There I Sit Again

In the 1950's when I was a child automobiles were different than the ones today. Almost all cars had bench seats. Today bucket seats are the norm. 

At that time cars did not have seat belts, air bags, or many of the other safety features required today. Often one child would sit between Mom and Dad on the front seat while Mom held the baby. The other children were in the back seat. Often while in the back the children would stand. Sometimes it was to see where they were going and sometimes it was because the seat was full.

One Christmas or Thanksgiving (I cannot remember which) the back seat was full of pumpkin pies. We had to stand.

Unfortunately Daddy had to step on the brakes suddenly. Guess who lost her balance and sat down, Right into a pie. 

Another year Daddy was just too tired to get up and go with us to the farm for Thanksgiving. He had worked a double shift the day before. Mom would go back and pick him up later. 

We had baby chicks in brooders in the house to keep them warm. Mom got home to Daddy snoring in a house full of chicks running everywhere. Dinner was delayed because they had to gather chicks and put them back into brooders,

Then there was the day I had been a pain in the necks of my uncles. I am sure I was driving them crazy.

The cows needed to be milked. All my uncles had to work with Grandpa to do the job. After that all the buckets of milk were taken to the kitchen. The milk would be poured into the separator to separate the cream from the milk. Grandpa sold the milk and the cream. It was one of the ways a farmer could make money.

Milking was done. The buckets of milk were in the kitchen. I went back to teasing my uncles.

I was finished. I think I knew I had pushed too far. I went in to watch the separator. 

Suddenly one of my uncles slammed his way into the kitchen. He was so angry I could almost see smoke coming from his ears. And I knew he was after me.

I began to slowly back up as he came for me in a menacing way. I went back; he advanced. I kept going back as he kept coming at me. Of course I backed into a bucket of milk and sat in it.

It is the only time I can remember Grandpa being mad at me. That milk was ruined and could not be sold. I was no longer allowed near the new buckets of milk.

Clean It Up

I worked at a retail store similar to Walmart. I really liked working there and held some desirable positions. 

I worked the midnight shift. Usually we only had a store manager to oversee us. One cashier would assign tasks, breaks, and troubleshoot.

One night two young-ish men came in. I was putting merchandise into bags for the cashier to save her some work.

 The men bought some trash bags and a vacuum cleaner. It was unusual to be thinking of cleaning at 3:00 in the morning but we were trained not to comment on purchases.

The next day the police came to the store. A young woman had been killed. She was found in garbage bags. Other bags were also there filled with trash from the scene of where she was killed. Inside one bag was the receipt from the purchase of the bags and a vacuum cleaner.

As you have guessed the receipt showed the store, time, and cashier who sold them. She had to testify against the men at their trials.

I will tell more tales of retail another time.

Seven Little Girls

Seven little girls sittin' in the back seat
Huggin and a'kissin with Fred
I said, why don't one of you come up and sit beside me
And this is what the seven girls said

(All together now, one, two, three)
(Keep you mind on your drivin')
(Keep you hands on the wheel)
(Keep your snoopy eyes on the road ahead)
(We're havin' fun sittin' in the back seat)
(Kissin' and a'huggin with Fred)

                                                                Paul Evans

In 1959 this was one of many popular novelty songs. I call them silly songs because they make me smile. Of course the song is longer than that. You can find it on YouTube if you want the whole thing.

Those were the beginning days of early morning television offering news and entertainment. Dave Garroway was the host. Frank Blair was the newsman.

They had a chimpanzee mascot names J. Fred Muggs. J. Fred Muggs did all manner of amusing skits.  

Once Paul Evans appeared on the entertainment part of the show. He was sitting in a car. The seven little girls were all in the backseat. At the end of the song the camera showed J. Fred Muggs in the middle of the girls.

I wonder why I have such a vivid memory of this. But it does make me smile.

Smoke

 My sister no longer smokes. For a time she smoked heavily. She and her youngest son lived near me. He spent a lot of weekends at my house. I was happy to have him.

My nephew was in middle school. He and my oldest son were out shopping together one day. My nephew had a confession to make.

He was in danger of being expelled from school. One of his teachers had him called to the principal's office. The teacher accused him of smoking.

The thing is that my nephew has never smoked. He did not want to hurt his mother's feelings so he did not tell her.

My sister's smoking was leaving a strong smell of smoke on everything in her house including her son's clothing. That smell made the principal threaten him with expulsion.

My son told me what his cousin had said. I said I would take care of it.

I went to my sister's house. She is a good housekeeper. She loves her sons and is a good mother. However she kept her home closed and no fresh air flowed through. 

I told her what was happening to her son at school. Of course she was horrified. A smoker does not know how the smoke smells or how strong it can be.

So my sister stopped smoking. She aired out her house. She cleaned all the surfaces she could clean. She washed all their clothes.

My nephew had no more problems at school. He still does not smoke.

Military Funeral

 Have you ever been a part of a military funeral? It is one of the most beautiful, most moving, most painful rites to endure.

My brother was killed in Viet Nam. He was only20 years old.

My father was so hurt and so proud. I do not remember seeing him cry before or after but he cried with a broken heart that day. He had been in the Navy during World War II and had seen some of the horrors of war. He never thought it would happen to his son.

In a case of military death an officer knocks on the door to inform the family. Mom was home alone that day. The officer waited with her until Daddy could get home from work. He then answered questions and tried to help them make decisions.

They decided on a military funeral.

My brother had a friend who idolized him. The friend tried to enlist in the Army. He felt that if he was a soldier he would go to Viet Nam and protect my brother.

The problem was that he was extremely overweight. The Army would not take him.

He went home and proceeded to lose about 150 pounds. The Army was then happy to have him. He was still in basic training when my brother died. 

My family wanted him to be with us for the funeral. The officer said he would make the request but the Army hardly ever allowed anyone to interrupt basic training. My brother's friend was made a pallbearer and grieved with us. The funeral service was sad as all funerals are. Then the Army took over

The pallbearers carried my brother with the military guard around them.

After a short service at the grave site the soldiers removed the flag from my brother's coffin. They carefully folded it and presented it to my mother.

Then they began playing Taps. I always thought it was a haunting song. That day Taps just cut into our hearts.

The twenty-one-gun salute was almost like being shot. 

I must tell you that the military funeral is so magnificent. It is so painful. I hope it will never be a piece of your life.

Ka-Boom

Every once in a while my youngest brother would spend the night in the living room on the couch. He was watching television and fell asleep.

In the morning he would wake up and go about his day. My brother was around 10 years old at the time.

One morning he overslept. Mom went in to wake him.

She noticed a hole in the storm window above the couch. It had not been there before.  The window itself was not damaged.

Looking further Mom found a bullet between the windows. It was simply lying on the sill. 

There was an empty apartment building across the street and down the block a ways.  It seemed that the bullet came from there.

Someone was probably playing with a gun. They fired it into the empty outside not thinking it would travel for a distance.   

Luckily a bullet decelerates over a distance. By the time it reached the window of my parents' home it did not have enough speed to enter both panes of glass.

My brother was so fortunate. He could have been seriously hurt.

After that Mom made sure he slept in his bed in his room. 

Grandma's Grandfather's Clock

 Grandfather's Clock

My grandfather's clock was too tall for the shelf

So it stood ninety years on the floor

It was taller by half than the old man himself

But it weighed not a pennyweight more

It was bought on the morn of the day that he was born
It was always his treasure and pride
But it stopped, short, never to go again
When the old man died

Ninety years without slumbering
Tic toc tic toc
His life's seconds numbering
Tic toc tic toc
It stopped, short, never to go again
When the old man died.

In watching its pendulum swing to and fro
Many hours he had spent when a boy
And through childhood and manhood, the clock seemed to know
And to share both his grief and his joy

For it struck 24 when he entered at the door
With a blooming and beautiful bride,
But it stopped, short, never to go again
When the old man died

CHORUS

My grandfather said that of those he could hire
Not a servant so faithful he'd found,
For it kept perfect time and it had one desire
At the close of each day to be wound

At it kept to its place, not a frown upon its face
At its hands never hung by its side
But it stopped, short, never to go again
When the old man died

CHORUS

It rang an alarm in the still of the night,
An alarm that for years had been dumb
And we knew that his spirit was pluming for flight
That his hour of departure had come

Still the clock kept the time
With a soft and muffled chime
As we silently stood by his side
But it stopped, short, never to go again
When the old man died"

                             by Henry Clay Work

I do not know if Grandma's grandfather's clock came from her grandfather. I tend to doubt it but I do not know.

What I do know is that it was beautiful. The wooden frame always shone. The gold toned chains inside always sparkled. The hands on the face always told the correct time. Or course we were not allowed to touch it.

The clock needed to be wound once a week. Grandma opened the glass door in the front.  She pulled on those beautiful chains. Somehow that rewound it for another week. I was mesmerized. 

I am guessing that the clock was sold in the auction when they sold the farm. 

I often think of that magnificent clock. I hope it is still as loved as Grandma loved it.