Sex Education

Daddy came home from the mines every day after

4 o'clock and no matter where on the farm we were

 

we'd tuned our ears to hear his truck comin from

at least two miles away and the first to hear it always

 

yelled "here comes Daddy!" and no matter what

we were doin we'd run to hide and I knew the 1st

 

thing Daddy would yell when he set foot on the

ground out of the truck was "Bone come here!"

 

and the questions would start bout what work we'd

done today and if one thing hadn't been done or

 

even done but not done right then I'd get my daily

dose of beatin and it took me years and years to

 

heal those bleedin wounds but that's not all I remember

cause there were a handful of mornins before Daddy

 

went to the mines when he'd come up to our attic

room and I still hear the steps creakin with his big

 

footsteps walkin up them and he'd put his hand on 

our heads on those rare mornins and Daddy said

 

"boys it's time to get up" and in that brief touch and

those gentle words I felt and heard his love and it was

 

those memories that more than anything helped the

healin once it finally happened but I also remember

 

that spring mornin when Muscle and I were standin

behind the barn with Daddy and that was the day we

 

received our sex education when we all three looked 

across the pond where the bull had mounted the cow

 

and Daddy said "see that?" and Muscle and I looked

at each other and together said "yeah!" and Daddy

 

said "alright then" and in one fluid movement Muscle

and I looked from the bull and the cow goin at it and

 

then up to Daddy then to each other then back to the

bull and the cow goin at it and the sky is turquoise blue

 

and it fills my soul and a crow caws up there somewhere

and I hear a whippoorwill down in the meadow and the

 

beagles are barkin and it's such a beautiful spring day

and I'm glad to be alive and yes that's my formal sex

 

education and I reckon that's all I needed but it wasn't

long after that I started goin to the library and hidin in

 

a corner readin whatever book on sex I could get my

hands on cause I just had to know.

 

 

Ron Whitehead

copyright (c) 1995 and 2008 Ron Whitehead