Gramma Sam and I use to go to an old cemetary in New Orleans. All of the graves were built up with concrete borders in case of flood which happened many times in the early days. I thought it was a neat place to play. I never knew who was there that she went to see but I'd climb all over the walls and keep my self occupied.

One night we went to a funeral in someones house, yes that's what they did back then. they had food and visit, and here this cofin with a body in it is sitting there. It was called a "wake". When we left it was dark and we were walking down the street. I had no Idea where we were but then gramma got dizzy and sat down on a step. I ran up and knocked on the door to get help and a woman opened the door and told me to get that drunk off of her steps and slammed the door. That is the last thing I remember, the next thing was helping gramma to lay down on the sofa we had in the long hallway of our house. Soon Mr Sam came in and found us and got her to the hospital. She was in a diabetic comma and stayed there a few days. So how did I get her home? I believe in angels and I know they helped me. I didn't know about them then but as I look back on things in my life They were always there watching over my mom and me.

Once mom had to work across the river in Algiers and had to ride the ferry in the middle of the night. No coat in the winter. Remember , we barely made it from payday to payday, and if it weren't for mom's tips we wouldn't have. One Christmas there was a small Christmas tree on the bar for tips for the two girls to split and mom came in one night and all the money was gone. she never did find out who took it. Anyway she was depending on that for my Christmas. She came home and told Mr Sam I wouldn't have a Christmas because of what happened. He in turn told all the people in the building. She came home Christmas Eve and in the hall by our door was a great big tree with presents under it. She said she sat right down and cried..Mr Sam didn't know anything about little girls and he bought me a rocket launcher thing that made alot of noise. (once at Easter he left a case of solid chocolate easter bunnies outside our door. They were so rich and sweet I think I ate a couple over a couple months and mom gave the rest away.

As I said before, Mr Sam use to take me to the catholic church and I was about 7 . One day there were some kids walking down the isle with white dresses and the boys were all decked out in white. Mr Sam told me to go with them and do what they did. Soooo, me in my little red cordary shirt and pink sweater joined them down front at the alter. You should have seen the look on the Priest face when he saw me. I can still remember it. Anyway he gave me the wafer and I went back to my seat. no one ever told me why I did that but of course I found out years later. The important thing is to know that showed how much Mr Sam loved me, He was concerned for my spiritual being. (He tried) Later!!!!