Full Text of the Excerpt

CHRISTOPHER WEBER:

Did you go to school?

JOHN THOMAS MOORE:

Yeah!

CHRISTOPHER WEBER:

Where did you go to school?

JOHN THOMAS MOORE:

(Morning Grove) High School. I finished and graduated in '57.

CHRISTOPHER WEBER:

When you first started going to school, where did you go?

JOHN THOMAS MOORE:

[unclear] Grove, out on Roxboro Road. We used to go out there and turn when the auto place is; used to be a school sitting back out there. That's where I started at. Them were some rough days when we went.

CHRISTOPHER WEBER:

How come they were rough?

JOHN THOMAS MOORE:

Because [Laughter] children back then didn't understand. I never did get in no fight, I never did argue, I didn't fuss with nobody. But they couldn't understand why I was like that. I got acquainted with a young lady. We got to talking; she was a Christian and I was, too. So they'd come on down to me [unclear]. [claps] We'd have recess time, lunch time, and we'd sit around and talk about the Lord. They couldn't figure out why were we doing all that and wasn't getting in their games, playing softball or boxing. I never could stand boxing.

CHRISTOPHER WEBER:

When you and this young woman would be sitting around talking about the Lord, how old were you when you were doing this?

JOHN THOMAS MOORE:

I was about 13, 14, 15.

CHRISTOPHER WEBER:

And they thought you weren't acting too normal—

JOHN THOMAS MOORE:

Yeah, they thought something was wrong with me. They thought maybe I was cracking up in my head.

CHRISTOPHER WEBER:

And you were already hearing the voices.

JOHN THOMAS MOORE:

I was already hearing the voice of God. I was listening to what God say and I was doing fine. They were the ones that were off, not me. My parents—. My grandparents, then they raised me. [unclear] . Lot of people didn't have clothes and things to wear like that. You had to wash your clothes and wear the same thing. What I wore to school was bib overalls, plaid shirt, and [unclear] shoes. I felt fine. Knee-knockers. [Laughter] They picked at me but I said, "That's all right. [claps] I'll make it. I'll be here when some of y'all are gone." A whole lot of my school mates are dead and gone right now. I went to the funeral thing and looked at them. I'm still here. I was on the bus the other day to Duke to take these tests (for) a kidney transplant. They got me up for a kidney transplant. My niece and my nephew, they gonna give me a kidney. I'm so glad. They call me Uncle (Bubba). [mimicking voices] "Uncle Bubba, I give you one, I give you one." My pastor, her baby boy said, Mr. Bubba, I give you a kidney." He's twenty. He said, "I give a kidney, I give you a kidney…" [softly] I said, "That's all right."