A Day At Bonnie's House When Grandma Lu Was Five Years Old

After they had their yummy peach crisp, they decided to go into the Sitting Room. Grandma Lu stretched and cuddled up to her quilt that was always on her easy chair. Marlee and her friends, Finnley and Avery had come in also. They just sat quietly while Grandma Lu was telling Marlee and Grandma B about her cousin, Bonnie. Soon Grandma Lu started to chuckle while she was remembering things and said, "Oh we were so different. Our parents raised us almost like only children because we were so far apart in years from our brothers and sisters. I'm afraid we were a bit selfish and didn't want to share with other children."

Marlee said, "I know how to share. I even share with Stashia." Oh how they laughed. Grandma B laughed and said, "And the horses have to share their treats with you don't they?" Then everyone laughed because Marlee loves to eat the horses treats.

Soon Savannah came into the Sitting Room with her parents. Everyone sat down and listened to Grandma Lu tell them about when she was just a little girl. It was hard to imagine her being little like they were.

"When we were little the cars weren't very dependable. They would break down on the road sometimes. My Uncle Roy, my cousin's daddy, was a mechanic and could fix cars really well; my daddy watched him." The grown ups laughed. "We didn't have air conditioning in our cars or houses. The cars would overheat sometimes so we would always have to carry jugs of water in the car in case we needed to add water. Any way we didn't get to go to Sioux City to visit very often, but when we did it was fun.

"We were very poor. I didn't have very many toys. I can remember only having two dolls. I loved to read so I had books that I got at the library. I got my first library card when I was seven years old. I still have it. And I took piano lessons."

Marlee said, "Only two dolls? I have a whole bunch of them. The other children nodded and said, "Yes, me too."

When we went to my cousin's house it was so interesting to me. My first memory of going there was when I was five years old. They lived in a basement house. That is a house that is built under ground with just part of it showing above the ground. My parents had lived in a basement house too for years. The basement houses were cool in the summertime and warm in the winter.

 Bonnie had a toy wringer washing machine. Her mama even let her put water in it to wash doll clothes. I didn't have any doll clothes except the ones on my doll. Bonnie had lots of clothes for her doll. It had a little crank on it. If you turned the crank it would make the tiny agitator go swish swish and wash the clothes. Then she put the little clothes in-between the rollers to squeeze the water out of them. I was absolutely fascinated. My mama had a big one just like it only it was run by kerosene. Well, Bonnie wouldn't let me play with it. I couldn't understand this person at all."

 "On that same day I looked up from the floor we were sitting on and saw a lady walking in the living room whom they all called Vernie. Oh, she had on a skirt and blouse and penny loafers. Her shoes had pennies in them! My mama always wore house dresses and plain shoes and ankle socks except for church on Sundays. Vernie was my Aunt Nellie's sister. (Bonnie's aunt.) She has white hair now and lives pretty close to me out in the country."

"The last thing that I remember about that day was squeezing a bag of margarine. Oh, it was over seventy years ago now, but I can still see Bonnie squeezing this bag of white stuff. She wouldn't let me help squeeze it. Oh I wanted to do it so bad. She got yelled at for not sharing the bag with me so I got to do it a little bit. (I can remember getting a "mad look" from my mama.) See  inside the bag was a capsule like a big pill. Inside the capsule was yellow liquid. The more you squeezed the bag the more yellow it became."

On the farm my daddy milked cows. My mama separated the cream from the milk. Then she churned the milk with a paddle and made our butter. I still have that paddle that she squeezed the buttermilk away from the butter. It was a lot of work. Then she put it in dishes that she called Refrigerator Dishes. The lids made a pretty picture on top of the butter.  It wasn't very yellow but that was the only kind of butter I had even known.

Marlee asked, "Did your cousin, Bonnie, ever come to your house in the country?"
Grandma Lu laughed and said, "She sure did. Mercy, we got into trouble, but none of it was ever my fault.....