Contents
1988
- Moving West
- Born in a Chicken House
- Waldersee
- Holes in the Garage
- Animals and the Cellar
- Prune Picking
- Mud-Bathing and School
- Evenings and Grampy Pfeiffer
- Reading and Spankings
- More School
- Church and Dresses
- Christmas
1992
Reminiscences of and for the Family |
|
And then there was the handsome Clifford. He was
the oldest son of the widow Francis whose husband had been killed while
working for the railroad. He left her with a brood of nine and that family
just seemed to court disaster. One of them was blinded while dynamiting fish
(illegal, of course). The girls had many marriages, all disasters, and one
of the boys married a lovely girl, but she was in the state hospital more
than out. And then there was Clifford. He stayed with us when I was in late
grade school and he in high. He had beautiful blue eyes and wavy black hair
and every girlfriend I had was madly in love with him. Dorothy Morrisey
dubbed a certain pillow on the davenport (a sort of bolster) "Clifford," and
used to sit and hug the pillow, moaning ecstatically. Especially when he was
in the room and especially unaware of the hidden meanings of things. Poor
Clifford married a poor sad young girl and entered the Navy. And
disaster-prone as the family was, a torpedo hit the ship when he had gone
below to have a piece of pie and he was the only one on the whole ship who
was killed. His sad-sack little wife wheeled her baby through the Phil
Sheridan Parade clad only in a diaper and the baby died later of pneumonia.
Sad family.
8-24-92 |
Last Modified: 05/01/2000 21:43:44