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"Ten Years From Now"
by- Patsy Jo Reed 25 March 1957

Yesterday, as I was walking down Beale Street in Memphjis, I
met a man. He seemed familiar, but, yet I could not place him. He
turned, walked into a meat market, put on an apron, and started w
weighing up some meat. Not until I saw the sign "STONE's MEAT
MARKET" did I realize that it was my old friend, Jimmy Stone. He
asked me to go home with him and meet his family. At the door, we
were met by three boys, and a tall, slender woman whom I
recognized at once as my old pal Patsy Ellen Anderson.
Later some neighbors dropped in for a visit. They were none
other than Jane Ellen Pharris and her husband Jere Apple.
As I left a man was outside reading meters. He turned around
and, at once, I saw that it was Joe Halfacre. He told me that he had
married a former school-mate of mine, Etta Faye Cassetty, but she
was away on a trip, so I didn't get to see her.
I walked on, and in a few minutes I saw a sign that said, "York's
Shoe Shop." I had known a boy named Troy York in school and I
thought they might be some relatives of his. I walked in and there
stood Troy himself. He invited me to go home with him and meet his
wife. She was, I found out, an old friend of mine, Carol Henson.
I ask Carol if anybody else I knew lived near.
She told me that on one side of Troy and herself Wesley and
Patty Ragland lived, and on the other side Larry and Jo Ann
Whitaker.
Next, I went downtown to an insurance office and who should I
see behind a desk but Ellen Cassetty. She told me she hadn't gotten
married because she couldn't make up her mind between Paul Huff
and Bobby Clemons.
She told me Richard and Nancy Hickok lived next door to the
rooming house where she was staying.
page 2 of story written 25 March 1957 "Ten Years From Now" by PJR
When I left the office I decided to get my hair fixed. I walked
across the street to "Geraldine's Beauty Shoppe." and who should I
see, but an old friend of mine, Geraldine Chaffin. When I ask her
why she didn't put Chaffin on the window she replied that her name
wasn't Chaffin, it was Bailey. She had married Billy Joe Bailey better
known as Wild Bill Bailey.
She had two helpers. One was Carol Long. She told me she
had married Barry Kennedy.
The other one was Donna Kennedy. She had married Billy
Wooten.
There was another customer, too. Carol told me that she was
Naomi Stephens. She had married Jimmy Birdwell.
Today, I am happy because I saw so many of my old friends,
yesterday.
I FOUND THIS STORY IN MY SCRAPBOOK. It was on pink
notebook paper with rounded corners, and neatly written with a no.2
pencil. I wrote only on one side of the paper, and had kept it without
wrinkling or folding it. 20 Dec. 1998 PATSY JO REED SIRCY.

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