Muskrat - Eye To Eye

It was a cold day in march,and living in a coal camp house we had no running water.I am pretty sure the year was 1965 and,Iwas about four year's old. To obtain drinking water we had to cross a river that the coal tipple turned the wash water from the coal into.Now keep in mind we used water buckets to carry the water back in.My Mother with me intow,set out for the mountain spring.We had to cross a foot log to reach the spring,this was always a scary trip for me.But she wouldnt leave me behind. Now the rule she had for crossing the log, was that i had to stay in front of her,just in case.you know how kid's are,Well all i recall was falling off into that nasty black water from the tipple in the Guest River.Thank God it wasnt very deep that day,when i opened my eye's.I STARTED SCREAMING,there sat a great big muskrat LOOKING at me EYE to EYE,and belive me there was no Muskrat Love,Who ever wrote the song "Muskrat Love" must never had looked one in the EYE!. Now my mother pulled me out of the river,I was ok BUT COVERED in Coal Sludge "YUCK!!".Well her laughing was not Funny to me,but she swore that poor old muskrat took off like a Jet of sort's.All i could say was I AM GOING TO TELL MY DADDY ON YOU FOR TRYING TO FEED ME TO THAT OLD MUSKRAT.now as I look back I wonder about the muskrat and his family,and if he ever relayed the story to his family about the little girl who scared him to death...Yes that way of life was hard on the miner's and their family'sBut it made you tough, after all how many kid's get to meet a muskrat in a river eye to eye and live to tell it her way....... by Oaneatta Stanley Smith