not
a shame or a sin to be poor.

(worse, by far, to tell a lie!)

I don't remember ever telling Mama about that paper I wrote.


Remembering...2004

Photos :
Joy age 7 - June age 10

And the type CACTUS that grew in the area