I’ve made a living of sorts by writing, but it never occurred to me to relate tales of my family. Now my cousin Brooke Cox brings both comedic touch and spiritual insight to stories as simple as pick’n green beans or stepping on the Dachshund Little John in her book, “Saucy Southern Stories.”
It’s a good read, even if you’ve never heard of my family. But, if you grew up in the Pedigo section of North Knox County, you probably knew a Clark or Cox, depending on your age.
My grandpa, E.O. Clark, was a teacher and the principal of Green Hill School (now called Copper Ridge Elementary). Myrtle Clark was strong-willed. Before the school system ever thought of a hot lunch program, grandma was at Green Hill making soup and sandwiches. She was an excellent cook, fixing the main meal at noon for the farmhands and heating leftovers for dinner. Most of all, she loved to sing. Brooke writes about sitting with the “choir ladies” at church.
Brooke writes about her grandparents, Eldred and Martha Jo Clark, both now deceased. She recalls how Eldred once tried to load a tractor on a trailer pulled by a farm truck. He meant to be on flat ground, but when he drove the tractor up on the trailer, the truck started to move. There was Eldred sitting on a tractor on a trailer behind a truck that was rolling toward Pedigo Road with no one to stop it.
“Papaw said, ‘I was pressing the brakes on the tractor for all I was worth, but it didn’t work.’ I think Knox County should put up a road sign in front of my grandparents’ house: Drive by at own risk.”
Brooke’s husband, Tim, is a taxidermist. Her story about the time he asked her to hold a deer’s head while he mounted it on a plaque is classic. The title says it all, “Deer Antler Toothpicks.”
I even made one chapter, although Brooke was kind enough not to name me. She was just 8 when I dropped by to take grandma to a movie. Brooke and her mom, Gail, decided to join us. Gail would drive. On our way to the Park Theater on Magnolia, we ran into some weather. Heavy rain, dark skies, leaves and limbs blowing through the air, and a power outage. Gail ducked behind a 3-story building for shelter. We later learned we were in a small tornado. And the whole point of the trip was to entertain grandma, who was on strict orders to stay calm after having had a serious heart attack.
Brooke makes these everyday situations funnier and more interesting than they probably were. Although, when you read them all in one place, it does make our family seem accident-prone and oh-so-stubborn. Brooke has found her niche as a writer. And she’s working on public speaking as well. You can contact her at coxbrooke3@gmail.com.
Sandra Clark is editor/CEO of Knox TN Today.