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The Goophered Grapevine
Vol DCLXX, Fall, 2007 - Holly Springs, MS - Editor Wesley E. Hall
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For longer than I like to think I've been turning out a Hall Family newsletter in one form or another. It actually began as a single page of ditto (memeograph) just after World War II ended. I was back from the Pacific and feeling like I had beat the Number System (You know, when your number's up, you die). It was the best of times for returning servicemen. We couldn't 'buy' anything, and if we wanted to go from one end of the country to the other all we had to do was step out on the highway and stick up our thumb. I never saw anything like it, and I am certain no one will ever see the likes in the future. Anyway, the Goophered Grapevine has been around for a long time. I took the title from Charles B. Chestnut's short story by that name. You'll have to find and read that story if you want to know what it means. For my purposes it means 'a grapevine with magic qualities'.
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Check out the Hall family tree: 418-page paperback at Barnes & Noble for $25.95. (It's also at Amazon.com)
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King Lovey has not always had it good. As a kid he had to dodge a number of very mean Tom Cats, each of which wanted to be king. Big Mama did not like any of the Pretenders, however; and so word went out to Baby Mama and the other Pussy Cats to take care of Little Lovey and see to it that none of the old mean cats did him in. From early kittenhood he was not your typical everyday cat. For example, he liked to take his naps in the afternoon in Old Jake's yard bed (which the humans call a 'hammock'). He dearly loved to while away an afternoon swinging in the wind, above the bickering and torment that the Tom Cats caused.
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