" 'Without checking the records,' she said, 'I believe I saw you first in this office in fourth grade.'

" 'Yes, ma'am. That was the year me and my mama moved up here from Sikeston. And naming no names, a bunch of girls dragged me into the rest room and pretty nearly took me apart.'

"Miss Spaulding sighed. 'I am afraid, Blossom, it was something you must have said that ... excited their curiosity.'

" 'Oh, well, shoot,' I said. 'Any little thing will set them off.'

" 'Then along about sixth grade,' she continued, 'there was that blue racer snake that Maisie Markham found in her lunch bucket. The poor child actually put her hand on that thing, thinking it was liverwurst sausage. You will recall how the experience affected her digestion.'

" I remembered clearly. Anybody would. 'She's gained all that weight back since and then some.' "