We slept together, me and my two younger sisters, on a pallet laid out on the floor in the living room. We only had one bedroom in our little wooden house, and that was for Mama, Daddy, and my baby brother, Joey. My sisters, Jenny and Molly, were three and five, and I, May Ann, was eight when we lived next to the shoe factory in our little town in Arkansas. We lived down a dirt road in a house with only three rooms and no running water inside. We had an outhouse in the backyard and a spigot in the front where we got water for drinking and our baths. Mama would heat up water on the propane stove in the kitchen and then pour it into a big tin tub for us to use. I remember how good those warm, soapy baths felt, especially on cold days.

My daddy worked at the shoe factory, not in the fitting or cutting rooms, but as the man who kept everything swept up. Daddy said they made lots of shoes each day, so he was sweeping with his big broom all day long, every day. Part of his pay was our house, and he also worked as a night watchman for the factory. Luckily, nobody bothered messing with it much, so he usually just walked around the grounds at 10 and midnight with his flashlight, then headed into bed.

Though we didn’t have much, we did have a lot of love in our family. We were lucky that Mama and Daddy were good to us even though they were always tired. Still, there came the day when I brought home a note from my teacher that I was squinting in class when looking at the chalkboard, and she thought I needed glasses. This was very bad news for all of us because every penny Mama and Daddy made (Mama cleaned a few houses not too far away) was pretty much spent the minute they got their paychecks. There wasn’t one cent left over for a luxury like glasses. I heard Mama and Daddy talking at night after they thought we’d gone to sleep. “I just can’t make it happen right now,” Daddy said, regret in his voice. “Maybe if we save real hard, we can put enough money together in a few months for our little May Ann.”

I heard Mama heave a big sigh. “This is probably why she’s fallen a little behind in her schoolwork. Poor baby. I just hate we can’t help her sooner.”

I lay in bed and wondered if I could come up with a solution on my own. The next day, I asked my ^2nd grade teacher, Miss Johnson, if I could sweep her classroom every day after school for a quarter. I figured since Daddy made money sweeping, maybe I could too. Her pretty green eyes filled up with tears, and she said, “Oh, honey, that is so sweet of you to ask. Are you worried about money for your glasses?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Let me see if there’s anything I can think of to help. After all, two heads are better than one.”

I wasn’t quite sure what she meant by that, but I could tell by her voice that she understood my problem.

Two days later, after school, I was out in front of our house filling up a water jug for Mama when a pretty blue car pulled up. Out stepped a man I’d never seen before. He was wearing a fancy suit, and he walked up, smiling real big, and said, “Are you May Ann Hughes?”

I couldn’t quite find my voice but finally mumbled, “Yes, sir.”

He handed me an envelope. “Please give this to your parents. It’s from an organization here in town.”

He waved goodbye as he got back into his car and drove away.

We opened the envelope once Daddy got home from work. Inside was a gift certificate made out to Miss May Ann Hughes for an eye examination and a pair of glasses at the office of Dr. Alvin Chambers, Optometrist. The card said, To May Ann, who works hard in school and deserves to see clearly. It was signed, The Lions Club.

We all gasped with surprise and delight. A gift of an eye exam and glasses! I had never in my life felt so happy. Mama and Daddy hugged me close. “This is because you’re such a fine girl, May Ann. Tomorrow, we’ll go to the eye doctor and get those glasses. Good for you for making us proud.”

The next morning before school started, I went into my classroom and found Miss Johnson. “Thank you for finding another head to work on my problem.”

She reached out and gave me a long hug. “In this case, it was three heads: yours, mine, and the nice man at the Lion’s Club. But you’re welcome.”

That afternoon, I went with my Mama to Dr. Chamber’s office with my gift certificate. I felt so proud when I handed it to the nice woman sitting at the front desk. She looked at it and smiled, “So, you’re May Ann. I’m so pleased to meet you.”