When Marvin was young about 14 or 15 he lived with grandma, on North sixth Street and Shaw Avenue. One night grandma awakened Marvin and told him that she could hear someone in the kitchen. She had a colt 45, one of the old western type I think. She had Marvin get it and they were after the intruder. She told Marvin to be sure and not to shoot until or unless she told him. The circumstances being as they were and Marvin being very apprehensive, had the gun pointed straight up. They could hear the person in the kitchen. They were standing in the next room moving nary a hair. The intruder rattled the bedroom door knob and grandma sprung into action by saying, "Marvin! Shoot now", and Marvin did. The dilemma was Marvin still had the gun pointed straight skyward. This in turn called for a little roof repair the next day. My father said that Marvin shot the doorknob second shot. The shot and the burglar were off in the same breeze. I don't think anyone ever knew who it was. Marvin told me at one of the reunions about someone that Uncle Bud had been having some problems with and he thought it might have been him. I can't remember the name he told me. He also said he sure was glad that he did shoot in the air.
Kill That Chicken
Before Marvin and Ethel were married, Marvin lived with us on 7th. Street and Shaw Avenue. He had an old Model T touring car with the top taken off. In was in the winter time and we burned wood for fuel to heat our home. On Sunday mornings daddy, Marvin and usually myself would go some where and cut heater wood and haul it back in the back of Marvins T. I was only 4 or 5 years old at the time but one Sunday we went out to the old ford, to go cut wood. Oddly enough this old ford was pretty good about starting. They carried a coil for each spark plug and the coil would generate a pretty high voltage when voltage from the magneto was applied. Marvin flipped the T on Magneto and a terrible screeching noise come from under the hood. Marvin turned the key off and excitedly yelled, “what in the world was that noise?” Dads answer was he didn't know. The first time made Marvin gun-shy, But after the second time he decided some thing was wrong under the hood. Marvin always was a little excitable about the whole world but he lifted the hood to check for the problem. When he raised the hood and poked his head in there to see what was wrong a chicken, making the noises that chickens make, come flying out right in his face. I do believe Marvin must have run backwards for at least fifty feet hollering at the top of his voice. Of course after he got his breath back and quit shaking we all had a good laugh and went on about our wood chopping. This was a very funny incident to me because Marvin was always thinking of ways to booger me. I have some very beautiful memories left over from the time Marvin lived with us, and some time I like to just sit down and spend time reminiscencing about them. Marvin Cooks a PantherMarvin used to tell a story about grandpa and grandma moving to Sevier County. It went that they had just gotten here and they were out of soap. Grandpa fired up the wash pot for her. They had noticed a panther screaming but thought nothing about it. After she got everything going and the soap grease was cooking real good they noticed something running through the woods. In just a little bit the panther run out of the thicket and over to the pot and eat every bite of grandmas, soap she was cooking. Now this just didn't set good with Gramps. He ran over and seized him by the tail and held him over the blaze until he burned the panther up. Gramps really felt better until he opened his hand and there was that little piece of rear appendage with which he had been holding the panther. This infuriated gramps all over again so he threw that little piece of rear appendage in the fire and burned it too. "Now I don't know if this was true or not. I will just let you make up your own mind.