John's Birth Day

My brother John Alexander Jensen III, as he said in the previous post, was born in Franklin on June 1 1947, when I was four years old. As with my birth, my mother was staying with her parents again.

I called my grandfather Honey, because that's what my grandmother called him, and I thought that was his name. He was thereafter called Honey by all his grandchildren - and he was a Honey. He was so sweet and kind and calming. However, we called my grandmother "Grandmother", which also seemed appropriate. She was definitely the dominant, authoritarian one.

When John was born, Honey was working at the St Mary's Coop sugar cane factory, halfway between Jeanerette and Franklin, and they were living in Jeanerette. The closest "hospital" was the clinic in Franklin. I'm sure Mother was glad to have a medical facility for her second delivery.

Grandmother went with Mother to the clinic, and Honey was in charge of me. He was driving me and a little boy friend of mine to Franklin to visit Mother. The two of us were in the back seat playing. This was way before child seats or even seat belts. Somehow I hit the door handle and fell out of the car, but Honey didn't notice. For one thing, he always kept his eyes on the road, and I'm sure our rambunctiousness didn't bother him at all. There was, of course, no air conditioning, and all the windows were open, so I guess he didn't know the back door was open. The little boy stuttered, and under the stress he was unable to talk. He just kept making noises, and finally, several miles down the road, Honey looked around. I'm not sure how I got to the clinic, but I think Honey just picked me up and drove me there.

There was only one doctor at the clinic, and he was called away from Mother to take care of me. They didn't tell Mother what had happened because they didn't want to upset her. However, she kept saying she heard her baby crying - the clinic was very small, so she undoubtedly could hear me - but they told her it was another child.

I guess the doctor was worried about me. They thought I might have had a concussion, and I was covered with blood. It turned out that all that was wrong with me was that I was covered with brush burns. However, the doctor never got back to Mother, and she had to deliver another child without a doctor. I guess Grandmother was getting pretty good at assisting with childbirth by then.

John has always said that I stole all the attention away from him on the day he was born - and I never stopped.