Sisterlocked Up: Sonia asks..How did you get that nickname?

Looking back on when I was a little nappy headed girl..unh ..unh..unh… (that’s a lyric from a Steve Wonder song ) sorry I digress. Seriously, when I was maybe 8 years old my mother gave us 2 chicks and 2 ducklings for Easter. I kept them until they were too big to stay in the house plus I grew tired of picking up bird poop. My mother arranged for my little darlings to stay with my grandparents, Momma Nita and Daddy James. I am named after my grandmother in case I need to state the obvious. So we loaded everybody into the car for a visit to see the grandparents. When we arrived I was surprised to see that my grandfather had built a chicken coop for my feathered friends. Each and every trip to my grandparents meant that I got to see my birdies. I fed them and gave them water and let them out from time to time. Their favorite treat, at least I thought so, was dried corn kernels. I would pick them off the cob and feed them until they could eat no more. My grandfather stumbled upon one of my feeding sessions and said….”baby….don’t feed them that there corn…they’ll choke to death.” I innocently replied…”but they ate it all up, they must like it”. He patiently responded…”baby, they’re chickens…they’ll eat anything.” Oh…my bad. I’m not stupid and I surely don’t want to kill my little friends. I fed them the next best thing…..RED CHILI PEPPERS. I simply picked them off the bush and shoved them through the cage and they ate.. and ate…and ate. So here comes Daddy James and he says, “baby…. what are you doing and what are you feeding those chickens.” I said I’m giving them peppers and they like it. That’s when he said “Lawd have mercy Jesus, what am I going to do with you….you’re my little Pepperchild.” So there you have it. He would tell me the story over and over and I’ve never forgotten it. Yeah, I know this sounds like a sweet story but there was a climatic ending. They tried to feed me fried chicken for dinner the following weekend. WTF…I’m still messed up over that but I love me some chicken.