Bennett Sewell Art

My name is Pearl and I live with the Plouparts.  Mama and Papa, as I call them, brought me here right after they were married.   I think they wanted me to practice lovin’ on.  I’ve been here since then helping them grow up their three children. I got it real good. 

 

And that’s what I want to talk to you about.  Growin’ up children.  Dolly age four, the youngest, has the “monster under the bed” thing.  I’m gonna retell the conversation that Mama, Jane and Dolly had this morning in the kitchen before they ate breakfast.  Papa had already left for work and the older son, age 10, had been carpooled off somewhere to some kind of practice.  There is always a lot going on in this household.

 

Mama

 

Dolly, Dolly, Dolly, sugar pie, come in and give me a hug.  Jane tells me when you got up this morning that you again stood up in the middle of your bed, jumped to a chair and out of the room. Everything is gonna be alright. When your father looked under your bed with a flashlight last night, the only thing he found was a half eaten Moon Pie.  Dolly, both Jane and I had the monster thing.  Some kids do and some kids don’t.

 

When I was your age and trying to go to sleep and when I woke up in the dark, I would feel that something was under my bed and that it was going to get me. The older kids down the block would tease me telling me it was a scaly monster with big teeth that lived at the bottom of the bayou that liked to bite little toes. It is just not so.  That’s what my mother said and that’s what I say.  It’s okay to be scared sometimes when you hear your father and I talking about what’s going on in the world.  That’s one of the reasons we don’t let you watch television because that’s the only thing that those folks do is to scare people.  But you’re going to be okay.  Don’t be afraid.  We are here real close to take care of you and love you.

 

Jane and I decided that we were big enough and brave enough to not be ashamed of and try to hide the fact that we were sometimes afraid, that we got scared.  We decided to make a friend of that feeling that we call a monster that we felt was under our bed at night.  We decided that she was a friend because she lived under our bed to be close to us and to keep us safe.  So we gave her a name.  I called mine April, Jane called hers May, and why don’t you call yours June.  April had curly hair and liked rock and roll music.  Jane’s friend had lots of dolls and loved Moon Pies.  Today I want you to think about your new friend.  I think she will be a lot like your other friends, easy to be around, easy to talk to and play with; all are good for you as you are for them. 

 

And Dolly when you grow up you’ll understand better when to listen to your new friend June and when not to listen.  There’s a difference about being scared over your dolls growing up and going to live with someone else and coming down the hill real fast on your bicycle and hitting a patch of gravel.  Dolly give me another hug.  I’m so proud of you.

 

You and Jane finish your breakfast.  Jane quit feeding Pearl bacon under the table.  When you get home I’ll have a treat for both of you.  And one more thing Dolly, I didn’t talk about the angel that your father and I put on your shoulder when we brought you home from the hospital.  We will talk about that tomorrow morning. 

 

Pearl:

 

That’s how I remember that conversation and that’s why I know I’ve got it good around here.