Ms. Donna Derden

Recollections of a Southern Belle Ms. Donna Derden

Recollections? Y?all want to talk about recollections? Why, I?m full to bustin? with recollections. I can recollect on the time my Great-Granddaddy was sold into slavery, bless his soul. Or the time my brother like to died in the Mighty Mississippi River. And child, the very day Martin Luther King died, I had three of my kinfolk right there, practically in throwin? distance of the Lorraine Motel. That?s a powerful recollection there ?cause they saw it all! The stories I could tell?and I do tell too ?cause everybody knows I can?t hold water. No secret is safe with me. I mean, I try and try to keep stuff to myself but words just kinda fall out of my mouth sometimes? And another thing, I have a mind like a steel trap! That, along with my loose lips are a pretty lethal combination. ?Least that?s what people say about me. But I don?t get mad as long as they say it to my face. To my credit, I did manage to go on a gossiping fast for a couple months. But, y?all, my head got so full I thought I was gonna have to get a CAT scan. Anyway, after I broke my fast I vowed to do better. Instead of talking so much, I started writing down my recollections. Mostly stuff about my monstrously big, happy family. Pretty soon, I had a whole volume of recollections to share. So, I decided to do what I do?tell it! Right neighborly, don?t you think? I?m gonna tell it all ?cause y?all know I can?t hold water. And, if people don?t like it, they can just lump it ?cause they shouldn?t have told me in the first place. After all, they didn?t just meet me yesterday!