Sunday, October 28, 2007
It's as hot at home as it is on the road.
That week passed slowly but we managed to keep ourselves busy one way or the other. When Daddy got home from the post office he didn't have a letter that day either.
"Well girls," he said, "Tomorrow we start to California!! Get a change of clothes together and some underwear because it may take a long time to get there."
We were so excited we could hardly sleep that night. Somehow (I never knew how) Daddy knew where Mother was and we were going!!!
We almost never got any sleep that night because we were so excited but we must have finally fallen off to sleep because the first thing we knew it was daylight and Daddy was frying some bread and salt pork.
Needless to say, it didn't take us long to get up and get dressed. Daddy said for us to eat good,- if you can eat a fried biscuit and salt pork good. We did.
Daddy looked in our flour sack of clothes and decided it was okay. He had a small bottle with a screw top on it that he kept in his shirt pocket all the time. I asked him what was in that bottle? "Shike," he said, "You wouldn't want any of that." Why?-- That was our favorite answer---Why. He let me smell of it and low and behold, he was right---I wouldn't want any of that. It was kerosene!!!
Every once in awhile he would touch it to his tongue then screw the cap back on and put it back in his pocket.
Time has run out fot this time so I'll prattle off to the kitchen.
Shike, Prattling on...
Thursday, October 25, 2007
no news is not always good news.
We would play 'Mama and Daddy''. She would always be Mama and I would always be Daddy. When she made the peanut butter sandwiches, I would get to sit on the edge of the bed where Daddy always sat to eat. That's because we didn't have any chairs, only some boxes, but we thought that was normal.
Joan always ended up being the little kid. What a brat she was!! We thought that was normal as she had always been that way. Mickey was such a sober little girl I never dared cross her---that is, until I was 14 years old and that was the wrong thing to do then,too!
Daddy came home from the post office one day and we could tell by his face there was no letter. "Well, girls," he said, "tomorrow we start out to find your Mother." We thought 'Boy will she be mad,' because she didn't say to come on. We almost didn't sleep all night waiting for morning to come but, finally through sheer exhaustion we fell asleep.
And that's it for now.
Shike, Prattling on...
Aways moving on
"Well," she said to Daddy, "we could sit here and starve or one of us could go somewhere and find work."
Well, there was no reasoning with her once she had her mind made up so one night she got a flour sack and put some clothes in it, some for her and Buddy and the baby, and they started off. I guess she and Daddy divided the money, I really can't remember for sure, but Mother took Buddy and said, "Come on now, you have to help me this time." They went to the freight yard and Buddy helped her into an empty car with the baby and they found some straw in a corner and curled up for the night. I guess Mother knew which way the train was going because the next morning they were somewhere near Chowchilla, California.
What happened next I wasn't there to see. I know we girls cried almost all night for two nights and I think Mickey cried most. She was Mother's girl.We waited for a letter and every day Daddy went to town to the post office to General Delivery and no letter. I will publish this now before I lose it.
Bye Shike, Prattling on...
Friday, October 19, 2007
Starting Again But Slower This Time...
As I said in a previous blog, our friends,the Bues, had moved to California and Mother was really wanting to go, too. Anyway other things first.
Now that they had a little money, Mother wanted us all to go get our pictures made for a family picture. People weren't much on pictures but Mom wanted ours done so they fixed all us kids up and cut my hair because it hung in scraggly curls and wouldn't stay brushed; Hence my bangs. Mickey got hers cut too but on her it was real cute.
Prattling on...
Just a word or two
Shike, Prattling On...
Thursday, October 18, 2007
Time To Move On...
The carnival is over and we, as most kids would, think every thing will be normal for us again. However, Mom has different ideas. Daddy was able to work with the people putting the carnival back in the trucks and getting ready to go, so we had a little money. Mother decided that we should all go have our picture made as a family while we could pay for it. Hence, we have a family picture of when the baby was about 18 months old and what a card he was!
The Bues had moved to California about the time the carnival first came so we really didn't have any relatives close by; not that there weren't plenty of neighbor kids to play with, but Mother began to get restless.
One day she had a talk with Daddy and decided she would go to California where she could get a job. Daddy wasn't too crazy about that but then, usually, when she got her mind made up, that's what she did. She took what money she could and she told Daddy she would take Buddy because he would be of some help to her.
So she put some clothes for her and Buddy and the baby in a cloth bag and decided it would be best to go in the evening so she told all of us goodbye and took Buddy and James and left. Mickey cried for the longest time but when Daddy was gone he would say, "Now you girls be sure and mind Mickey," and we did.
We learned long after that ,that Mom, Buddy and James had gotten on a freight train and rode all the way to Chowchilla, California in what seemed like just one night!! We were amazed!
I guess Daddy got a letter from her because he finally got tired of waiting and said, " Come on Girls, we are going to find your Mamma!" We didn't have anything that was not worth leaving so Daddy got a flour sack and put a change of cloths in it for each one of us girls and the next morning we started walking to California.
It was really hot on that highway! Once in awhile a car would stop and ask where we were going and Daddy would say, " California!!" They would give us a ride as far as they were going then we would start walking again.
One time we passed a small grocery store and Daddy bought a loaf of white bread. That was a novelty for us since we only had biscuits at home. He also got each of us girls a sucker; that was three more cents. He stuck three in his pocket and gave us one each and back on the road we went.
We walked 'till we got to a bridge. We went down under it and Daddy said we would have a picnic now. He had a little folding metal cup in his pocket which he took out and got some river water where it was running and looked clear. We really wouldn't have cared just so it was cool and wet. He showed us how to take a bite of the bread and then suck on the sucker a little to make the bread taste sweet and I guess we learned pretty well because we ate nearly half of that loaf of bread before we were done . It sure was good!
We rested till the sun started to go down then we started to walk again. Daddy had a little bottle in his pocket that he took out and touched to his tongue every so often.
I'll have to stop for now and finish this later.
Right now , I'm Prattling On...
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