Book 5: Rise and Shine
Mr. Carter sipped coffee and spooned batter into an electronic waffle maker while Mrs. Carter fried bacon in one cast iron skillet and turned scrambled eggs in another. Jimmy slid plates onto the dining room table, and Susanna followed behind to lay out napkins and silverware. Mr. Carter’s sister, Auntie Jane, poured juice in ten glasses and milk in four while Uncle Ed wrestled the little boys, Charles and Johnny, to keep them out of the way.
Mr. Carter’s mother was the only person dressed. She sauntered through the dining room on her way to get a cup of coffee and ruffled her oldest grandson’s hair as she passed. “Are you ready to race?”
Jimmy grinned as he put the last plate on the table. “Yes ma’am.” It was Soap Box Derby Day in Amarillo, Texas, and he had built a glossy white race car.
When Grandmother got to the kitchen Mr. Carter asked, “Where’s Granddaddy?”
“Still sleeping,” she said as she poured coffee.
“Don’t you think it’s time he got up?”
“Probably.” She turned toward the dining room and yelled, “Hey you guys! Go get Granddaddy out of bed.”
All the kids’ heads turned her direction, then all their feet turned the opposite direction, and they ran down the hall and up the stairs to Jimmy’s and Charles’s room.
Mr. Carter’s family had come to Amarillo the night before so they could watch Jimmy race. Grandmother and Granddaddy got the upstairs bedroom, Auntie Jane and Uncle Ed got Susanna’s room, and the children slept on pallets in the family room.
The only light in the upstairs bedroom came from a window shade that glowed a dull yellow from the morning sun. Inside Granddaddy lay in bed on his stomach facing the wall.
The children stopped at the door, peeped into the room, then retreated to the landing at the top of the stairs to make a plan. Jimmy slipped away from the huddle first, snuck into the room, got his horn case, and snuck back out. He removed a shiny trumpet from the case, crept quietly to the door, and raised it to his lips.
When Reveille sounded the others bounded into the room and onto the bed singing, “It’s time to get up/It’s time to get up/It’s time to get up in the morning.” They stomped around the sleeping man, but he outlasted Jimmy’s ability to play, so the children regrouped at the landing.
Cousin Johnny whispered, “He’s playing ‘possum. He’ll lie there ‘til he thinks we don’t know he’s awake. Then he’ll rear up like an old grizzly bear and come after us.”
Jimmy gave the order to re-execute the plan, and they moved silently to the doorway. “This time,” he cautioned, “don’t get so close he grabs you.” He reached inside the door for a baseball bat that leaned against the wall and gave it to Johnny. “Poke him with this and be ready to run.”
The trumpet sounded again, and the kids burst back into the room. They screamed the refrain, “It’s time to get up” for as long as Jimmy could blow. Johnny shoved the bat into his grandfather’s side, then he fell over himself backing away, but the bear didn’t growl. They gathered outside the door again, and on the third assault they took turns running up to the bed, pushing on their grandfather, and running away.
