Missouri Seventeen - Text
Caucasian female, born 1980 in Smithville, MO. Reads The Rainbow Passage. Recalls a story from her childhood, involving a talking catfish. Recorded by Rob Eigenbrad (on behalf of Louis Colaianni) 4-3-01 and edited by Shawn M. Muller. Recording length 00:03:18.
TRANSCRIPTION OF UNSCRIPTED SPEECH
A story from my childhood is (um) my grandparents had a farm, and we would often go fishing up at the farm, and one day my dad and my grandpa took me fishing, and I caught a catfish. And I was probably w-- five years old at the time. So I caught the catfish, reeled it in, and Grandpa grabbed the fish. Took the hook out of its mouth an’ was holding it. It was-- pretty good size fish. And (um) he was able to squeeze the fish in such a way that the mouth would move; he could control it. And Grandpa Al started making the sounds of a fish, and the sounds, you know, like he’s speaking to me. The fish was saying, you know, [in falsetto] “Sarah, throw me back. Don’t eat me please.” [Interview laughs] We didn’t eat the fish, and we threw him back.
I was (um) the kickball champion. My team was the reigning kickball champion, in first and second grade. I was team captain, and you know….