Although a strikingly beautiful woman Ms Francis was never seen in anything other than her denim overalls, an old plaid shirt, a straw hat,sneakers and a broom straw in her mouth She used to watch us after school and did so for a couple of years. While she wasn't mean she was very strict. After we finished doing our homework at the kitchen table we would usually have to go out back in the garden and help her pick field peas, corn, blackberries, collards or whatever else was "Ripe for the pickin" as she put it Ms Francis looked much younger than her years and had smooth dark skin the color. If you had a scar or nick she would, like my grandmother tell us to "go outside and get some sun on that, so it can hurry up and heal" lol... I used to hate after school meals at her house. She didn't have teeth so she took the corn from her garden and cut it from the cob to make creamed corn. She would also make her famous blackberry pies. I didnt care for either of them, but the crust on her pies mixed with the juice was mighty tasty! She would even bring them for dessert when invited to our house for dinner..We hated the seeds from those blackberry pies and sat crunching them and half crying because we were not allowed to be so rude as to not eat it! I stopped eating at her house after school the day she brought a snake's head in the kitchen, fussing that he had no business in her collards! Nobody messed with ms Francis. When the insurance man or the fuller brush man came by, they always knocked on the door then walked backwards down the 3 steps and waited at the bottom until they got the ok from Ms Francis to come into her house..if she felt like it. Although she never wore glasses, I always had to read what they were trying to sell her. To see how much money they were trying to swindle her out of, as she put it She kept her shotgun handy and everyone knew better than to play games with her! The Avon lady learned for good the day Ms Francis cocked that shotgun and told her not to ever knock on her door again trying to sell that fool stuff! Ms Francis lived in a modest, tidy home with more than enough room for just herself. In the living room where we were not allowed to go there were photos of children in graduation caps young men in army uniforms, and more of them growing through the years carefully placed on the walls. Other than bill collectors, Ms francis never had company.This is were the pain and sadness in her eyes came from Im sure She had plastic covering all of her furniture and a plastic runner going through the living room also..she dusted everyday and polished on Saturdays.. She thought the other women in the neighborhood who wore dresses, lipstik and bought their food from the grocery store were 'sedity,silly and 'hot in the tail' women' and they didn't care much for her either. They thought she was dirty, uneducated and poor..they couldnt have been farther from the truth! There was no doubt that she cared for us, some people thought she was our grandmother..but even as she tried to bandage a banged up knee, it was with a clumbiness tht seemed to break her heart..followed by what im sure may have been tears as she would quickly turn away saying 'now get up chile and get back to shelling those peas, you gon live" One day we went over on a Saturday and some people were there carrying out Ms Francis' things, I got the immpression that they were her sons and daughters. She even had a car in the garage,but she never drove it. Where had they been all this time? This is how I would have liked to have seen her atleast once Ms Francis I missed you all these years and yes you did make an impact on my life,but you were wrong about me growing to love creamed corn and blackberry pie, I still dislike them both! M3 character, hair by Maya, the rest postworked in PSP7