Overalls

When I were growing up in Harper we had a overall factory right outside the town limits. They made stuff for one of the big catalog companies. But we didn't have to order our overalls from off in Chicago. We was allowed to go down to the factory and order right off the line. And for a cheaper price too. Now one of the womens what worked at the plant were named Ophelia Alvin. She wore overalls ever day and looked and acted as much like a man as anybody I ever knew. When I passed her on the street she would slug me in the arm like a school bully and then she would laugh like it were funny. I reckon if I looked real close in the mirror I could still see marks where she hit me. As you might have figured Ophelia never married. I reckon she didn't need to cause she roofed her own house, worked her own garden, tuned and repaired her car, and were also a real good cook. She were so strong they let her play on one of the men's softball teams. We used to like to watch her play 'cause she were catcher and when mens was coming into home she would not just tag 'em but make 'em sorry they didn't hold on to third base. I figured she would live to be a hundred, but she died at age thirty-eight. Nobody ever knew why exactly. The doctor said she burned her candle from both ends, whatever that means.