Tales of the Bizarre

came out there. And so I stood around the kitchen and I watched our starboarder eat his soup and the other vitals on the table when I was 10, 11, 12. And I began to imagine what kind of man this border was. He was the town barber, but he seemed terribly strange. And there was nothing about his background that I truly knew.

So between my grandmother and the eviscerated turkeys and this strange border with a funny straw hat, many years later I sat down and wrote the man upstairs. 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 29, you Grammy?

Yes, you be careful now Douglas. Some of those are very sharp. Cut you if you touch them. I'm always careful. You need to go to the shark night if you're gonna cut a chicken like this.

Who taught you to do it, Grammy? Why am I old, grandma? Her grandma before her, I suppose. Why do you like to watch me so much? I don't know. I just like to see the way you do it.

It's so neat and nice. See, there's the heart and the slippery, slidy liver. What are you gonna stuff the chicken with today, Granny? Oh, nothing fancy child, just a little seasoned bread. Now, you fetch me the salt cellar and the pepper pot now, and I'll get the needle in thread.

Can I sew it up today? You can if you're careful. You can thread the needle for me too. I can't see it so well these days. Always having trouble threading needles. My arms ain't long enough.

Guess that's the problem. Oh grandma, let me do it. Well, here you are then. Now, I'll just season the stuffing. Now, you want to sew the chicken up so you better do it right. Start here and keep it nice and neat.