I would not be six till early May and it was only January. I had wanted a pair of kneehigh rubber boots, the shiny kind I had seen in the catalog, and I did get a pair for Christmas. I was proud of my new rubber boots and wore them all Christmas Day.

But now it was past Christmas and into a new year. My older brother Jack was back to Hickory School in the third grade. My little brother was only two. I didn’t have much to do.

The weather had moderated some. Dad had about finished his chores of milking the Jersey cow, feeding the old sow, gathering the eggs and feeding his hounds.

Hunting season was over for him.

Trapping season was over too. I think he had 10 days from the first of January to get his traps collected and to get rid of the fur. The weather had been so bad he couldn’t get to his trap line, but now with the weather moderating a little, he was anxious to go get his traps and have them ready for next season. It was a job he had to do. There wasn’t much pleasure in it for him.

It had been a good trapping season. Dad was a good trapper. He was called “Trapper Dave” by his friends and hunting buddies. He caught several mink, muskrats, dozens of raccoons, many red foxes and a number of possum and skunk, much to his disgust. You were allowed 25 traps per license. Dave had a trapping license, Mom had a trapping license, Grandpa had a trapping license and my older brother Jack at age 8 had a trapping license. That made a hundred traps Dad could have set out. He had three trap lines he would run every other day during trapping season. Mr. Griffin would come every couple of weeks. They would climb in the barn loft where Dad hung his fur and haggle over the price till all was satisfied. It was commonplace to see a check for fur of $80 or $100. That was a lot of money in those days, but it had to last till spring and carpenter work opened up.

But now it was time for him to go and take up the traps. Mom said, “Why don’t you take Roy Lee with you? It’s warming up some, the sun is out. Get him out of the house for a change.” Even though I was just