Chapter 2: Digging Through Memories

Saturday, March 12, 2011

“Time to wake up!” I heard as I felt the covers being pulled off me.

I briefly considered leaping out of bed and trying to capture my tormentor. As I was preparing to pounce, I remembered what had happened a few years ago.

That time, I actually tried to pounce on Jessica, who had stolen my covers. My feet ended up tangled in the sheets, and I landed on my chin. I was a little lucky in that I only bit my tongue hard enough to draw blood.

I was successful in knocking both Jessica and Rose over. Unfortunately, when I knocked Jessica over, she hit her head on Tom’s bed while he was still on his side when Jessica hit her head.

Henry drove to the local emergency room with May sitting in the back seat with Jessica and me. Upon our return to my grandparents’ home, we found that the rest of the family had eaten, so we had to fix and heat up our breakfast in the microwave. I was forced to wait until Henry, May, and Jessica had a warm meal before I was allowed to use the microwave to heat mine.

Grandpa had Rose, Jessica, Tom, and me, come into his office after Jessica and I were done with our breakfast. Our parents also joined us. That morning was the first time I had seen Grandpa really upset or mad. He then spent over half an hour lecturing us on the dangers of, as he called it, roughhousing, especially within the house. Jessica, Rose, and I were all punished for what had happened. Tom, even though he was an innocent party, was affected by our punishments, even without being punished directly.

That incident and its aftermath made what had already been a memorable spring break even more so.

Today, instead of jumping out of bed, I just grumbled, “Okay, I’m awake.”

“Same here, now get out of here and let us get dressed if you expect us to help with the chores,” Tom replied from his bed.

It did not take Tom and me long to put on what we called our chores uniform: some worn jeans and an old t-shirt along with a pair of socks and steel-toed boots. Grabbing a baseball cap, we headed downstairs, where we caught up with Jessica and Rose in the kitchen having a cup of coffee.

“So, what is the plan for this morning?” I asked, getting my first cup of coffee of the day. Rose then recited a list of tasks that needed to be completed before breakfast. As she was doing that, Tom and I were preparing and even started drinking our own cups of coffee.

As we each finished drinking our coffee, we washed the mug and spoon we had used. They were then set on the drying rack.

As usual, Rose led the way to the barn to do the morning chores. As we worked, I was reminded of how Jessica, Tom, and I started helping her out.

When we were here for spring break five years ago, Jessica complained the day after we had arrived that she could not play with Rose before breakfast. Mom (I forget which one) tried to explain with something like, “Jessica, Rose is now old enough to start doing some daily chores. She actually has been doing them for a few years, much like I did when I was her age. You are finding out about this now since this is the first year that Dad decided not to let her have a break when we are here.”

Tom then made a smart-aleck remark along the lines of, “Jessica, instead of complaining, why not go help Rose with her chores. I imagine Grandpa will let you be with Rose while you are doing the chores. The two of you should take less time than Rose would take alone. As a bonus, I will not have to hear you whine.”

Jessica punched Tom for that comment. Since she did that in front of Mom, she ended up being ‘punished’ by having to help Rose do her chores. Tom also was punished for trying to provoke Jessica. That first morning Jessica was the only one of the three of us who helped Rose. The rest of that day, Jessica and Rose spent together. Except for breakfast and lunch, we didn’t see them all morning or most of the afternoon, leading me to believe they were intentionally avoiding Tom and me.

By mid-afternoon, I had enough of being snubbed. I considered asking Mom for help. Instead, I decided to take the bull by the horns. My plan was to offer to help Rose with her chores and see if things changed between the two girls and me. If they didn’t, I might consider getting our parents involved. I also managed to convince Tom to join us, although he was less enthusiastic about helping. He did promise to help with the chores for at least a couple of days, which I considered a victory. That evening Tom and I went to help Rose and Jessica with the evening chores. Tom also apologized to Jessica for his earlier comments.

Rose seemed almost eager to accept our offer to help. Admittedly she also appeared to have picked out the worse chores she could imagine for Tom and me to do. For some reason, it seemed like the heaviest and dirtiest of the tasks fell on the two of us. I later would learn that most of the chores Rose had selected for Tom and me to do, were things that Grandpa usually did once or twice a week.

It took until after chores the next morning before way Rose and Jessica treated us started to return to normal. We even got invited to join them in some fun activities after breakfast. Later on during that visit, when I had a chance to be alone with Rose, I asked her why they snubbed us that first day Jessica helped, even after Tom and I had joined in for the evening chores.

“Jessica was mad at Tom that day. First, he had suggested that she do chores while she was on vacation. Secondly, after she had reacted to his suggestion by hitting him, she was upset that her ‘punishment’ was helping me with the chores. I think she was more upset that your mom appeared to take Tom’s suggestion as her punishment, than she was at actually being punished.” Rose replied.

Checking to see if we could be overheard, she continued in a whisper, “I was told later that your mom’s intention was not to appear to take sides, but simply to separate Tom and Jessica.”

Laughing, she continued in her normal volume, “I had an interesting chat with Dad that evening. He asked me how having some untrained helpers had worked out. I told him that Jessica seemed to catch on fast. I also told him I was surprised that you and Tom had also volunteered to help. Dad then admitted that if neither of you had volunteered to help out by mid-afternoon the next day, he had planned on either suggesting that you volunteer himself or he would get one of his two older daughters to make that suggestion for him.”

“I can accept that,” I replied.

Checking again to make sure Tom was not in sight, Rose continued, “Who had the idea to help anyway?”

“That was my reaction to being shunned. Had that not worked, I would have tried to get at least one of our parents involved. By the way, why was I included in being shunned?”

Rose replied, “Your major sin in Jessica’s eyes was that you didn’t disagree with Tom that morning. Since she was wanting to avoid Tom and you were always with him, we avoided you as well.”

Whispering Rose admitted. “Shortly before we went out to do the evening chores, Jessica mentioned overhearing you convincing Tom to help us with that evening’s chores. She convinced me to wait to see if the help would just be a one-time thing before we showed that we forgave you.”

“Why did you give us the hardest and dirtiest chores to do?” I asked.

“Normally, I do the chores with Dad. Those I gave you and Tom were the ones he normally does. He has learned a few tricks for doing those chores that make them easier to do. I admit I should have taught the two of you at least some of those tricks without you having to ask.”

“I’m asking.”

That evening Rose finally gave Tom and me some hints that made our tasks easier. I would later learn that Jessica was the one who suggested to Rose that they wake Tom and me up one morning. For some reason they had gotten up before the time Rose’s alarm would go off and when she noticed we were still in bed when they were on their way to the kitchen. The result was the previously mentioned early morning incident that involved an emergency room visit.

“We are done for now, are you planning on joining us for breakfast?” Jessica teased interrupting my memories. Rose and Jessica led the way back to the farmhouse, and it appeared that they were rolling their hips a bit more than usual.

“The bathrooms upstairs are all available,” April said as I passed through the kitchen doors. “We will be going to visit my grandmothers this morning, so dress accordingly.”

“Jessica, you can use the shower off of my bedroom,” Grandpa added from his seat at the breakfast table where he was reading the local paper.

I passed through my room, quickly getting the outfit I had packed to use while visiting my great-grandmothers. I then went to take a quick shower in the bathroom connected to the room my parents, Henry, and May, were using. When I was done, I put the t-shirt I had used for chores in one of the two mesh laundry bags I brought, and the socks and underwear in the other. I also folded the pair of jeans and set it on top of the bag I was using to keep the ‘chores’ outer clothes in. Not spotting anyone else upstairs but hearing two showers, I headed downstairs.

With the ten of us, we would need to eat in the dining room, since the table in the breakfast nook can seat at most six people comfortably. As I passed through the dining room, en route to the kitchen, I was glad to see that the table had already been set for breakfast. April, who was this morning’s cook, was finishing up breakfast when I stepped in to see what needed to be done.

She had me start taking the coffee, milk, grape, and orange juices to the table as well as the sugar and sweetener some of us like in their coffee. Jessica, Rose, and Tom all joined in before I had finished that task. With the four of us, it didn’t take long before the food was all on the table. Breakfast today was scrambled eggs (with or without cheese), grits, hash-browns, toast, biscuits with gravy on the side, bacon, and sausage.

April, as the cook, had the privilege of ringing the dinner bell. Within a couple of minutes, May, Grandma, Steve, Henry, and Grandpa arrived at the table. Once everyone was seated, Grandpa led us in prayer. What little conversation that occurred during breakfast was mostly April and May getting some updates on local events and some people they knew.

When most of us had almost finished eating, Grandma got our attention. “As you know, the plan for this morning after breakfast is for all of us to visit my mother and mother-in-law at their nursing home. We will be eating lunch around noon with them. After lunch our visit will continue until mid-afternoon when at least one of them will be ready for their afternoon nap.”

“How are they doing?” May asked.

“Not bad for two women in their mid-nineties. As you remember, just after Thanksgiving they decided that they needed a little more help on an everyday basis than was available in the independent living apartments at their retirement complex. They both can still get around fine, although they both use their wheeled walkers for support most of the time. Their biggest complaint now is bland food,” Grandpa replied.

“They do tend to call me April and May a lot.” Rose teasingly complained. “It was sort of funny, on the day they moved from their apartment to their current room, Grandma Butterfield stayed in the apartment while Grandma Cunningham stayed in their new room. I made several trips taking their things between the two places, with them alternating between calling me April and May.”

“They later admitted to me they were teasing you, Rose.” Grandma said with a smile, “They did ask that I only mention that to you if you made a comment about it.”

“I figured it was intentional since have occasionally called me April or May for years. That day, however, they were a lot more consistent in calling me by one of my sisters’ names than usual. I couldn’t decide if they were teasing me or trying to be subtle in expressing a desire to see April and May more often that day,” Rose admitted. “I figured treating it as a joke would be the best thing I could do at the time.”

Grandma continued, “After we return, we will be going through some things in the attic. Many of the clothes items stored up there will need to be sorted, but today we are just going to start bringing them down here. Some of those clothes we will take to the church, some might go to the theater department of Butterfield High School. I suspect we will find that many of the clothes items stored up there might be only suitable for a hobo in a school play. Most likely they will end up being tossed.”

“Does the church still have its clothes closet?” Steve asked.

“Not really. There is a fund to help out those who might need clothes in an emergency though.” Grandpa replied.

“Why did they get rid of it?” I wondered just loud enough that I was overheard.

“Several years ago, there was an apartment fire that left about 40 people with only the clothes on their back. Supposedly one of the representatives of a local church that was helping the victims said that their clothes closet was only for their members that found themselves in need. The reporter from the local paper put that ‘quote’ in their article about the fire and ranted about lack of compassion,” Grandpa stated.

“What that person actually said was that their clothes closet would be helping the members of their church first, then it would take care of anyone else. The paper issued a front-page apology to the church when one of the minority owners of the paper gave them a call and presented proof of what had actually been said to the reporter before their next issue,” Grandma added.

As an afterthought, she added, “The reporter for the original story criticizing that church has since left town. Rumors exist that they are now writing for a paper in Oklahoma City which is known to be anti-Christian.”

“Anyway, that initial negative publicity was the catalyst for most of the larger local churches deciding to consolidate their individual clothes closets into a one. The combined clothes closet was placed under control of the local chapter of the Red Cross. This was done because as the article correctly pointed out that not all of those who lose everything in a disaster might be active members of a church. I have no idea how large that clothes closet is currently or in what shape the clothes are.” Grandpa added.

“Our church is having a fundraiser to redo the parking lot. Part of that fundraiser will be a community garage sale in about a month.” Rose said struggling not to laugh.

“What’s so funny?” Jessica asked.

“I was remembering a funny incident that occurred in the last community garage sale sponsored by our church. There was a piece of furniture that was purchased and then donated back to the garage sale three or four times by the same couple.” Rose replied.

“Any clue why that happened?” I asked.

“Turns out that couple were having a fight. The wife tried to use the garage sale to get rid of her husband’s recliner and donated it to the garage sale.” Rose started.

Grandpa picked up the tale, “She then made a mistake and dragged her husband to the garage sale early on the first day. He spotted his recliner while he was headed to check out the tools and fishing poles.”

Rose continued, “He then bought it back and took it home and placed it where it normally was. While he was returning to the garage sale, his wife had gotten a ride with her sister and was taking a few things home herself.”

Grandma added, “His wife saw the recliner in the living room, took it back to the church, and donated it a second time to the garage sale.”

Grandpa continued barely containing his laughter, “The second day of the garage sale was a repeat of the first for that couple.”

“When the recliner was returned a second time to the garage sale, the person handling the items being donated figured the couple was having a fight. Being a friend of the couple, they decided to let both husband and wife think they had won the argument about the chair. Later that day they told the wife that someone besides her husband had purchased the chair. A message was passed to the husband that the person who purchased the chair would be giving it back to him once the domestic issues were settled one way or another,” Grandma added.

“The person handling the donations did not mention that they had been the one to purchase the chair. After talking with the pastor about the situation, the recliner was hidden in the pastor’s office until the garage sale was closed for the evening. At that time, the person overseeing the donations took it home. The couple reconciled about a month later.” Rose finished.

“Something tells me that you three know more of the story than most,” Steve commented.

“Well, I was the one responsible for checking in donated items, while George and Rose also helped setting things up,” Grandma admitted.

“Going back to what is in the attic. April and May, I think there might still be a few boxes upstairs you had requested to be stored from when you went off to college.” Grandpa said, “There are also some dishes, cookware, silverware, kitchen appliances, and even some pieces of furniture that came from your grandmothers’ house that, if no one wants, will also be going to the church.”

“What about Jim and his kids?” May asked.

“We called him last week. He asked for us to check on a list of items he emailed us, but otherwise said he was not interested in antiques.” Grandma replied with resignation,”