Visiting Gramma Reed

I was always glad to take the northernmost route, the one to Rochester and my father's mother's apartment. It was very small and narrow, like a single-wide house trailer. The front door opened into the living room which might have been eight by ten feet. Then there was a galley kitchen opposite the bathroom. Two people could just barely pass in the hallway that led to her bedroom. It seemed odd to me that there was a door to the outside in the bedroom. I suppose it was for fire safety. She must have had a sofa sleeper in the living room for my parents and Missy (Merry) slept either with them or in the bathtub. (She had a problem with bedwetting until she was six or so.) It was all padded with quilts, etc. and looked cozy. Sue and I slept in Gramma's bed with her.

To help us fall asleep, she would tell us stories about our father when he was a boy. That was how I learned about Growler, the smartest dog ever. He played hide and seek, even waiting until they called out, "Ready!" Then he would go find them. He was a small black shaggy dog, but big enough to be useful on the farm. I don't remember any other stories, but I know there were lots of them. Maybe that was where I heard about how my father was so ill as a boy. He had scarlet fever when he was seven or eight and it took months for him to get well. Gramma taught him to crochet, knit and make rag rugs to keep him occupied while he recuperated. One spring day when the weather was finally warm enough, she put him out on the front lawn near the gravel road that ran between Burr Oak and Decorah so he could get some sun and watch whatever traffic there might be. Well, a circus had gotten off the train a little ways north of Burr Oak and was walking into Decorah a few miles away. When the ringmaster who was leading the parade saw little Glen in the chair with the blanket over his lap, he stopped everyone and had those acts that could perform in the road put on a little show just for him! So he got to see the liberty horses and the trick dogs and the clowns and the acrobats and even the elephants. He saw the lions and tigers in their cages on wheels pulled by brave horses. It was quite the memorable day!

There was not a lot for us girls to do at Gramma Reed's place, but there was a little neighborhood store just across the alley that ran along the south side of the building. Stores like that have mostly been replaced by 7-11s and Mavericks. They were about that size, but were not standardized. Each was unique, according to the ideas of the people, usually a married couple, who owned and ran them. This one had mostly food items (Twinkies were my favorite.), but also carried school and office supplies and gifts. Among the gifts were china figurines, including horses. One day when my father's sister, Carol, was also visiting I was given some spending money. I took it straight to the store to choose a new horse. Well, they did not have any horses I liked that day, so I bought a donkey. It was really cute, dark brown with a mane and tail tassel made of some black feathery stuff. When I got back to the apartment, Aunt Carol asked me what I was going to name it. I replied, "Well, I don't have any named Carol yet." Somehow my parents did not think it was a good idea to name my new donkey after my aunt! So I called it Kerry, deciding it must be an Irish donkey.

The apartment building was on a busy street, just a gas station away from an even busier one, so we were not allowed to go any further than the store or the gas station. But Gramma kept books and games for us, so we did not get too bored. We never stayed longer than a day or so and I really enjoyed listening to the grownups talk. They would often forget that I was quietly listening in the corner and I would hear very interesting stuff!

One year when I was very little Easter fell on my birthday and Gramma made a lamb cake to celebrate both. She must have had a mold and it looked just like a lamb lying down in a bed of Easter grass with shredded coconut all over it to look like wool. I did not want them to cut into it, but of course they did. It did taste good, but it was a shame to spoil the lamb.