Little Buddy was the fourth child in a very large family of eight, born and living in Pinewood, Texas. His daddy was a large burly man who had little patience for errors and often displayed a mean sullen side when he was off work--and at home. His mother was a quiet, loving woman of half Native American ancestry mixed with black. Although busy with her own children, she often devoted time to visit the sick and elderly in her small community and performed housekeeping duties for them when needed.

Lil Buddy was an active child and a leader among his other siblings which carried over to the rest of the kids in his small town. His older brother had moved out of the house when Lil Buddy was 12 years old because of a dispute with his father. Buddy's two older siblings were his sisters Rose and Shirley. The younger ones looked up to Lil Buddy because of his aggressiveness and boldness — a trait that was not approved by his daddy. Buddy had two younger brothers who followed him wherever he went. During the summertime, the brothers were often seen following Buddy into the woods to play make-believe cops and robbers when he was not at the park playing baseball or basketball.

Most of the residents of the place called Koonville were common, hard-working folk who went to church on Sunday and devoted the day to worshiping and fellowshipping with each other until well into the evening. The elder women in the community conversed with each other at the corner store or in one of their front yards. With the approach of fall, you could hear conversations centered around hog butchering time and discussions of how to divide the meat among participating families.

When one of the kids was seen fighting with another while playing at the park, it was common for one of them to call the parents and report what they witnessed. By the time play was over and the kids headed home, their mother was waiting for a report on the day's happenings? This was a place where people looked out for each other and for each other's kids.

Every Sunday, the pastor for the fifty-seat capacity church, came from another town located some 12 miles away, and usually arrived by 8 am. He had no administrative duties as they were taken from him after the church treasurer reported money that was not properly accounted for. The leader of the business ministry for the church was Amos Driver, Buddy's daddy. It was his insistence that the preacher should preach and leave the running of the church business to the deacons. The reverend offered no objection to the demand as he was the third pastor called to this church within the past three years. The last pastor wanted to control the offering plates and scheduled his own fundraisers of fish dinners, and devil and heaven socials with the help of the pastor's aides. The deacons had grown tired of his antics and on the 1st Sunday in July, they scheduled to have him removed, physically if he refused to resign. He declined to leave and Mr. Thompson, one of the church's deacons, walked up to him while he was in the middle of his sermon and threw him over the railing then grabbed him by his ankles and dragged him down the middle aisle for all to see. The preacher was kicking and screaming that God was on his side and they could not do this.

"Ya'll going to hell for this" he screamed.

Mr. Thompson drug him all the way through the double front doors and down the five steps where he landed on the gravel and dirt at the entrance of the church. Mr. Driver, following behind, threw him his hat while he was still on the ground, crying.

"Don't want to see you again, Rev. You come back and you might get hurt, you hear?" warned Thompson.

Lil Buddy, Bobbie and Pinkie came around the side of the church just in time to see the end of the action.

"Hey, Pinkie, there goes your favorite preacher. Man, he looks all dirty and mad, too," said one of the boys.

Old Rev. stumbled to his feet and made his way to his car and got in. He sat there for a few minutes — presumably to get his wits about him — then got out of his car and headed back towards the church. Mr. Driver cut him off at the stairs and again ordered him to leave.

"I told you not to come back here, Rev.! Now, you better get on your way before you really get hurt!" yelled Driver.

"I need to get my keys, deacon! My keys are in my office! ... Now, if you don't mind ..."

"I'll get his keys," offered Deacon Gillam. "You keep 'em there and I'll bring 'em to him."

"Hey Deacon Gillam, get his robe, too. We don't want to leave nothing that belongs to him. What else you got in there Rev.?" said Driver.

"My Bible is on the back table next to my reading glasses."

"Dammit, Gill, make sure you go through that office and get everything that looks like it belongs to him. We need to get this preacher down the road and outta here, now," said Driver.

Those boys were so stunned at the violent dismissal of a man of God, they couldn't help but start laughing. They were leaning against the side of the church laughing when their Sunday school teacher came behind them.

"Hey, you boys ... get back in here, now! You shouldn't be looking at any of this. Let's go ... come on ... come on," said the teacher.

The rest of the Sunday worship was something to behold. The deacons decided that it was their duty to carry on with the services, but they couldn't decide who would be in charge. Mrs. Driver suggested they sing an A & B selection of their favorite songs. Then they could have prayer and dismiss. The majority agreed and Mrs. Driver started singing 'This Little Light of Mine.'

Within a month, the deacons had hired a new preacher in spite of his youth and inexperience. They needed to have a leader who was willing to have limited duties and would leave the single ladies alone.

A park, carved out of a triangle plot of land donated by the county, was the only place for the kids in Koonville to play. Partially surrounded by a dense forest of trees and bushes, the park was also the place where the adults went to have barbecues and gathered the community to socialize on the weekends. So, while the kids played on one end of the park, the cooks lined up on the other and began preparing ribs, briskets, chicken and sausage for their hungry neighbors. Sometimes the park would house the whole village of a hundred and twenty-five individuals — each family bringing their favorite side dish to go along with the meats.

Lil Buddy, whose real name was Amos Jr., was of average size compared to his playmates. However, when it came to competing against his friends in basketball, he was as fast and feisty as them all. He played hard and was a ferocious defender. There was one problem he had that none of his friends had — asthma. So, after about five minutes of hard play, he had to sit out and rest for a half hour or so. He often suffered asthma attacks and gasped for his breath several times a day. His mother had treated him with skunk cabbage which was used by the Dakota and Winnebago tribes to stimulate removal of phlegm from the lungs. Aside from the taste and pungent aroma of the plant, it was efficient and offered him relief for weeks on end. The problem was getting Lil Buddy to recognize when he needed to slow down his athletic activities. Oh, no, Lil Buddy was behind in the game by four points and he did not want to look like a quitter,...