I met Frances Dupre at Wal-Mart last week and she said, “Nina, I enjoy your column ‘Recollections’ in The Daily Review so very much!” She told me that her husband always tells her not to forget the Friday Review so they can read my column. She said that it was so different from other writers; my articles are so funny and true to life; and that I don’t pull any punches. She says that she clips every one out of the paper and saves them for other people to read.
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Remember when people used to get boils everywhere? It was either on the back of your neck or on your behind. I remember the time when out teacher told us that anyone who came in late would have to stand up in class. Well, that suited me just fine, especially when I had a boil on my behind. I usually made it my business to come in late!
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If you have never been to Paris and seen the Eiffel Tower, you don’t need to go. There is a replica of the Eiffel Tower in Morgan City on Brashear Avenue back of Barousse Furniture Store. They don’t have steps, but if you want to get to the top, you will have to go by helicopter.
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Remember when Johnny Breal used to run Riverside Packing Co.? They used to ship out crab meat all over the country. Lonnie Cortez, who was Johnny Breal’s overseer, would blow a steam whistle at Riverside every morning, which could be heard all over Berwick and beyond.
It was a musical whistle that played all sorts of tunes and it reminded the crab pickers that there was another day’s work at Riverside and they were needed to process the large quantity of crabs.
The crab pickers came in droves from everywhere and the crabs could only be described as “humongous.” Lonnie told me that on some days the crabs were so big that it took two crab pickers to pick one crab. One day, I saw Lonnie with a ball-peen hammer and I became curious. I asked Lonnie, “what’s with the hammer?” And, he said “that’s what they crack the claws with.”
What ever happened to those large crabs? Today, the crabs are so small and light that you have to put a net over the crabs while you are eating them to keep them from floating away.
If my friend Tarville Davis should be living today, he would eat 40 dozen of those light- weight crabs – just for an appetizer!
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