The kitchen had a pass through bar, that my cousin and I, and the little girl down the street used to play diner. Our main menu items were grilled cheese and KoolAid, but you got service with a smile. And maybe a giggle or two. The back door was always open in the daytime. To the left of the back door was the washer and dryer. And in front of that was a kitchen table. I mainly remember eating there, or at the bar.
The dining room was where the toaster was for some reason, and it was what I called the pop fly toaster. When the toast was done, it shot the toast literally into the air, and if you didn't get it, it fell behind the cabinet that it sat on. I was very small for my age, and probably had about a loaf of bread toasted behind that cabinet each summer. The dining room table sat directly in front of the air conditioner so it was a race to eat your dinner before it cooled. This is also where the deep freeze was. Always full. Of what, I have no idea. Lots of whitish packages.
In the living room was Pawpaws chair. He looked just like the old man from the movie Up, and I can smell his soapy, shavy, smell so easily. He wore white shirts and Liberty overalls every day except Sundays. When he died and was laid out in his Gulfport Fire Deprtment Captain's uniform, I did not recognize him. Where were his overalls?
By his chair was the telephone table, and the phone was actually still there in the 80's. With the phone book. There wer extensions in the house, but the table remained. Also in the house was an AWESOME (!) picture of Jesus with his hands protecting an 18 wheeler. My dad was a truck driver, and my grandmother just loved that somewhat tacky picture. They also had a T.V., although there was a preacher at their church who believed that the T.V. was the devil. When he pulled up, Grandma would holler, "Oh, turn the tv off!". And that was it until he left. The thing was sitting there in the living room still popping with static electricity, so I know they weren't fooling anyone. I believe it was just a respect thing. Pawpaw loved Urkel, on Family Matters, just laughed at him constantly. So if the preacher showed up during Urkel time, he may have run the risk of losing a Sunday attendee.
My grandparents had separate bedrooms, as people did at that time, after a certain point. I loved the sound of the police and fire scanner that Pawpaw had on in his room all night long. And they would talk to each other from room to room. If something "busy" was on the scanner, Grandma would ask him what it was, or where it was. He would sleep, but he still listened to that thing all night. I guess his years as a fireman trained him to do both. I slept in the room with her, and never slept better. There were no doors between the two rooms, just a hallway, where the bathroom was.
Every evening after dinner, everyone moved to the front porch (unless it was Urkel time). There was a swing, and the metal chairs that bounced. When I was little, the porch seemed about 10 feet off the ground. In later years, I saw that it was about 3 feet. Go figure. We would sit and swing, and talk to neighbors until dark. My cousin Jodi and I would swing on the porch swing and sing for hours.
There are so many more memories. Walking down the street to get Slush puppies. Playing in the forbidden tree. Riding in the yellow Datsun with Pawpaw before he smashed it and himself. I keep all of those memories tucked away, until I smell something or hear something that puts me right back there. Then I remember. And I miss them both so very much.
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