My old

Uncle Mort, easily East Texas’ most ancient denizen, never throws anything away. Stuff is stored here and there, including such unlikely items as S&H Green Stamps, “in case they ever come back,” he says. There also are “I Like Ike” buttons and newspaper clippings from the late 1800s.

A while back, he told me of a newspaper item about one of his late nephews who drove a tour bus through Civil War battlefields, pointing out only the sites where the Rebels prevailed. Finally, one lady on board–from Rhode Island–interrupted: “Didn’t the Union troops win any battles in the Civil War?”

“Not while I’m driving this bus they didn’t,” he fumed….

*****

Anyways, Mort

recently recalled a note received 40 years ago from yet another nephew, this one still alive. Now 45, one Jon Benton Newbur

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