This is Mr. Harry Ellis. He was born in 1899 and died in 1988. He was the brother of my cousins' grandfather, and he lived in Wilson County, but I don't think I ever met him. Can I tell you how much I love this photograph? It is a Polaroid, which is a whole mood and the color of childhood for me. Uncle Harry's -- I claim him -- smile and his thatch of white hair. His short-sleeved dress shirt and the cross around his neck. (I imagine it's Sunday after church.) His work-thickened hands. His stocking feet. The rocking chair out in the yard. The sandy soil of eastern North Carolina. Everything.















