Well, once Christmas was over and idea that we were visiting company died down, we needed a place to live. My uncle Jim sent us to see his neighbor. The man's name was Louie Tittle. Louie and his dad had built a small house to use as a rental. It had set empty for a year because it didn't have any  water. When he knew my folks would rent it, Louie spent the money to get a well drilled. The water was awful. It turned "rusty" over night. Made terrible coffee and tea. stained all the light clothes that it got on. Louie was one of those backwoods boys that could write for "Mother Earth News" and never run out of material. He showed up one day with a laundry tub and some white sand. Turned those items into a first rate water filtration system.

Louie was married to a gal named Carrie Mae. A very sweet and gracious woman.  They had two children a son named Quinton and a daughter named Linda. Louie's dad owned a coal mine in Townley, Alabama between Jasper and Carbon Hill. Louie worked the coal mine and loved to fish or hunt every chance he got. He was a very tall man, I'd guess at least six feet ,six inches. Carrie Mae was a least a foot shorter. The time spent mining and breathing bad air was evident in Louie's appearance. He was bald and his skin had that dark tinge that came from working in air filled with dirt and coal dust. 

Louie and Carrie Mae turned out to be good land lords and equally good friends. The little house didn't have indoor plumbing or any heat system but it would have to do until we could find something better. We would eventually spend about one year in the Tittle house. Louie would continue to work on the place and make it more livable. He never painted the place. The lack of paint made the house appear worse than it really was. Typical "Shotgun" house as my dad called them. By that he meant you could shot through the window on one end with a shotgun and out a window on the other end without hitting a stick of furniture. There was a bunch of "Shotgun" houses in that part of Alabama. 

We would in time move from the little house but the friendship between the Tittle family and my family would last from then on. I guess thats what true friendship is about. Hard to put into words, its more of a feeling in your heart.