[...]... till I was grown My mama, Tommye, was a farm girl from Barry, Texas, who sewed every stitch of clothing we wore, baked cookies, and cheered me on at Little League As a girl, she and her sister and brother all rode a horse to schoolthe same horse, all at once Her brother's name was Buddy, and her sister's name was Elvice, which was pronounced "Elvis," a fact that would later become something of a problem... second massa was whoever owned the store where you got your goods on credit Sometimes both a' them men was the same Man; sometimes it was a different Man The Man that owned the land was always wantin you to plant less and less food, and more and more crops he could sell for cash money In Red River Parish that meant plantin cotton from the doorstep to the edge of the road That Man wound up bein your massa... we was eatin was comin out of the woods or the ground Aunt Etha's garden was fulla good things like field peas, butter beans, onions, sweet taters, and ash taters I remember the sweet smell when she'd cut up a mess of wild peaches or pears and cook em down with sugar It was a fine mornin when she rolled out the biscuits and put out the preserves, tastin sticky and sweet, like heaven in the summertime... it was: hot Lord-a-mighty, it was hot Hot enough for the devil and his angels Then there was the bugs and skeeters Zoomin in off the bayou, seemed like they was big as gooses and twice as mean Ever day, we'd light out just about the time the sky at the edges of the fields turned a little pink with mornin, but you could still see some stars I'd pick all the day long, pluckin me four or five pieces of. .. for you to be chaste Can I get a witness?" `Amen!" the church would holler "Praise Jesus!" I couldn't see nobody sayin' it'cause I was way down below the windowsill But I remember that the folks inside seemed mighty enthusiastic After the sermon, the choir would sing some more Then someone would pass the offerin plate out the window, and BB would drop in some coins and pass it back in Me and Thurman... sheriffs, that liked things just the way they was Lotta times this was mighty discouragin to the colored men, and they would just up and leave, abandonin their women and children Some was bad men But some was just ashamed they couldn't do no better That ain't no excuse, but it's the God's honest truth I didn't know hardly nobody that had a mama and daddy both So me and my big brother, Thurman, lived with... save me! " I only heard Chook holler one time then he was quiet I stood there and screamed and watched my grandmother burn up 4 AS I mentioned, I did not start out rich I was raised in a lower-middleclass section of Fort Worth called Haltom City, a town so ugly that it was the only one in Texas with no picture postcard of itself for sale in the local pharmacy No mystery there: Who would want to commemorate... my mama "Everybody here is dressed different than me They're all wearing madras shirts." "What's madras?" she asked I fumbled around for an explanation "Well, it's kind of like plaid." Now, Mama meant well, but to her plaid was plaid She drove down to Hancock's Fabric Store and bought several yards of it, and whipped me up a matching shirt-and-shorts set In the meantime, Scoot and I landed our first... Nobody ever told me how I got my name Denver For the longest time, nobody ever called me nothin but Li'l Buddy Supposably, when I was just a little bitty fella, PawPaw, my granddaddy, used to carry me around in the front pocket of his overalls So that's why they called me Li'l Buddy, I guess I never really knowed much about my mama She was just a young girl, too young to take good care of me So she did... "Hey," he says to me, traipsin along "Hey," I said "Where you goin?" "Home." "Where's home?" "Over yonder," I said, jerkin my chin in the gen'l direction "Wanna go ride bikes?" Well, that stopped me in my tracks I turned and eyeballed this fella He was kinda regular lookin, about my same size with some freckles on his nose and a curly mess of brown hair with some red in it like somebody'd dusted his . experience. Same Kind of Different as Me opened my eyes in a new way to a problem that remains largely out -of- sight, out -of- mind all across our nation. As Mayor of Fort Worth, Texas, where much of this. his or her fellow man, Same Kind of Different as Me is truly a work for the ages. Mike Moncrief Mayor, City of Fort Worth Same Kind Of Different As Me is a compelling story of tragedy, triumph,. everyone we come in contact with. This is truly a wonderful book! -Mrs. Barbara Bush Same Kind of Different As Me was a blessing to read. Ron and Debbie Hall took me on their journey of becoming