Probably Been Told

I'm not so sure this is as much a memory, as somehting we were told over the years. I mentioned that brother S. had trouble sitting still long enough to watch the little wild animals. He also had a lot of trouble staying put. Mom couldn't turn her back on him long enough to get anything done. The laundry tub (remember the old wringer machines) was in the basement. She had to keep him tied in a harness (somewhere there are pictures) and on a line when she did laundry. Usually she took him back and forth from basement to yard while she washed and hung clothes. J. and I could be left in the yard to play. She talked of the time she thought she could leave him tied to the clothes line on a long rope just long enough to get more clothes out of the basement to hang. But, when she got back , he was gone. J. and I had no idea where he went. She was calling and searching and panicking when she heard the doorbell ring in the front of the house. There stood a highway patrolman holding Steve still in his harness, (like a puppy). We were told that the patrolman told Mom, "I've found dogs trailing leashes, but never a small boy." It was never quite funny to Mom.....she was soooo embarrassed. He was just a toddler. She always said he could vanish so quick. Like I said, there was a hill and S. had been found down the hill on the road. A small country road with very little traffic and most days no Patrol. Mom had first gone toward the barn looking for him, thinking he was looking for his Daddy. This was still in New Jersey.

Our last name started with D. Mom used to call Dad, Daddy D. So when I first started talking, I had the idea that everything started with a D. The sentence they teased me about most was, "D Daddy dill dou darry de." (Daddy will you carry me?) Even when I'd reached High School, my family would lapse into D speech with each other. Usually when we were alone, but sometimes they would share the joke with others. Usually to tease me. But, one day it backfired and though it mortified me, it also embarrassed Dad. The family had spent all week in a D speek phase. It was spring, I was 15. I'd been allowed to accept my first date. (I should back up and tell you first how Mom met my date. Hang on, it was even more mortifying.) Dad first. It was actually on the second date, he wasn't there when I was picked up the first time. This time, W. came and Dad was in the garage using the welder. With the welders mask on. W. came to the door and got me, then since I knew Dad was in the garage, I stopped to introduce W. to him. I had to yell to get Dad's attention because of the mask and noise and sparks and Dad didn't know we were even there. He stopped, lifted the mask, looked surprised and said,......."Dhere did dou dome drom?" (Where did you come from?) To my date! After the way Mom had met him a few weeks before, I couldn't believe he didn't leave me right there.

Now Moms turn. The first date was a double date. The only way I was allowed to go out with a boy who was older and already had a car. Of course, living in the country, it was the only way anyone did date. They picked up my girlfriend first because her house was easier to find and she had dated before. She showed them to my house way out on a township road. She and her date waited in the car while W. came to the door. I'd finished my chores early so I'd be ready. I wasn't sure where Mom was, so I yelled for her before I left. She had washed her hair earlier and wrapped it in a towell. She was barefoot, in shorts with her blouse tied in a knot at her waist. Mom wasn't fat, but not thin either. Actually she was very pretty when she didn't look like some dumpy hillbilly. Now outside the back door was a tree that always attracted a huge flock of starlings who screeched and dumped and generally caused a dirty ruckus. For sport we kept a shotgun by the back door and when they got noisy, someone would go out the back door and shoot into the tree to see how many would drop. It was a bit of competition between us. I shouldn't have been surprised when Mom came around the corner of the house with a shotgun. Worse, our big German Shepherd, Treasure was with her. Treasure didn't like strangers and Mom was struggeling to hold the dog. Poor W. didn't know whether to run in the door or head back to his car, which was further away. But, he obviously wanted to run. My girlfriend was in the car laughing so hard, she had to come in and borrow some of my clothes. It took awhile to convince W. that he wasn't really in danger. Can you imagine....then to have Dad meet him with baby talk. It's a wonder I ever went on another date.