Way back in the deep recesses of my mind I recall working at the Ineeda Laundry in Hutchinson, Kansas. Now I seem to be drawing a mental blank on this one, so it was probably in the days before I had sense enough to actually remember stuff. I strongly suspect I may have been doing a little extra drinking back in those days. So I am assuming it was before I began the wild child bearing cycle. But maybe not.
I do recall one afternoon Sister Mary called and told me to come to her house on 25th (?) Street as Tommy, your dad, had called from work and said there was a tornado heading right for her house and she needed to grab the baby and head for the basement. Now back in those days, I was good! I could beat a tornado to some one's house and save them. So I clocked out and made a bee line to Mary's.
Upon arrival we began to carry stuff to the basement. Snacks, milk, pop, water, blankets, coffee pot, coffee, bread, tooth brush and tooth paste, the bassinet, a change of clothes, pillows....and at last we were ready. We secured the door and awaited the wrath of the storm. I do not remember which one of us realized first that we had locked Dorothy Rene on the other side of the door. We immediately undid the door and saved the baby. Then we laughed so hard and made a deal that we must never tell another soul what we had done. Oops! That slipped out.
Then there was the time she called frantically alternately between laughter and horror. Seems there were a couple cats on the roof doing what a couple cats are known to do, and she was mortified that the neighbors would see. She insisted that I must come immediately and get them down. Well, kiddies, needless to say, I did not answer that call to do the big sister duty that time. Even in a drunken stupor, I am smarter than that!
Once she invited my husband de jour and I to supper. She was making Chicken and Noodles. At that time they owned a big black hairy dog. I watched the dog eating his kibble and then helped set the table. When she appeared with the Chicken and Noodles in a big pink plastic bowl, I remarked, "Oh, do you have two of these bowls?" She replied that she did not. More fits of laughter because I had just seen Poochie eating out of this one! Your dad was horrified, but we got a big kick out of it and my boy toy never knew what was going on there.
I remember way, way back when Mary was maybe 9 or 10, Mother would cut our hair and it was a rite of Spring, so to speak. But Sister Mary did not want hers cut, so she was the only one of us kids who did not suffer the dreaded "bowl hair cut". That was in our house on Strong Street. I also remember once mother was going to run the vacuum for some reason unknown to me since we had linoleum floors, but when she opened the bag there were a nest full of newborn mice in it. She handed them over to us to take out to the front sidewalk (And why we called it that is beyond me since it was the only sidewalk on the whole block!) and smash them with a rock. Even writing that sounds gruesome! We, of course, spirited them off to a safe place where mother could not find them. I think the cat took care of our little hatchet job.
Anyway, this is the first time in a few years that your mom has not come to spend a month or so with me and I sure miss that. I am going to try to get down sometime this spring, but it just does not seem to be working out for me. I miss Mary very much. I miss all the sisters, but I guess life just hands us all these little twists and turns and then Dame Fate sets back and laughs at us. I wish you kids could peer inside my head and see some of the sights in there. Glad I still can!
