Julia and her brother Evans |
When I was keeping Julia yesterday, after our walk, our excursion to the creek, and our quest to gather walnut shells, we became rather tired. I took her to my rocking chair, pulled her into my lap, covered her with a quilt, and asked if she wanted to hear a story of when I was a little girl. She did indeed and listened raptly, wanting to hear more and more of them... I told her stories for over an hour as we rocked and rested.
Here is one of them:
I used to visit my neighbor whose property was behind my parents on an acre... it belonged Marynette Thompson and her husband Phil, who was an attorney. There was a small gate leading from my backyard to her orchard so as little girl, I was allowed to wander through it to visit. She was always pleased to see me and would offer me either breakfast or lunch according to the time of day.
Her elderly parents lived in adjacent rooms upstairs with a bathroom between them... they never ventured out. Both were in their mid to late 90's and I found them fascinating. I called them Pappy and Mammy Ross, and although they were rather hard of hearing, we managed to converse quite well.
Pappy Ross used one of those old fashioned bull-horn type things he would put in his ear if he was particularly interested in something I was telling him. He had been a country doctor and he would tell me stories about making house calls, often in the dark of night, in his horse and buggy... the adventures he had riding about in the wild Indian territory at the turn of the century were wonderful. He also told me his famous quote: 'Catherine, medicine is for giving, not for taking', which I took to heart at age seven so I rarely take medicine even now.
Mammy Ross was tiny and frail but her busy hands were never still. She was always doing some sort of sewing or painting. She had an ancient scraggly green parrot that actually said 'Polly wants a cracker'... but he was incredibly scary and rather cross on a good day. She made me a china doll with a beautiful face she had painted for my eighth birthday. She had a full wardrobe of dresses, bonnets, and pantaloons... I still have her.
Miss Marynette had a two tiered lily pond with a waterfall and huge goldfish in the bottom pool... it was the first one I ever saw and I'd spend hours watching them. Sometimes she would let me feed them a few stale bread crumbs and they would eagerly gobble them up.
When I was a little girl I wandered the neighborhood a lot, visiting the retired folks who always seemed glad to see me. It was a safe and blessed childhood and I was extremely fortunate to have had it.
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