Billy and the Cotton Trailer

One of my favorite characters from the Delta is Billy McPherson. Billy's father was a graduate of LSU and supposedly had one of the highest IQ's in the school's history. He fathered four boys and a daughter with his illiterate housekeeper and common law wife..Let's just say all the kids were SPECIAL! The boys were Homer,Pete, Lewis, Billy and one sister,Ada. This morning we are going to tell you alittle about the baby boy, Billy. As long as I can remember Billy was in shool with me. In the days before Special Education, children who had learning problems were mainstreamed with the other students..this was long before Mainstreaming became a common occurence. Back then they called it Social Promotions.My first real recollection of Billy was in the first grade.He was in maybe the 4th or 5th grade and we were scared to death of him because at recess he like to sit on us. He was huge,probably weighing in at near 100 lbs. I have at least 4 or 5 good Billy stories but today I wan't to tell you about one of my favorites..Billy and his older brother Lewis were working as farm hands for Mr.Farrell Katy just south of town on Duck Pond Plantation. They were moving some cotton trailers around in the lane where they were stored. Lewis backed a tractor up to a trailer and yelled for Billy to hook it up to the tractor. Billy looked for a tow pin to slip in the hitch but finding none he decided he would just use his right index finger! Next, he hollered to his brother to pull up and promptly cut his finger clean off! Years later I was witha group of guys from my hunting camp in Natchez, Ms. We had gone into town from Rodney Island where we hunted for a good meal and had stopped off at a local watering hole for a night cap. As we saddled up to the bar I looked out on the dance floor and to my surprise was Billy ,now well into his fortys with a woman ,who had to be eighty,all snuggled up slow dancing..I promptly announced to my buddies that they were going to get to see the real Billy McPherson that they had heard so many stories about. None of them believed me until Bob Spillers ran over for a closer look and came back to the group to annonunce "It is him, he doesn't have a big finger on his right hand!" My creditabilty soared instantly...