Scoop Biggers: The Nankipooh School Series

The Nankipooh Enquirer

"Covers the South like Sorghum Syrup"

P. O. Box 1849

Nankipooh, Georgia

Editor in Chief: Colonel Bascomb Biggers

Ace Reporter : Scoop Biggers

bascombbiggers@bellsouth.net

THE NANKIPOOH SCHOOL SERIES

"2nd grade at Nankipooh School"

My mama was from Nankipooh, Georgia and my daddy was from Napa California. When they split up, Mama and me moved to Nankipooh from Napa, California in 1953, when I was seven years old. I had gone to kindergarten in the town of Napa, and then attended the first grade at a Napa County School, so Nankipooh Elementary was my third school in the first three years in my life as a student. Now, I don't remember a lot about that first year at Nankipooh, I don't even remember the second grade teacher's name.

What I do remember about the second grade, was that my voice was different from the other kids, which to them meant that I was a Yankee, since I didn't have a southern accent. I tried to explain that I was a cowboy from California, and I really didn't know what a Yankee was, but it didn't make any difference. Everyday at recess in the front school yard we would play Civil War. Me and the two twins would be the Yankee Army and the other dozen little boys would be the Confederate Army. We all had sticks that we pretended to be rifles, and the Confederates would chase us all over the playground around the swings and teeter-totters, until recess was over and then they would hit us with their sticks, and it would be over until the next day.

Now I don't mean to say that I didn't like a good game of "Army" when I was seven, but I started trying to learn right then how to talk like a southerner. Somewhere about half the way through the third grade, I got it right, and I didn't have to be a Yankee any more.

"3rd grade at Nankipooh School"

By the time I got to the third grade, I still didn't know the kids in my class very well, as I had not wanted to spend my summer between second and third grades playing "Civil War". My Grandpa ran a little country store, and when I wasn't playing with my two cousins, Susie and Mary, I was at the little house next door to the store, playing with the two little black girls, Brenda and Sissie, who lived there. One day their mama, who was a good cook, had fixed some cornbread that was sure enough good, and she gave some to us with a glass of buttermilk. The girls started crumbling up the cornbread into their buttermilk, and made it look really good. Now I had tried buttermilk before, but didn't like it because of the sour taste, but they made it seem so good that I just had to try it. Well I crumbled the hot cornbread up into my glass and took a big swallow, and it was so awful tasting that I spit it out all over the kitchen. Their mama almost died laughing, and said "son, you shore ain't no southern boy yet!"

The bright spot in the third grade was the teacher Mrs. Revelle. She made school interesting, and also was a kind and loving teacher. I guess she felt a little sorry for me since I was still the "new kid", so she gave me a little extra help, and even took me home to spend the night at her house one time. With her help I was learning at school, and also learning how to be a southern boy, and talk the right way. By the time the third grade was over, I talked a lot like a southerner, but to this day I still don't like buttermilk, but I shore do love cornbread!