CHAPTER
15
O
BOY!
In this chapter, through quotes from
letters of this period (saved by my mother and my mother‑in‑law), I
hope to convey some of the atmosphere and antics of our three and later four
little boys. There is much more in the
letters, but I have deliberately picked out the stories about the children who
were a dominant part of our lives!
The scene opens at the manse, a 2
bedroom cottage, at
3/27/49 The boys have had another slight round of
colds but are better. Timothy has gone
to Sunday School the last two Sundays and seems to make out fine. With the spring weather the boys have been out a lot more and are enjoying their
tricycles and swings, etc. I realize
with a sense of (temporary) relief that they are a lot more educated about streets, sidewalks,
where they can play and where they can't than when we first moved here.
4/17/49 At the moment Bill is begging to be let out
of the playpen and have some fun. Tim is
still napping and Charley is building blocks.
I must iron their suits for Sunday and shine the shoes, etc., etc...I feel fine. Finally got to the Dr. about April lst. He says the baby is very normal in every way ... and I
have all the assorted wiggles to assure me that something is there. It is certainly big enough already. The doctor said from what I told him that it
might easily have been a twin aborting (when I had my trouble)‑‑you
should have seen Dink's jaw drop when I
told him that.
5/15/49 Billy still doesn't really walk though he has
been taking several steps at a time for many weeks now. However, when he really wants to get
somewhere he always resorts to a tummy‑ crawl. On his year old birthday we invited two
little boys from down the street for the afternoon and supper (their mother had
a brand‑new baby and I thought I could relieve her.)
5/20/49 Billy still doesn't really walk. He has taken 5 or 6 steps at a time...but
still thinks 4 supports are better than two.
Anyway, he had a fine time scrambling in and out among our chairs and he
has such very engaging ways that he is always extremely popular. Timmy is
generally credited with being much more aggressive than Charley. Tim has a way of sailing up to a perfect stranger and launching into a complicated
conversation (pretending he is his
latest hero from fiction‑‑Farmer Jones, Mr. McGregor, Curious
George, etc.), and you are lucky if you can get a word in edgewise. Charley tends to be more shy with strangers
and is generally more diffident about most new situations...Permanente (ten
miles from here) is where I am going to have my "event" in August (if
all goes well) and is located across the corner from a magnificent park where
Dink takes the children when I have my appointments. The only trouble with going to a hospital for
prenatal visits is that the children go around the block after you get home
telling the neighbors that "mama went to the hospital".
(We took a week's
"vacation" in
7/25/49 The boys (Charley and Tim) have left with
their father for Sunday School. Dink
wielded an armful of folded bulletins and
a bouquet of flowers (rather mangy dahlias picked from our yard because
the person who was supposed to have flowers this Sunday is away)...Now it is
time already to wake Billy from his nap and take him off to church. Billy is changing so fast that he seems like
a new boy each day. I have always loved
the early walking stage for that reason‑‑so many new horizons and
interests. He is a real, genuine hot
sketch...
8/15/49 Had a very satisfactory talk with the doctor
last Monday. I am going again tomorrow morning, just for a check up. I think I've realized the last few weeks that
most everybody (including myself for a few months) thought I'd never really
carry this baby to the end and it's kind of nice to be feeling so normal and
nearly 9‑monthsish now.
8/20/50 The boys are a scream when we go to the
library. They get so excited whenever
they see a book that is an old familiar one and immediately set themselves up
and read it at a crescendo of loudness to each other. Last time they found several favorites all at once: "Curious George Takes a
Job"; "The Little Farm" by Lois Lenski, and Epaminandas. We were returning (among others) Wanda Gag's
"Gone is Gone" which I fell in love with. It's just a simple folk tale retold, but I
think the boys heard it about 2l times during the 3 weeks we kept it without
tiring of it (or best of all without MY tiring). It just reminded me of how nice it is to read well‑written
books by an author with a relish for the flavor of words, not just captions for
pictures.
...I remarked to Motherdee at supper tonight
that about this time before the new baby I always think as I look at my present
children, "Well, the next one can't
possibly be as adorable as these, so I'll try to love it just as much‑‑" And then I've never so far had to TRY. Billy has become a comical little toddler who
talks a blue streak in a language unique to WRD. His hair still curls a little
even though I cut it quite short and he is as blond and pink‑cheeked and
blue eyed and lively as can be. Timmy is
pretty rough with him at times and then I upbraid him and say very sharply
"Timmy, how is Billy going to be a good big brother if you don't show him? You go pat him and tell him you're
sorry." So Timmy hikes over cheerfully and gives him a friendly cuff
(Billy having begun to wince the minute Timmy headed in his direction) and they
are off on an expedition together in no time.
8/23/49 (RMD) ...David Knox DeWolf
arrived about 3:25 this morning...we got to the hospital just at midnight...
8/23/49 (CBD) ... Dearest
Bobby, I wonder if Bob has phoned you,
and you know all about how David arrived.
At the end I had gas which kept me from seeing his features very clearly‑‑only
his crop of black hair and his dear
littleness. Bob says he looks like
the other boys and I can scarcely wait
to have them bring him to me (in about an hour). Isn't it funny to think that a BOY IS just
what we wanted...just saw my darling Davey.
His hair is so thick and black he looks like a cute little Indian...
9/11/49 It seems like years ago that
Dink brought me home from the hospital.
It was a lovely warm afternoon...I was of course panting to see my dear
"big" boys, but they were all so utterly excited about the baby that
they ignored me completely much to my loving amusement. Timmy and Charley were
just sweet with David from the start.
Billy was initially shocked to see his Daddy carrying somebody else, but
he has quickly come round to enjoying David too. Timmy comes running to me every time he hears
David cry and says, "Mommy, David wants you."
10/15/49 Timmy has a wonderful way
of making words whenever he needs them.
One of his expressions tickles me ‑‑ he says "the baby
is being have" or "Billy is being have"‑‑after all I
tell HIM to behave ‑‑ why
not? After the football game I walked
the kids over to the church to see if Dink was through and would like to drive
over to the Hosicks (source of reject cookies).
While I was chatting with Dink in
the study, I heard the boys in the sanctuary
and went in to see what they were up to.
There was Charley perched in his daddy's throne‑like chair with
his toes barely reaching the front edge of the seat and his head cupped in his
hand in an attitude of meditation that was simultaneously so profound and so
comical that I beat a hasty retreat.
Presently he got up and marched
the length of the aisle and gave the benediction from the rear door...he plays
this game at home with such exquisite detail that I am torn asunder at
times. I don't want the children to
think it is a game‑‑yet they speak of it as playing church‑‑and
it is a wonderful game really. I just
watch them in awe part of the time.
Charley keeps adding details from his absolute concentration at church
(he's been going regularly with me the last 4 months. When people marvel to me at how
"perfectly your son behaves" I chuckle to myself and do not explain
to them that he is really watching every bit to improve his own service at
home. He often remembers bits of the
sermon and asks his daddy afterwards‑‑I can't help feeling people
underestimate kids lots of times.
Anyway, if you could see him in his
bathrobe (like his father's robe) over his overalls, a chair with a high back
reversed to make a pulpit‑‑the closet in our bedroom is "the
study"‑‑no service can begin without Charley emerging from
"the study", etc., etc. I'm
sure you'd have a few mingled emotions yourself. Timmy is generally the choir and takes a good deal of bossing from the minister
(Timmy is more aggressive than Charley as a rule so I don't care if he does
take a subordinate role now and then.)
When Charley stopped in the middle of a hymn recently and took Timmy
sharply to task for reading his hymn upside‑down, I was convulsed. After making the proper rearrangements they
both proceeded singing Faith of our Fathers at a fine pace. They always insist on our finding the correct
hymn in the hymn book although how they can tell is more than I can see...
11/1/49 Recent conversation in the back seat of the
car:
Charley: (excitedly) I saw a new
firehouse!
Timmy (who had been looking away, and had NOT seen
it): Did I see it?
Charley (firmly): Yes you did.
Timmy: Oh. (Long pause)
Charley: Did you? (end of conversation)
Sometimes I just wish you could hear
all their bright sayings which I can never remember to quote in letters. All
their exciting little childhood is flying by and none of their Eastern
relatives even get a glimpse of them.
Billy has been heart‑rendingly adorable for the past year and so
soon he will be just another rough‑and‑tumble little boy as far as
the outside world is concerned. Monday
night we took the boys to a Hallowe'en party at
the church (just Charley & Timmy) after celebrating Motherdee's
birthday (Nov. 2nd) at dinner time. It
was quite a gala day for the boys. I
dressed them as ghosts and Billy put up such a protest at not having a costume
too that I dressed him too ‑‑ and he strutted around like the
cutest little pink‑and‑white ghost in the stratosphere. David celebrated Halloween by visiting the
well‑baby clinic, weighed in at l0 lb. & 5 oz. and gets cuter and
bouncier every day.
11/11/49 Tonight I feel sort of weary with coping with
the boys. They spent part of the afternoon being garbage men and the rest of
the afternoon being such realistic lions that I am almost growling too. Most of
the time they are firemen, or Charley is a minister‑‑words fail me
to tell you about the latter activity; it really has to be seen to be
believed. He imitates Dink's
gestures to such an extent that Dink
says he feels self‑ conscious.
Anyway, today is just one of
those days...
12/3/49 Dearest Bobby, Just two
hours ago that we talked to you! Now I hope you are asleep like my dear 4
little boys. We started to put in the
call to you a little after six, and the boys were a little too excited by the time it came through. Also the connection was poor and we couldn't
hear you very well. Timmy was broken‑hearted that he didn't get to
say hello to you again. I was in the
middle of nursing David...had kept putting if off (waiting for the call to come
through). It will be so nice to think of
you tomorrow and to know you will be thinking of us when the children are
baptized. I spent most of today making
sure all four would look their best for the occasion. Alice Newhall volunteered
to bring the Sunday dinner. (Dr. Bone, a
former pastor, baptized the 3 younger boys the next day and had dinner with us
and Alice & Luther afterwards.)...Wish you could have seen Charley read all
of Little Thunder to Timmy just before the phone call came through. He knows a number of books by heart and reads
to Timmy in an entrancing way. Billy is
still adorable, but every day he learns
some new aggravating thing to get into.
The world is his oyster and my house often shows the effects. The other night at 7:22 p.m. I said to
Charley and Tim "Just ONE more story." They got the idea of having the REAL
Bible. They were as excited as if I'd
unearthed real gems when they got the idea of reading all their favorite Bible
stories in the original. At the end of
40 minutes solid reading, interrupted only by intelligent questions, I put them
to bed.
P.S. Sunday, 9:15 p.m. What a glorious day this has been. Dear little David Knox was baptized and we
were very tenderly proud of our dear family.
We got up betimes but I was still putting the finishing touches on Bill
when Alice & Luther arrived about 10:35 (Dink had taken Charley & Tim
to Sunday School).
12/11/49 (looking forward to Christmas) We have some simple things for the children,
and I plan to go shopping with Charley to spend the 60 cents he has saved in
his bank. I'll take Timmy a different
day if Dink can give me an hour off after lunch and between those trips I hope
we can give our stockings a delightful lumpy look. Our biggest Christmas present is Motherdee's
piano which we have now had for 3 days.
It is labeled "Baus Piano Co.,
1/1/50 The days seem so full, yet not a whole lot to
tell. The boys have been indoors a lot
due to the cold and rain and muddy ground.
Their latest mania is pretending to be monkeys. There is
a caged monkey in a furniture shop about l0 blocks from here. I have taken them to see him several times
with disastrous results‑‑they want to eat, sleep, talk etc. all on
an ape level. Fortunately they do not
feel it is suitable to be monkeys‑with‑ clothes‑on so this
form of pretend takes place entirely in pajamas. The rest of the day there are three basic
pretends:
l. Church (Billy is assuming a more
active role in the choir lately and runs to me with his bathrobe saying
"put on" as soon as Charley suggests it. Also "Holy Holy Holy" is still #1
on the Church hit‑parade including all the cherubim, seraphim and glassy
sea ‑‑ that verse has a particular fascination. Billy tunes in on it even though as a rule
his singing doesn't count for much yet.)
2. Indians (Little Thunder is
basically responsible for this elaborate pretend‑‑here again they
are always wanting to undress owing to R. Paflin's illustrations‑‑will
you ask your illustrator to dress Little Thunder up for the next version? Anyway they used to insist on wearing rubber
band bracelets until Dink fashioned some out of wide sticky tape that seemed
even more realistic. They do a war dance
to the California Indian Song‑‑ one of U.C.'s football songs all
about scalping the Stanford Indians. You
should see wee Willie Winkie being a fierce little Indian. They go to pow‑wows and make clay pots,
etc.)
3. Re‑enacting the Christmas
pageant. Separate scenes of wise men,
shepherds, etc. They make fantastic head‑dresses
and get so solemn that I think a rock would be awed. I've had some joss sticks kicking around ever
since 1930 when
2/11/50 Starting Charley in school seemd particularly
poignant during this week of remembering Buzz especially (he had died on this
date in 1948)‑‑the relation of the two events has seemed plain to
me, a special reminder of the breathtaking pace of life which seems to hurry us
all on toward the finish. Dear funny gay
little Charley. He looked radiantly
handsome. Motherdee had given the boys
some very pretty clothes for Christmas and since the Church gave us outfits for
them I'd saved hers for school.
Consequently he was extremely well dressed...he walked very happily with
me and celebrated the occasion by crossing streets without‑holding‑hands‑‑he
held my hand during the blocks however quite touchingly. Usually it's just the reverse. When I take the boys on walks they are
regimented to all hold hands when we get to the corner but during the block
they are free to roam and forage. I had
explained to Charley that when he started to school he'd be able to cross the
streets himself, but he could still help me hold the little boys' hands. He goes from l p.m. to 3 p.m.(1/2 mile
distance) which is tough in a way‑‑I mean the morning would be
easier. But one gets used to any
schedule. Timmy announced the third day
at breakfast, "Charley is NOT going to school today." He has naturally missed his bosom
companion. Charley's only special remark
that I remember was a wistful question to his father after the second day,
"When do I start learning how to learn things?"
(At this time we were feeling the
pressure of our smallish living room, trying to have meetings and family too ‑‑
plans were underway to put an addition onto the house.) "The reactions so
far have been far beyond our anticipations.
It seems as though the general reaction is one of relief that they see a
way of keeping Dink here for a while.
Honestly Dink is turrible popular.
Thursday I went to a circle meeting.
My back was to a large table where a dozen women were seated. I kept hearing "wonderful, yes they all
think he's just wonderful, that sermon Sunday, etc., etc." Well natch I was pricking up my ears while
trying to appear to concentrate on the dessert when Anna Condit called over to
me, "Are you listening Carol?"
So I said, "I'm sure trying to, but I can't quite hear all of
it..." So they went on some more and I just said,
"That's fine only don't tell him‑‑I have to live with
him. After some more raves I said to
Dink at supper, it kind of frightens you a little. On the other hand it certainly helps to have
enough basic popularity so that the inevitable snipers are set back...I told
Dink, "Ha ha you can use your old popularity to get us an addition to the
house this year..." Dink said
"Ha ha" right back and added, "I'll have the slogan for the year
be "An addition to the house but not to the family".
(It was our unwillingness to push
this through without unanimous consent that caused Bob to start looking toward
the Methodist Church‑‑to solve the problem by moving.)
2/25/50 Each day Charley brings home
a drawing from kindergarten and for about a week he had specialized in
houses. But yesterday he presented me
with his paper‑‑just one big mass of smudgy black scrawls, and
remarked casually, "The house burned down, see‑‑nothing but a
lot of ashes and smoke and things..." (Another time the teacher sent a
note saying that she had asked the children to bring an old shirt of their
father's to use for painting smocks but Charles had told her that his father
didn't HAVE any old shirts.)
3/5/50 It is 20 minutes of eleven on a Sunday
morning and Billy is standing at my shoulder in his bright green jacket hugging
me on to church. Charley and Tim went
with their father. David is all shining
in the carriage, and I am wearing the tweedy coat that the supt. of the
kindergarten dept. handed down to me.
It's hard to believe I am now a person who wears glasses!
Had quite a scare with Timmy on Thursday. Dink brought Dick Stein home for lunch rather
unexpectedly and while I was changing Billy and dressing Charley for school, I
just told Charley to go say goodbye to his father and go to school (always
before I have started him in the right direction by at least going to the door
with him). Well shortly afterwards I
missed Timmy. Dick said he'd seen him
playing on the swing when they came in for lunch and so it never occurred to me
that he could have gone with Charley. I
hunted high and low. Dink and Dick drove
around. I drove around. Stopped at every house I could think of,
etc. The baffling thing was the
completely unprecedented nature of his disappearance. The
boys just don't visit anywhere without me and have been very good about
obeying the rules of just where they are supposed to be. Well, as you've guessed, we finally drove up
to the school and I got out and asked at the office. They told me I might go look in the
kindergarten. I got halfway round the
building and saw my nice fat grubby little Timmy. His back was turned toward me and as I swept
him up into my arms he began to cry in a way that made me know he had been
sobbing his heart out.
A woman outside said he had been
crying hard too. He must have been there
about an hour and obviously nearly 8 blocks to home seemed a long way. (Later we learned he had accompanied Charley
who simply didn't know what to do with him when the bell rang.) ...Charley seems to be getting much more
assertive, bossy, sassy, etc. since starting school. I wish they weren't so scared of TEACHING
children anything. I am convinced
children his age are fascinated by all facts, and cold hard learning. Kindergarten here consists of nothing but
playing, stories, records, etc. Thursday
he came home with a note saying "Bring 15 cents for a show from 2‑3
p.m. on Friday if you want to go".
I carefully put the l5 cents in a change purse for him only to have an
older boy show him how to spend 10 cents of it for bubble‑gum on the way
home ‑‑ still don't know why it wasn't all collected.
4/11/50 The most dramatic event of
last week was Billy eating a Grant's Ant Stake.
It's quite a long yarn, but anyway he survived. It happened Monday. Timmy and Charley had taken the stake apart
(they are little metal stakes with ant‑poison inside which you stick in
the ground outdoors, and we thought they were childproof) Anyway, I blamed myself because I saw them
doing it, but we were trying to get some pictures, so although I jumped on them
(verbally) I didn't clear the situation up.
I had David in my arms and mentally thought I'd throw the stuff away as
soon as the pictures were taken. Then
something went wrong with the camera and we were so distressed at the thought
of losing the pictures that we just didn't think of it again until after lunch
when we discovered the ant‑cake was missing and I found Billy sick all
over the place. Dink phoned the doctor
who told him to take him to the county hospital, but there they said it was too
late to pump out his stomach. The
vomiting had probably taken care of the worst of it and any antidote was almost
as bad as the poison. Their only
instructions were to watch him, and if he started to twitch or go into
convulsions then they'd give an antidote.
Well, he didn't, but he was very wretched and sweet and adorable. He wouldn't drink anything, only tiny sips
and then would be quite pathetic in his attempts to get rid of it. Actually it's the kind of thing that to
anticipate would be torture; in retrospect it seems very poignant, but at the
time we were so busy bossing the situation that it didn't seem as gruesome as
it does when I stop to think about it.
Charley and Timmy reported to me excitedly, "It's all right now,
mama, we told him it was poison before he dies..."
While I'm on the subject of
calamities, a much more minor one this morning was Charley's bee‑sting. There seems to be a rage for catching bees in
bottles in this neighborhood. I deplore
the hobby because it means so much broken glass and sooner or later bee‑stings. The boys both got stung last summer but it
didn't seem to cure them. Maybe this
morning will have cured Charley‑‑I hope so. Barefoot, he came yowling and howling into
the house and between enraged tears said vehemently, "He stinged me! he
stinged me! They said if you killed the
bee he wouldn't sting you so I stepped on him and he still stinged me and
stinged me..."
4/21/50 (During this interval I suddenly became aware
that I was riding close to the brink of a nervous collapse‑‑this is
what I wrote to Bobby): "celebrated my birthday (April 17) with the
children at noon. They had bought me a
lemon squeezer and a measuring cup, both badly needed. Then Bob and I went out for a latish dinner
with the Steins. Dick Stein does the
radio broadcast with Dink and they had invited us for dinner. I found myself feeling just TERRIBLY nervous
during the evening in spite of the fact that everything was just as lovely as
it could be. The coffee was strong at
dinner and I had had several cups so I blamed that. But it got worse and worse. I was kind of scared to feel so jittery.
I told Dink on the way home and next
day I stayed in bed and he got the doctor from Permanente. She (the dr.) gave me a slight sedative and
didn't blame the coffee‑‑at least she said that couldn't account
for it completely...think I have been burning the candle at both ends and this
was a good warning to me to take it easy...the PRESSURE of having to meet
evening engagements, with the children all needing all my time and energy all
day long is just too much...am to have a physical exam at Permanente Monday and
see if low blood pressure, blood count or some other factor is eating
me...meanwhile I feel better and have the most wonderful husband and children
of any mother in the whole wild world.
5/2/50 Tomorrow is Billy's birthday and Dink is out
in the garage trying to pound an ancient wagon into acceptable form for a
present...just a small one for hauling blocks.
David is trying to hunch himself
off the pad onto the living room floor; Timmy has finished playing with the
tracies and is watching me; Billy is asleep and Charley is at kindergarten...
5/8/50 Your letter psychoanalyzing me was so
wonderful that I agreed with it l00%...[This was the hardest ordeal I ever went
through in my whole life‑‑weeks and recurring times for months,
even several years of feeling total panic.
For the sake of the record I feel that I escaped a breakdown by saying
the 23rd psalm over about a million times, sleeping, eliminating everything
except caring for the children and Dink, reading Jane Austin, MAKING myself eat
when everything tasted like dry paper, living one hour at a time, doing small
menial things, being secure in Dink's love, leaning on him more, facing a
horrid pride in myself that wanted to be (as one of my church friends put it)
the ideal wife, mother and hostess. Motherdee
and Alice Newhall were wonderful to me too, and I discovered LOTS of people who
had had similar ragged experiences.
Finally the Doctor discovered I was frightfully anemic and treating me
for that helped too.] ...
Now
the children are in bed but David is still fretting just a little‑‑he
had his last shot at the "real baby clinic" (as Timmy used to call
it) this morning.
Recent funny sayings of RMD:
Carol
(emerging from Dr.'s office): The doctor says I should gain at least 10 lbs.
(pause) Will you still love me when I'm a big fat tub?
RMD: Sure, Just like I did when you were before,
honey.
RMD
(counting David's toes‑‑spontaneity of original should have been
heard to be appreciated):
"This little pig went to the
supermarket.
This little pig stayed home to watch the television.
This little pig had roast beef au jus.
This little pig had none.
This little pig went out with a French girl
who cried,
"Oui, oui, oui" all the
way home."
****
Billy stayed with Mrs. Priester for
a week while I was recuperating. Mrs. P
thinks there never was or will be any child more angelic. The first few days that he was home again he
had a definite adjustment to make to being just one of four little boys instead
of being the apple of everybody's eye.
At Sunday lunch, Bill was being quite wayward so I finally took him to
his room. Dink leered at me, "Next
time let's send him to somebody MEAN..."
****
Can't think of anything else funny,
except Charley and Timmy who have been on a Little Thunder jag until I answer
as readily to "Hush‑Hush" as to "mama". They make bracelets, head‑dresses,
etc. out of sticky tape and Dink and I
are going to write to Roberta Paflin before you publish any more books and say,
PLEASE draw them with clothes on. No matter how cold the morning, the first two
questions are, "Can I get dressed by the heater?" and "Do I HAVE
to wear a shirt?" They kneel just
like the pictures in Little Thunder and we eat "buffalo" in one form
or another at practically every meal,
etc.
7/2/50 I ask Billy to tell me a
story every so often. These are two
immediate and spontaneous answers:
"Time (once upon a time), boy valking (walking) (pause) go go go."
and "Time, kitty cat, dog valking, bow, wow, wow." The language is so elementary that it's hard
to convey the intensity, excitement and satisfaction in these narratives.
Timmy is a story teller from way back.
He reels off such long and fantastic yarns that it is comical. Did I ever write you about the one with the
fairy and the silver whistle that didn't
blow?
[Bob decided to take the
More letters...
8/15/50 (after an inspection trip to
Dunsmuir)...The former minister says they always have at least 5‑6 feet
of snow in the winter and it sounds as though we'll be Eskimos. (That's what the boys think‑‑I've
read them the Eskimo Twins and a couple of other Eskimo stories and they are
training David and Billy to be dogs to
pull their sledges and go around explaining to everybody about how they'll make an igloo. My favorite story of the camping trip: Timmy and Charley were arguing over something
Timmy had and Charley wanted. Charley
kept saying "Please give it to me"
Finally Timmy said:"Well, I'll see" (adding after a thoughtful
pause) "...that means NO." It
was such a direct reflection on his ma
that I've been chortling ever since...Now it's bedtime for the boys‑‑they
(I mean the top 3) are in the bathtub washing off some of the mud. One of Charley's thoughtful remarks on our
camping trip was, "What are you going to do when you want to punish
us? There's no ROOM you can send us
to..." We found ways.
9/10/50...after the van left we
climbed in the car and drove over to Motherdee's. She had a nice light supper ready. By 5:30 p.m. we were rolling with Charley and
Timmy in the back of the car. We stopped to say goodbye to the Newhalls...had
a hot trip even at night..arrived in Dunsmuir about 12:30 A.M. and found we
couldn't break into our new home. All
the time the key sat under the mailbox but we ended up raiding the basement for
an old pair of springs and an old rug on which Dink slept. I slept in the front seat of the car while
the boys slept in back. They were good
little sports as we were not prepared to make ourselves comfortable and none of
us got much sleep. All we could see of
the house was an enormous pile of rubbish outside and I feared the worst.
Next morning after a hasty clean‑up trip to a gas station we got
hold of the key and even though we were weary and breakfast‑less, we were
astonished when we got inside the house.
A committee of church people had made it glitter‑‑downstairs
repapered and painted, etc. I am now
typing in Dink's study which is bigger
than we remembered and very cozy. The
boys felt at home at once and were soon busily engaged in collecting acorns
(they wanted to know where the pigs were), knocking the ripe plums off the two
plum trees (also the non‑ripe ones) and making countless tours of
inspection.