I was raised down in the hollers of Hatchie Bottom, Missippy. Boy, we shore had some good times down thar when the family would all git together! My Momma and her Momma and Daddy, even though they had been divorced before I was even born, would all come. Even my cousins from up in Memphis would be thar. Everbody would brang a dish to pass an' we'd all eat 'til we wuz sick!

Sometimes we would fish and build a campfire and stay out all night long.

My favorite aunt of all, Duddy, has a daughter a few years younger than me named Tammy Lynn. I had another girl cousin, that belonged to my Momma's brother, closer to my age but I couldn't git along with her! An' it jest wasn't me neither! None of us cousins could.

That girl didn't know how to keep a secret, much less have fun, so me an' Tammy Lynn made a plan to jest slip off an' have our fun without tellin' our other cousin, Debbie Jo.

Y'all remembers when that song, "The Streak", by Ray Stevens come out on the radio? Yeah, the one where he hollers, "ETHEL! YOU GIT YO CLOTHES ON!"

Well, me an' my cousin, Tammy Lynn, decided to run naked through the woods one day when all the kin folks was havin' a big git-together, just to see how it would feel to streak - like in that song.

We waited 'til everbody got to fishin' or tawkin' and off we went! Runnin' jest as fast as our feet would take us, deep into the woods, laughin' and shushhin' each other all the way.

Tammy Lynn fell on the ground, out of breath, "Reckon she seen us, Donna Jean?"

"I dunno! Shhh! Be quiet an' listen! Jest be quiet an' don't move! Don't git up!" I said.

We was breathin' so hard we couldn't hear a danged thang but each other an' our hearts!

We finally decided we hadn't been followed.

"Well?" she asked.

"Well what?" I said.

"Well! What do we do first?"

"Aw! Um... I guess we git naked!" I said and then sang, "And they call him the streak, looky a dat, looky a dat..."

Tammy Lynn cracked up laughin', joined in sangin', and started takin' off her clothes too.

Now, what we were afraid of showin' beats me! I was only about twelve, and Tammy Lynn couldn't a been over nine!

We left our clothes where they lay and took off runnin', feelin' free as birds, jest a-sangin' our little hearts out! I never laughed so hard in my life, and I don't think Tammy Lynn did neither! We was cryin' by the time we figured we'd better be gittin' our clothes an' headin' back before we were missed by more than our tattletale cousin, Debbie Jo. She jest always had to know where we was all the time!

When we got back to the spot where we left our clothes, we didn't have none! I mean not one sock was to be found!

"Whar's our clothes?" Tammy Lynn cried with tears formin' in her eyes.

"I dunno! I know this is whar we pulled 'em off though!"

I looked around everwhar but I couldn't find 'em! Tammy Lynn had done busted out cryin' when, all of a sudden, we heard Debbie Jo yellin' from up top of a hill, "Hey Y'all! Looky here what I got!"

Thar was our clothes danglin' in her hands!

"I'm tellin' on y'all!" she yelled, turnin' and runnin' toward the other family members!

"What in the world are we gonna do, Donna Jean?"

"I dunno. Let's hide!" I said.

So we went and hid up in a tree so we could see who was comin' over that hill! We was skeered to death everbody was gonna see us naked! I could have kilt Ray Stevens fer writin' that Streak song! Tammy Lynn was shakin' so hard I thought she was gonna fall right out of that tree!

Then I seen 'em! Here come Debbie Jo and MY MOMMA! Nobody else.

"Look Tammy Lynn! It's my Momma!" I started to laugh.

Puzzled, she asked me, "Why you laughin'? Ain't you skeered you gonna be in trouble?"

"Nah! Come on, let's git down from here!"

Carefully, on account of my naked bootay, I climbed down and ran to Debbie Jo and my Momma.

Pointing at me and Tammy Lynn standing thar naked as the day we was born, Debbie Jo said, "See, Evon!" She was still holding our clothes, "They been runnin' all around naked out here!"

My Momma busted out laughin' -- so hard I thought she was gonna die! "Was it fun?" She finally managed to ask.

"Heck, yeah, Momma! It's fun, free, and I wanna do it some more!" I laughed too.

"Me too!" chimed Tammy Lynn.

"Well, run then! Let 'er rip!" Momma laughed.

And we did! We swung from grapevines naked. We ran and jumped in leaves. My Momma rolled and giggled with us. She told Debbie Jo to stop being such a sourpuss and tattletale.

Debbie Jo sulked up, and went back to pout to her Momma. After about another fifteen minutes of play, my Momma walked us back to the campsite, re-dressed but worn slap-dab out from having so much fun, sanging loud, "And they call them the streaks, looky dat, looky dat!" We was all, 'cept Debbie Jo, laughing our little butts off!

Aaahhh! I love those memories of Hatchie Bottom in Missippy - and havin' such a cool Momma!