This is old blow us and I'm gonna go on with this story that I was telling you about the spelling be the community spelling be down here And you remember last time I told you about the two captains preacher Crockett you know preacher Crockett's kind of easy going and and and then Jack's you maker You know Jack's you maker. He was the other captain and he kind of he kind of high-strung But he don't mean no harm. He is the the medicine man down there What I mean is out there's a word for that he he mixes up that medicine, but I just called him the medicine man But everybody in the community participated except O'Carol. Oh Carl He said he wasn't gonna play and didn't nobody argue with him I've got an idea that Carl probably can't spell much better than I can but anyway the rest of us played took part in it and Carl did He brought us some some drinks, you know down here He furnished the drinks and he brought us some you know peanuts and and then Hostess no balls and cupcakes and stuff like that.
So he he did take part, but he just didn't spell with us He said he'd stay there and watch so What I'm gonna do is tell you what happened to me in this spelling me and then I'll come back and tell you What happened in the spelling bee and how it come out? So what I've got to do I've got to start back and I'm not rambling But I've got to start back when I was a boy to let you know so this'll make sense to you but when I was a boy about nine years old I had this friend and his name was ponder and Me and ponder done just about everything together you know and we used to play games together and shoot marbles and We used to look at the Sears and Roboc catalog and see back then if you wanted to buy some well They didn't have no stores stores out in the country So what you do would be you'd look at the Sears and Roboc catalog and pick out what you wanted And then when you got your money saved up you'd ordered and then send it to you in the mail Well ponder he showed me This place where you could order these belt buckles from the catalog and they was they was Metal belt buckles, but they had your name spelled out in gold and they was real pretty I liked them and he did too. We both wanted this one so we started saving our money and Ponder got his money saved up first and he ordered his belt buckle from Sears and Roboc Well, I finally got my money saved up and I was gonna order it But my daddy found out about it and he said you ain't gonna order no belt buckle from that catalog He said there's a lot more stuff you need. He said what you ought to do is get you a pig Well, when I think back about it, I reckon my daddy was right I reckon there's a lot of stuff that I wanted or needed more than that belt buckle But I sure did want it, but I didn't get it and I was I was kind of mad for a while But then I you know you get over stuff and and so but Ponder got his belt buckle and he showed it to me and he wore that belt Buckle around until it turned green about two years Well anyway, let me get back to the spelling bee now because now I think this will make sense to you So the way it works is that you line up the two teams You know one on one wall and one on the other and then you just go back and forth You know, I'll locate between the two teams and you'll give a word out to the first man And if he gets it spells it then he can stay there and stand up and stay in the game But if he misses it, he's got to go sit down and his nights through you see Well, they start off with the easy words and usually you know most of them get spelt but sometimes You know somebody will miss one of them easy words and there was a couple of grown men That missed words and they they sat down and of course they was good-natured about it They everybody was in a you know good mood and they didn't take it.
No, you know personal or nothing now There was a boy. He was about seven years old and he missed the word and he come his crime But you know a kid's gonna do that I mean some kids will and his mom was there and she you know pettied him and everything But most people was you know in a real good mood and so they went on around I was pretty close to the end of the line and they went on around them down the line and they finally got to me and Everybody you're kind of laugh You're chuckled because they know I couldn't spell and and they know that I was going out and they didn't mean no harm They just thought it was you know funny and I I didn't you know take no offense at it, but oh Francine Adams was giving out the words and She said Mr. Porter your word is ponder and I looked at her and I thought she was I thought she was laughing at me and because I didn't think she know no ponder and I said oh Miss Adams I said what is my word really what do you want me to spell? I said I'll give it a give it a try And she said well your word is ponder that's what I told you ponder and I said how did he get in the book and She looked at me like I was crazy and she didn't know what I was talking about and she said Mr.
Porter, I'm telling you that your word is ponder and I said well P-O-N-D-E-R and you would have thought I'd hit a home run or that I had won a heavyweight championship because everybody come in to Holland and whistling and stomping the floor and and O'Jimmy Vanderstig come up there and he brought me a great knee high and He said you earned this and of course you wasn't supposed to get no drinks until after you'd sit down But but he was he was congratulating me so I took the great knee high but I was you know I was really Fused about how that word got in that book and so I asked preacher Crockett. He was standing next to me And I said you know I don't want to hold the game up but I said how did his name get in that book and Preacher Crockett he said well who are you talking about and I said ponder that boy that I growed up with well He laughed and he said Blowers he said that's just a coincidence he said that that's just a coincidence he said there is a word Called that's ponder and it means to think about something It means to you know to mull it over or to think about it And he said you just ponder that for a little bit and So I thanked him and the game went on Well the next time they come to me I don't remember what the word was that she give me but of course I couldn't spell it and I I give it a try She shook her head and said no that's I think right you go had to sit down and I didn't you know they all clapped for me again and so I went sit down and dropped my grape knee high and So oh Jack Shoemaker he was a captain of the other team and I told you he's kind of a you know a wise guy And he said now you got all night to ponder and so I didn't you know I didn't pay no attention to Jack Shoemaker but I sat there and watched watch the spelling be there and and I I enjoyed it, you know watching the people spell and So anyway, I'm going to stop right here. This is a good place to stop and In the next podcast that I do I'm gonna tell you how the spelling be turned down and I'm gonna tell you what happened It was it was kind of funny, but I mean in a way, but it was it was kind of pitiful too But I'll let you know I'll tell you about it during the next podcast and I'll just wind this spelling be up next time