A Hillbilly Funeral 
by
Rebecca Anna Coleman
Part Three of Three

I found my uncle stumbling around the small bathroom of the church. He was drunk as a jude, and the moment he spotted me out of the corner of his beady eyes he stumbled toward me. His eyes were glazed over and his breath reeked of cheap, corn whiskey. When he was mere inches from me, he reached out and placed both of his hands upon my shoulder. 

“I want to have them all.” He said as he hiccuped. “I want to have all her books. All of them, I don't want any of the others to put one finger on them. I know you will treasure them. Read them, and care for them. I don't trust the others with them. Listen to me boy.” He hiccuped. 

“I'm listing.” I fet my voice starting to become weak, I could tell he was drink, and I could smell the cheap whisky on his breath/ But he was not the violent drunk, or the falling down sloppy drunk. It was the drunkness of a man who was dealing with a grief so big that he had no other choice but to turn to the  bottle for comfort.

“I want you to promise me something, promise me something boy.” He said hiccuping again. “Promise me something boy.. you gotta promise me.” His voice was unsteady and his motions were all rocky. His voice was low and hollow. 

“I promise..”

“I want you to promise me this. That when you go into Benton Academy, that you will do your best. Keep your grades high, be respectful, but don't take shit from anybody. Don't you ever let anybody tell you that you can't do something because you're too dumb or not smart enough. Cause you can do anything you set your mind to! I believe in you.” His voice was rising a little and his hold on my shoulder was starting to ease  up. 

“Your a different boy, you've always been different, you were always reading her books, you read her book while your other cousins were out in the yard playing cops and robbers and slapping each other upside the head. You were always reading. Watching the Science Channel and the History Channel instead of the cartoon channel. You gotta have a powerful head on your shoulders. You do something with that head of yours.” He paused and smiled. 

“Yes, I will.” I muttered.

“This state is about to change, boy, mark me words Mississippi is tired of being the last in everything. She is tired of it boy and things are about to change. It's going to take time, it might take forty years, but chance is coming as sure as Summer follows Spring and Autumn follows Summer.” My uncle was swaying now. 

“...” I did not know what to say.

“They just passed a bill that is going to allow riverside gambling. That is going to bring money into this state, big money, the city of Vicksburg is already counting its chickens. But it's also going to bring in other business. More business attract new people, new people with new ideas. The Federal Government just opened a large correctional complex in Yazoo City, that is going to bring in new people, new money,  Yazoo City only twenty miles away, that is going to help us out.” My uncle paused.

“Yazoo Chemical is working on enlarging the Chemical plant here in Benton. The Benton Lumber is back in business.  Delta Ready-Mix is back open, going to bring fifty jobs back to this town. Their rebuilding the old train station downtown because Amtrak is about to start coming through this town again. This town has not seen a passenger train since the end of the Second World War. And somebody told me about this new thing called the 'Internet' and its going to huge one day.” My uncle voice was hushed and each word carried a heavy weight about it.

“The Japanese are talking about bring a lot of their car plants to Ridgeland, and Madison, and soon those towns are going to boom, Kenth Helton son, Little Keneth is going to open a bag plant to sell bags to Yazoo Chemical and is going to employ fifty more people. Barge traffic about to reopen on the Big Black River. Once that happens Benton will once more be a port on the Big Black. Their working on expanding the port.. bringing it up to code and even the railroad is running a line down there. Southland Oil is cranking up production and is looking to crank up production. Delta Ice House is expanding and is looking to hire twenty new people this summer.”

“They're building new houses south of town, dozens of them, nice houses. New neighborhoods are being built and I've never seen anything like it. They're going to build a regional vocational center soon right by the highway. And soon a Junior College. Like I said, it might take twenty years or thirty years, but this town going to become something.”

I nodded my head.

“So you make this promise to me, promise me you'll get good grades and when you get in high school, you will focus on your grades and you'll finish with honors and you will go to college and get a degree. Don't get just any old degree. But get a degree that will put food on your table. Clothes on your back and a roof over your head.Get a degree that can support your future wife and children. Get one that will afford you the chance to grow. Allow you to take part in all this growth.” Tears were now rolling down his eyes and his voice was low and soft. 

“Don't be like me boy, don't get stuck working for nickles and dimes. Not when you can be working for quarters and dollars.” He said before I had a chance to speak. “Don't be like them old fools out there, stuck so far in the past they can't see what is in front of them. Their scared son, scared of the world that has gone and grown up and forgotten them.”

“I promise..” I said, taking a deep breath.

“Do it for your aunt..” He said. “Do it, so when you finally meet her again, somewhere beyond the gates. You can tell her all about it, she'll be proud of you, she always was.”
is 

After that.. I don't remember much. I can't recall the service, I can't recall carrying my beloved aunt to her final resting place. I can simply recall pondering how to honor her, how to keep my promise.

The End of Episode One “A Hillbilly Funeral”. Please stay tune to Episode Two, “Hot Chocolate and Secrets” 

Special thanks to the following readers. Emme Anna Tate, Joanne Barbarella, Andre Lena, you are the best big sisters a girl could ask for. And last but not least Ryan Hunter. Who is always willing to listen to his little sister's ideas and support her the best he can. Even if that just  reminds her not to get too carried away. Including reminding her to take her daily diabetic medication because like any good brother, he knows  she often gets so wrapped up in her reading and writing to remember.