A Perfect Christmas Gift
My Uncle Emmett was my favorite uncle, and it was for a very simple reason. I was his favorite nephew. He was so special, I called him by his preferred name, Emmett, instead of Pernay, like most of the rest of the family. Every summer that I could, I spent with my Uncle Emmett and Aunt Sallie in Greensboro. I used the excuse that I could get a construction job easier there. The truth was because these two people, and my cousins Treva and Gay, made me feel like I was the most important boy in the world. In the case of my Aunt Sallie, she did this in spite of the fact that she was dying of cancer.
The last summer I worked with Uncle Emmett, just after I turned 16, it was just he and me in the house. My Aunt Sallie had died the fall before. We logged ten- thousan
