Loretta Lynn_ Coal Miner's Daughter - Loretta Lynn [63]
Jack just finished up the army at Fort Campbell, Kentucky. Some days he talks about taking off for California on his motorcycle. Other times he talks about going to veterinarian college because he loves animals.
Jack used to work on the ranch, but it was too much responsibility. We’d be on the road and he’d be having trouble with the help, so we had to let him give it up. Ernest Ray, our second boy, had the same problem. When he works on the ranch, we make sure to give him a separate job, where he won’t bother the help. Ernest don’t mind working hard and getting all dirty—when he wants to. When he doesn’t, you can’t make him do anything.
Ernest is the boy on all my religious albums. He’s the most handsome boy you ever saw in your life, but is he ever mean! Ernest can tie you up with his little finger when he’s sweet. He’ll go over to old people and listen to ’em for hours, and they’ll swear he’s the sweetest boy they ever met. But he’s the same boy that’s always getting into car wrecks and stuff. He just hasn’t grown up yet.
He’s always been so beautiful. I never cut his brown curly hair until he was three years old. When we did it, I cried more than he did. Ernest liked being a baby. After we had Cissy, he used to swipe her bottles during the night. We’d get up in the morning and he’d be top-heavy from drinking three or four of her bottles.
When he was little, I put Ernest on my religious album because he had such a sweet face. He can sing and play the guitar real good. I even take him on trips with me, after warning my boys not to get him in trouble. But it turned out the joke was on me. When Ernest was around fourteen, we were on some long bus trip, and he was up front with the band. I got to wondering if my boys were protecting him. I went up front after a while and there was my band, rolling on the floor, laughing. I asked Don Ballinger what was so funny and he said, “Mom, Ernest Ray told us a story that was dirtier than anything we know!”
I also told the boys to keep Ernest out of trouble when we got to the big cities. But it was no use. Ernest could find trouble if you tied him in chains.
But he could sure sell albums. He would tell the crowd, “Buy two Loretta Lynn albums from me—because I’m her son!” He’d come back to the bus with his hands loaded with dollars. He’d sell more than my whole band.
Ernest got married a few years ago to a sweet little girl named Cindy. They live at our place most of the time. We keep telling him he’s got to get himself a life of his own, but he doesn’t want to push himself. We told him we’d stop paying for all the things he bought, but he’s too smart to believe us. I know he’d like to have his own car-repair shop—when he came back from the marines, he offered to fix Jack’s motor. He swore to Jack that he’d worked in the marines’ repair shop. So he fixed Jack’s motor—then it blew up! Later Ernest admitted that his job was sweeping the floor at the repair shop. He’s had a couple of motors blow up on him since then. Sometimes I see signs that Ernest is growing up a little. He’s been singing in my show again recently, and some people say that boy has got a lot of talent. I think so—but I’m his mother. Anyway, I hope Ernest straightens out. It’s like somebody told me about Tom Sawyer—Ernest might be president of the United States some day, if they don’t hang him first.
Cissy is my fourth child. And if I had ten kids, I’d want ’em all to be like her. She’s just so smart, but what’s more important is she’s so pleasant. I call her “The Waverly Newspaper” because I can talk to her for half an hour and catch up on all the news. People who visit the ranch feel like they’ve known Cissy all their lives.
I remember how upset I was when I got pregnant with Cissy. The doctor out in Washington thought I didn’t want that baby, so after delivery he put her right on