My House Was Not a Home

Book excerpt: In Frederic Voss's wonderful memoir, My House Was Not a Home, the author describes life on the farm with an abusive grandmother. His priority was finding other places to be than at "home," a place never referred to as such in the book. Voss's book is, however, not about abuse, but rather the friends that helped him avoid it. There were many characters, good and not so good. In chapter 4, we meet Reg Keetering, the king of the tall-tale spinners, as he conjures "The Man Who Invented Dinosaurs." In chapter 5, Darrell (pronounced Duryl) Campbell regales the boys in the barbershop with the origins of the "Greatest Camel and Goat Herd Dog Y'all Ever Saw." Readers meet the author's best friend, Jimmy, Tehama County's answer to Will Rogers. They'll begin to hate the school bully, Stanley Bater, who picks on only kids smaller than him. Once referred to as "Master Bater," he couldn't figure out why they were all laughing. Among the author's many friends were abandoned dogs that came to the house from the highway. They were taken in and fed and loved. Many were reclaimed by the highway or wandered off or killed in mysterious ways. There is room for their stories too.