THE BED QUESTION
This is another one of those tales that my mother told me because I simply don't remember when it happened, but I suspect it is true, nonetheless.
In my small hometown of Corbin Kansas (pop. 69) there lived only white families. Not by choice, but that's just the way it was in the late 40's. As a child, I had not seen anyone of another race until one Christmas.
There was a wonderful family with a college age daughter that lived just some blocks north of us.
There last name was Black. (Ironic, isn't it?) The daughter, Judy, invited a college friend (maybe a roommate) to spend Christmas with her and her parents.
I don't recall the name of the guest but I saw her at church the first Sunday after her arrival. She was an attractive young woman and unlike anyone I had ever seen before. The ebony tone of her skin was entirely new to me. (I was probably 7 or 8.) I do remember staring at her through a good deal of the service that Sunday morning.
At any rate, she spent the holiday with the Blacks and upon the two girls departure back to college, I am told that I walked up to the Blacks home and confronted the woman of the house, Pauline.
She was amused by my question at the time and later she related it to my mother, who was mortified, to say the least. It seems my inquisitive childish mind, wanted to know if any of the young girl's color had come off on the sheets where she slept. "Out of the mouths of babes" is not always a good thing.
In my small hometown of Corbin Kansas (pop. 69) there lived only white families. Not by choice, but that's just the way it was in the late 40's. As a child, I had not seen anyone of another race until one Christmas.
There was a wonderful family with a college age daughter that lived just some blocks north of us.
There last name was Black. (Ironic, isn't it?) The daughter, Judy, invited a college friend (maybe a roommate) to spend Christmas with her and her parents.
I don't recall the name of the guest but I saw her at church the first Sunday after her arrival. She was an attractive young woman and unlike anyone I had ever seen before. The ebony tone of her skin was entirely new to me. (I was probably 7 or 8.) I do remember staring at her through a good deal of the service that Sunday morning.
At any rate, she spent the holiday with the Blacks and upon the two girls departure back to college, I am told that I walked up to the Blacks home and confronted the woman of the house, Pauline.
She was amused by my question at the time and later she related it to my mother, who was mortified, to say the least. It seems my inquisitive childish mind, wanted to know if any of the young girl's color had come off on the sheets where she slept. "Out of the mouths of babes" is not always a good thing.
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