Growing up in the Thirties

About the Book

Here is a lively collection of entertaining true stories, for both young and old, put together from an ambitious memory, all traditionally American happenings featuring deep South characters. With a force of unrest in young George, he finds confusion of things and gets in and out of many difficult state of affairs. His beloved Grandmother Jessie, using no mean remarks, accomplishes her purpose of teaching him many important rules of life. George has no idea how ‘Chicken Bob' is going to get his 'dropped' dentures back, from the bottom of the deep water well, until Grandma comes to the rescue and shows them how. When George ties the end of the barbed wire to the tongue of Milord’s little red wagon, with his cousin sitting inside it, and the other end of the wire to the horn of the saddle on Grandpa Will's spooky plow mule, he is unwittingly setting things up for a whirlwind ending. Later in life, while accompanying Grandpa, an Uncle Andy on a fishing trip George is heartsick when he looks at the mess Grandpa has gotten himself into, merely by spitting on his fishhook, for luck, like he always did. At age 16, George sets out on a disappointing, adventure working on Uncle's sock selling truck, helping him sell his mismatched socks, with heavy seams across the toes. George's heart is in his throat when he sees his uncle parade through town pulling a man with a hangman’s rope around his neck. Is he truly going to hang that man? Uncle thought he was the snake’s toenails, always postponing payday for George. Finally realized when it came to getting Any money out of Uncle, he could just fuhget about it.

About the Author

Born in Alabama, George B. Carson attended Powell and Philip Schools in Birmingham, Alabama. As a young man he worked with his Uncle Andy in the traveling retail sales business. When his family moved to Arkansas he was employed in the sawmill industry. In 1943 George married Velda Pearson and they had two daughters. George moved his family to Miami, Florida where he worked as a Tom’s Peanut Salesman for five years. He became a distributor for Tom’s Peanuts covering the countries of Highlands, Desoto and Hardee. He retired from the Peanut business in 1978 and began writing. He studied short story writing and graduated from the International School of Writing; he also studied Creative Writing in the local Writing Club. Twelve of his short stories have been published in the Tampa Tribune.