Senior Citizens, do you remember an episode like this?

My father's older sister was a very cold, austere woman and very outspoken. She was highly educated and held the position of Superintendent of Schools in her county. In that time (the late 40's) it was thought to be a very prestigious position. She had a bit of an attitude against those whom she felt were not quite "in her league". My mother had to quit school in the eighth grade to take care of her mother who was dying. My aunt never showed my mom the respect she deserved and consequently had little patience with me or my sister.

One day when I was about five years old, we were visiting at her home. She had a nice house with very nice furniture. She also had a very nice refrigerator. We still had an ice box at the time so I was intrigued by the light that went on each time the door of the fridge was opened. The women folk were sitting around the kitchen table drinking lemonade, and every now and then I would go over to the fridge and open it, look in, then close the door. My aunt very sternly said, "You know it cost a nickle every time you open the refrigerator!" Well, it scared me to death. I thought she was going to try to make me pay her for opening her fridge! I knew I didn't have any money and I was just as sure that my mom also had none. She had me worried, I can tell you. Needless to say I was never very close to this particular aunt.

When I was a boy during WWII I went into our small neighborhood store. The lady ahead of me bought two Hershey Bars. They were kept under the counter. I asked for one. The grocer denied me. I told him that I would never, every come back to the store. And I did not. When my friends went there for a cold soda I would sit across the street.

Years later I was a soldier in Japan during the Korean War. My mother wrote to tell me that the store owners were sending me an apology. They knew that I had kept my word. And they knew, they had seen my sitting across the street. I was a very opinionated little boy. Still am.

You walked right in, but she was the one who failed to lock her door. If nothing else, at least locking the door will protect small children. Otherwise, even toddlers younger than 2 might wander off & go right in. We also hear of folks getting their cars stolen when leaving the keys in the car or even leaving the car running. We get warnings from the police every winter not to leave the car running to warm up the car in the winter, while going back in the house to get coffee or whatever. Aside from thefts, imagine what might happen if a small child got in the car, maybe even to try driving it.

Aside from that, I do remember getting scolded by people other than my mother. I was especially afraid of men teasing me or acting gruff. Some adults thought I was flirting with the men, but frankly, I was just afraid...nothing sexual, but just afraid of their size, their scratchy whiskers, and so on, having no control other than screaming if they decided to call me by a nickname that I hated.

Not exactly like that but similar. We went to have dinner with friends of my parents. I had to go outside to use their outside toilet , in the dark. As I walked along the path, their dog rushed out and jumped - repeatedly - up at my face, barking loudly. It didn't bite me, but for an 8 year old it was very frightening. It seemed to go on forever, me trying to push him away and him snapping and jumping up at my face.

I ran inside and told my parents and their friends about it, and the friends actually laughed and said "don't be silly, he wouldn't hurt you" as if that made everything OK. My parent also laughed it off. I was so hurt and disappointed that these grown-ups could be so uncaring.

That incident made me realise that my parents had feet of clay - when we were at home they were loving and caring, but when other people were there, they were influenced by those other people. I never looked at my parents in quite the same way after that - my trust in them had been broken.

No we lived in the country and that area of Missouri people were very gentle with young children, a simpler time when being genteel and sweet to children was very common.