Old Ocean
Mother and Pop first moved us boys to the red ground-level duplex in Old Ocean. Pop drove and Mother was in the front seat with him. Allen Brown (one of Pop’s brothers) was up there, too, if I remember correctly. We boys,–Jimmy, Bobby and I were all crowded into the back seat. Pop’s younger brother, David, was in the back, too. I know, for he sat in my lap all the way–252 miles! He was a few years older than I, AND HE WAS HEAVY! I do remember!
It seemed like Pop drove all night, but it was only five or six hours. On the way, we stopped to get a bite to eat at some roadside store/cafe. As Pop was paying the bill, he saw some candy bars with peanuts in them on sale real cheap and bought the whole box of them. Later, on the road, we ate several before discovering that they were all full of wiggly worms. Pop had also found some BB’s on sale there for a nickel a tube and bought me a whole dollar’s worth of them for my gun. It was a kindness I will never forget; for, I loved my BB gun.
My first memory of seeing Old Ocean the next morning is one of disillusionment. It was a conglomeration, or, rather a series several rows of one-story red brick houses (maybe duplexes; I don’t remember) with a backdrop of a huge oil refinery a couple of blocks away,–maybe a little farther. The refinery had several tall pipes that emitted smoke or steam, and there were several other tall pipes burning gas flares day and night. The terrain was completely flat and grassy all around, but it was only a short walk to the nearest woods. There were no isolated trees nearby. Why it was called Old Ocean was a mystery to me. We were about 25 miles from the Gulf of Mexico., as the crow flies. It was explained to me that where we were used to be on the beach of the Gulf. Though, how long ago, I never learned. We were still only a few feet above sea level.
Mother and Pop left the same day and went back to Waco to get the rest of our things. And, Peggy. We must have pulled a trailer that first trip, because I think we had beds to sleep in from the beginning. But, I don’t remember a trailer.
Our first meal in our new home was a bachelor affair, just us boys. We had coffee and a can of peaches. The coffee was cooked in the peach can. I must have eaten all the peaches, because I was the only one that got ptomaine from them and I became very sick. I slept as though dead for a long time. When I awoke it was almost dark, or so I thought. They told me I had slept all day and all the next night and it was almost morning again. Well, at least I wasn’t sick anymore.
I think it was a Saturday. At least one of our first days there. We decided to walk to Sweeny, the nearest town, which was three miles south of us. I don’t recall why we went there. Perhaps to get some groceries or to see a movie or just to see what the town was like. Anyhow, it was a six-mile round trip, and was a welcome activity. Nothing of significance seems to have come of it.
Mother and Pop came back soon with all our stuff and with Peggy, and we set up housekeeping. It was our new home. We all found things of interest to keep us occupied and learning.