DUSTY'S THEN AND NOW

              I came home from school one day to see my Great Aunt taking down the laundry. It was frozen and each piece was taken into the cellar and hung in the �furnace cellar�.

              We had 3 individual rooms in our cellar. The front cellar held the coal bins and under the steps was storage for the �canned goods�. The center cellar, where the furnace was had shelves or discarded cabinets, for canned goods. Where they came from I don�t know but they didn�t match and who cared. The front cellar had the bucket a day and pop�s tool bench and under the side porch, which could be accessed from the front cellar were all the root vegetables that were �dug in� until needed. Pop took pride in his cellar. It was whitewashed and the floor although dirt was clean. It better be, Mom stored her baked goods in tins in the cellar. Grammy was in the kitchen washing tins. New ones, well new to me! Someone gave them to her. They were pretzel and potato chip cans. She promised a can of �bows� to the storeowner in barter. The bows were work, but so good.

              We didn�t decorate much; each window had a red cellophane wreath, with a candle in the center for each downstairs window, a tree in the living room which appeared mysteriously Christmas Eve after I went to bed. Some greens were brought in and placed around the house, as were bowls of fruit and dishes of candies. Ha! Ya thought the baked goods came out! Wrong. If company showed up prior to Christmas Eve, it was brought out. Gifts weren�t passed out to all either. Only kids got gifts. That�s what Christmas was all about in our house.

              We took a walk to the Farmer�s Market to buy some �supplies�. Just Grammy, and me. It was cold but I always had warm clothes and there were friends homes to stop into to warm up and if we timed it right, we could meet Uncle Mike at the mill as he was coming out. Well did Grammy get herself in a mess this time. She bought this and that and everything. Her two shopping bags were full and my one was. �We go to the bridge where Mikey comes out and we get a ride home from him!� Well needless to say my bag was dragging on the sidewalk but it was only 3 blocks up. We were nearing the 5&10 and I asked for hot chocolate. Well grammy took me in sat me at the counter, ordered the chocolate and left the shopping bags �Now you watch the bags, I go wait for Mikey� �Ok � Well I sat there drinking my chocolate and the waitress kept putting more whipped cream in it and I was a happy kid. I was almost through when Grammy flew in and grabbed the bags and said, �Let�s go� I got up, grabbed my bag and fell on my bottom!

              �You have the wrong bag!� Why was Grammy so mad? Boy she was something. We walked outside and it was snowing .Now she really was angry. We started to walk up New Street. �Grammy, Uncle Mike�s car is up on Third Street, why are we going this way? � Today, he is off.� I shut up and followed her. Two more blocks and we were on Fourth Street and as we rounded the corner I could see the blocks laid out in front of me. Long walk to Hillside Ave. and then several more to our street. This was not going to be easy. Grammy stopped in the delicatessen and asked to use their phone. She had me call Uncle Mike and when I told her no answer, well guess. What happened? We thanked the gentlemen and off we went in the snow. We stopped at a few more friends before we got home. . As we were rounding the corner from Fourth Street onto Hillside Ave. who appears but pop. SAVED! There he was with a large cardboard box with a rope tied around it so that it could be pulled up the Hill! I won�t tell you about the heated conversation. Well he piled everything into the box and off we went up the hill. Grammy talked all the way. One of our neighbor men came out and was heading in our direction and he picked me up and put me on his shoulders. That was perfect.

              We finally got home and who is parked in front of the house but my uncle. Grammy didn�t speak to him. �Mom, what�s wrong.� Was repeated several times. Finally the answer. By this time I had the oven door open and my frozen feet on the door and Pop was pouring some coffee milk for me. �What�s wrong? You see we went to Third street to shop, and were you at work to bring us home? NO. We had to walk all the way in the snow!� �Mom, if you would have called me I would have picked you up� More fuel for the fire! �Call? Call? How can I call you when we have no phone like you Mr. Big shot! Shall I put my head out the door and holler MIKEY. And you will hear me 6 miles away?� At this point we knew, there no talking to her. We all went into the cellar.

              Soon we heard a call from Grammy upstairs and up we went, lest the tirade be upon us again. Actually we were all laughing in the cellar. Good thing she didn�t hear us. There in the dinning room was a feast fit for a King! Grammy had heated the chicken soup for dinner, sliced some homemade bread butter and best of all kiffles and bows, my favorites. Well two of them anyway!