OLD TIMER SEES
NEPHEW MANGLED BY CRITTERS
By Norris Chambers My nephew's name was One day we caught a
tremendous crab - he must have been at least six inches wide. My mother came running
out of the house and rushed bravely to the rescue. She grabbed the crab and
tried to pull if off, but it held on and managed to catch her arm with the
other claw. She jerked her arm back. Blood was running down toward her hand.
She told me to run and get Tom. Tom was my brother and "Get it
loose!" she exclaimed. Tom took a good look at the predicament and went to
his tool box on the fender of the truck. He came back with two pairs of pliers
and managed to get the pincher pried apart. I looked on with interest. There
were two nice holes with blood oozing out where the crab had been. Tom took the crab and
threw it in a tow sack and told us to take it and lay it in the water, with the
top tied, and to get all the crabs we could and that we would eat them for
supper. That sounded like a lot of fun so we started fishing and caught a sack
nearly full - it was so full, in fact, that we had to have help in getting it
to the house. That night they put water in the wash pot and built a big fire around
it. When the water was boiling vigorously Tom took the sack of crabs and
emptied them into the hot water. "Did you like to
see that old big one go in the pot?" he asked "Yeah!" he
answered. Another time, years
later, You always carry a
'possum by the tail and hold him upside down, keeping a healthy distance
between you and the ’possum’s teeth. "Lay down,"
I instructed him, "and let me get the stick in position." He saw what I was trying to do and helped me get it in position. I put
the stick over the varmint’s neck and a foot on each side of the head, pinning
it to the ground, then pulled up on the tail until I broke the neck. This was
the usual method of killing a 'possum before skinning. This did not damage the
hide. Our examination
revealed a nasty, but not fatal wound. When we got back home, Mama insisted on
putting chlorine bandages over it and soaking it for at least half an hour. It
healed without making much of a sore. This tale’s moral is
obvious – when dealing with vicious animals be cautious. This same warning
might also apply to some people! |