Readjusting to single life at just-turned-thirty was not easy
for Martha. Her parents did what they could to help,
particularly with a view toward “insulation”—drawing the
curtains on the immediate past. It would be several years
before Martha learned that Murel had written her a letter or
letters which Joseph and Mathilda decided not to show her.
However, to “boost her ego,” they offered to finance Martha’s
getting a nose job; she was delighted and jumped at the chance.
Shortly thereafter, in search of inner serenity as well as
financial independence for herself and her child, Martha
returned to Urbana. There she worked two part-time jobs, in the
Chemistry Library and the Education Department’s Bureau of
Research and Service.
Joseph and Mathilda kept Sherry with them in Chicago. Now, for
the first time, the elder Ehrlichs had a chance to raise a baby
with all the time and attention they wished to devote. There
had never been enough time when Martha and George were born,
because there had never been enough money; Joseph and Mathilda
both had to work long hard hours to keep their family afloat.
But a new opportunity presented itself in the form of Sherry,
the Little Princess; and the Ehrlichs were at last well enough
off that they could afford to lavish plenty of time on her.
Mathilda continued to keep a record (in English) of Sherry’s
early life. “Here is your grandmother again—hoping you will
appreciate my efforts some day,” she would write, and “Seems
like I always let writing go when I should record each new thing
you can do, but that is how things go.” What follows are
selected extracts from How Things Went.
1949 October 21.
My Darling Sherry, it is a long time since I wrote to you, but
there was nothing worth saying till now. You and your Mother’s
coming back again, this time to stay for good. She’s going back
to Urbana to teach school again. She will be happy to teach as
she always loved it, and everyone loved her too. We are happy
to have you, my dearest, you are a very good baby… We have a
hand embroidered curtain on our door, have two little donkeys
embroidered and a small window at the middle. Grandpa takes you
every morning up in his arms while I fix up your bath and he
shows you the little “csacsi” which is a Hungarian name
for donkey, and you laugh out loud. I don’t know if it’s
because “kicsi csacsi
” sounds funny, or because you like to
see the different colors. You always reach out to touch them so
you must see what it is. Grandpa is just so crazy about you he
said he doesn’t know how he could have enjoyed life before you
came in our family. But I love you
too my darling, and so does your Uncle George and everybody else
in the family…
1949 November 2.
Hello Sherry Dearest! This will be brief because I have
lots to do today. I just want to record it that you could
hold your small water bottle all alone up to drink from it.
You were so cute while I let go of it and you just held it up
and looked so mischievous to Grandpa and me, and laughed out
loud and we two with you… We could just eat you up when
you laugh like that. Your Mommy is coming in next weekend
to see you, she’s very anxious to, but couldn’t for a month
before. Now she works steady at the University of Illinois
as a Chemistry Librarian, which is OK till she can get back to
teaching… You are out on the porch now in your Crib
sleeping under the sunshine. We had to dress you warm as
it is cold now. You even have a pair of mittens on I
crocheted for you
and now I am making slippers also.
1949 December 30.
Christmas is gone, your first, my darling, we have a small tree
on the table for you fixed up very nice, just like in the old
country everything what’s on it can be eaten. Fancy cookies,
candy, silver wrapped walnuts, and a Santa Claus made of cotton,
very cute. Your Mommy and Uncle George came to spend the
holidays with us and got a thrill out of watching you when the
lights were on the tree. Your eyes opened wide and you looked
at it for seconds, then looked at your Mother who was holding
you up, then looked
around to all of us and smiled…
1950 January 4.
We were amazed, tonight you stood up in your bed and took
several steps around holding to the head boards. We got
your first shoes today too, so now you really can go to town
with those on your little feet. Grandpa and I were
laughing while we watched you trying to stand up, and when you
did it you laughed too. You are such a little show-off,
but such a darling too, we love you so much, it is all pleasure
to take care of you here. I am writing to your dear Mommy
about your new accomplishments. I am just so sorry she
can’t see all the new things you are doing each day. But
she was with you on Christmas and she’s coming again very soon.
She loves you terribly and it hurts her to be away but she has
to
earn a living for both of you.
1950 January 18.
…Now we have to put away everything breakable but mostly the
books and magazines interest you. There’s two small end tables
next to the couch piled high on the lower part with these
things, and you are happiest when you stand up there and shove
off everything from it, real heavy books too. No matter how
hard you are crying, if we give you
a magazine you stop instantly, and your grandfather’s very happy
you like books…
1950 April 11.
Hi Darling, as you see it’s quite a few months since I wrote
to you. Not because nothing’s new with you, but because I was
just neglectful. Today you are ten months old… Dr. Zisler who
takes care of you saw you again, and told us you are a very
well-developed baby for your age. But for some unknown reason
you don’t like him, and never let him look in your throat… It’s
Easter, and your Mommy came home from school to see you and us.
It was very bad weather, it rained and froze right on, and got
terribly slippery. It looked more like Christmas time, than
Easter. George was home yesterday, they couldn’t come in
together, he had work to do back at the University. They both
were pleased to see you developing so nicely. Your Mother too
looks a lot better now and happier since she’s back at school.
Even though she misses you terribly, she knows you are well
taken care of till she finds an apartment and can take you home
to live with her. We dread that time, but we understand she
needs you, and your place is with your Mother. We can come
out and see you both when we get too lonesome for you.
1950 May 14.
…Your Mother came in to see you on Mother’s Day and was very
pleased with your progress. You took to her like you know you
belong together, and she was very happy about it and so were
your grandparents, that’s how it should be. She got her
appointment to Thornburn Jr. High School for next fall to teach
there General Science. And she is going to take you to live
with her in Champaign Ill. where her school is. We will miss
you very much, but she misses you too, and as soon as she finds
an apartment where is room enough, you will go to her. But
Grandpa and I will come and see you as often
as we possibly can, we don’t want you to forget us so soon…
1950 June 12.
Well
my Darling, yesterday was your first birthday, your Mommy and
Uncle George came in for the day to help celebrate this very
important day of your life. It was so nice to have them
both home together, but it was a very short day, as they were
driving and wanted to get back home in daylight yet. Your
Mother was so pleased to see how much you grew and how smart
you’ve got since the last time. We all had a nice time
together, you took to your Mother right away, but was shy at
George, which hurt his ego a bit, he loves you a lot too.
He comes in so seldom, that you just can’t remember, which isn’t
your fault at all. You got lots of birthday presents, and
I baked a small birthday cake, and your Mommy brought a candle
which’s a #1 for the one year. I’m going to try to save it
for you to see all the cards you’ve got, and little mementoes if
possible. Some day you will get a kick out of them, and
hope you will forgive me for all the mistakes I’m making in
writing to you. But I had no chance to go to school in
America, and had to learn all by myself how to write in English.
We are all wishing you a very happy birthday, and many many
happy returns of the day, and
hoping you and your Mother will have countless happy days and
years together.
1950 August 18.
My Darling Sherry, it’s almost two weeks since you went to
live with your Mother in “Champaign Urbana” and we both miss you
terribly, especially your Grandfather, as he can’t adjust
himself to changes as quick as I can. I traveled on the train
with you too, to help your Mommy on the way. But you were so
good we had no trouble at all on the way. Grandfather stayed in
front of our train to see you through the window as long as
possible and you whimpered a little because you wanted him
closer. I saw he had a hard time keeping his tears back too,
and it must have been worse for him staying behind all alone. I
stayed four days with you to help get used to the change, but it
seemed perfectly natural for you there, and didn’t make much
difference. Your Uncle George came to play with you every day
while I was there and you got very friendly with him, which made
all of us very glad because you took your time at our house to
warm up to him before. Now in two more days Grandfather and I
will drive down to see you… Wonder if you will remember us when
we come? If not Grandfather will feel very bad, but you are so
young only fourteen
months old my sweet, can’t expect too much of you just yet.
1950 August 21.
Here I am again my darling Baby! talking to you again.
Yesterday we came to see you, the first time after you left us
to live at your Mother’s house in Champaign. We were wondering
if you’d forgot us after two weeks of being away. We got there
eleven o’clock AM and you were the first we saw when we came in
the door. Grandfather scooped you up in his arms and as soon as
you heard his voice you remembered we belonged together, and
after that you just clung to either him or me, hugging our knees
and crying to be picked up… You are so young my sweet, and so
smart, showing off all the new tricks you learned in these last
two weeks. Finally your Mommy held you in her arms till you
fell asleep and while you slept Grandfather and I stole away,
kissing you softly not to waken you, to save you from getting
upset by leaving you behind. But part of our heart stayed with
you, and I saw tears in your Grandfather’s eyes while we were
driving homeward in our car. We just sat quiet for hours before
trusting ourselves to talk about you without a break in our
voices. You changed a lot even in this short time, look more
mature and grown up, you also have another tooth since we saw
you last. We both miss you more than ever before, and love you
dearly.
Martha and Sherry set up house at 112½ Stanage, an attic
apartment in a small white house in Champaign. “Sherry
remembers beautifully, and doesn’t touch stove, telephone, or
books,” Martha wrote her parents. “The rest of the house is
hers.”
The onetime self-styled wallflower Martha now had to play the
role of Mrs. Lewis, single parent and provider; but in the
process she was at last becoming Assertive. “It just happened,”
she would later muse. “I got pushed into being assertive,
really didn’t have a choice—then it felt good, and I didn’t
shrivel.” Certainly the sink-or-swim profession of teaching,
where you had to assert yourself to accomplish anything, helped
the Assertive Martha to emerge; and in the fall of 1950 she
returned to teach at Thornburn Junior High.
George had introduced Martha to his circle of friends in
Champaign-Urbana, and she too became very close to the
Holshousers. When Martha first resumed teaching, Sherry spent
the schooldays with Marion Holshouser, who had two little
daughters of her own.
Then “by long and devious routes and much telephoning” Martha
found a nursery school run by Mrs. Winnie Padgett, and Sherry
was enrolled. It was George who usually took her there in the
morning,
carrying her down the outside stairway and encouraging Sherry to
say “Good morning, sky.” She was in love with the landlord’s
flower garden and the landlord feared her effect upon it, so
George had her greet the flowers by touching them with one
finger only, saying “Hello rose,” “Hello tulip,” and so on.
“When George goes after her, the older kids run ahead to tell
Winnie ‘Uncle George is here for Sherry,’” Martha wrote her
parents. “He has a label now—‘Uncle George’ to all the kids. I
think it pleases him immensely. Then they all line up to kiss
her goodbye. Quite a ceremony. All this for two bucks a day.”
Grandma Mathilda was not enchanted by the idea of her Princess
in a nursery school, a concern which George responded to in a
lengthy letter. After advising his mother on how to take photos
(“Be careful to put the main subject of interest in the center
and be careful of the background”) he praised the school’s
homelike environment and noted that Sherry was
quite happy there:
I frankly feel that this place is an ideal solution to the whole
problem of where to put Sherry during the day. It is helping to
round out her personality. She now is able to meet people, play
with other children, without trouble and there is a trained
person to keep an eye on things at all times. This type of
setup will do a world of good for Sherry and this is no
substitute for home life, but it is a supplement. I want to
emphasize this. This school is not a poor excuse for a home, it
is like a very very friendly, small kindergarten where Sherry
can learn things she can’t at home and where she makes and meets
new friends all the time. The best evidence is the pleasure
Sherry gets out of her day there. You can be sure I wouldn’t
say all this if Sherry was unhappy, but since she enjoys her
“school” and it is a good one, well I’m
convinced. I hope you are too…
1950 October 10.
Hello Sherry darling! It’s quite a long time since I wrote to
you, but since you are not with us anymore there isn’t anything
to write about. We see you only every other Sunday and only for
just a few hours as we have to drive back the same day. But we
did see you yesterday, it was the day to visit, and we found you
and your Mother looking well and contented… Your Uncle George
was there too and his girl friend Bacia,
which
made the visit a party. We hope she will be George’s wife some
day.
1950 December 31.
Hello my Darling! We had you here in Chicago with Grandfather
and me for two weeks. I brought you home a week before the
Christmas holiday and your Mommy and Uncle George came on later
to spend a few days too. We enjoyed you tremendously Sherry
dearest. You grew so much, mostly mentally, you are small for
your age, but very smart, you talk very good, repeat every word
you hear even Hungarian, and your Grandpa taught you to say the
Greek alphabet and you knew it was funny because you always
laughed after it… I made you a small Christmas tree, trimmed it
the European way with candies, walnuts and fancy cookies besides
tinsel and lights. You were so sweet when you stood in front of
it and asked for Cookies and Candy, but never touched any,
waited till someone came and gave you some from it. Every time
the light went on you clapped your hands and said “ohh” and were
terribly happy to see it, and when we shut it off you asked
“light, light” tree. Now we won’t see you till Easter time,
we’ll stay in Florida till April. I wish we could take you too
but your Mother didn’t want to part with you that long.
Well,
Happy new year my dear and lots of luck in the coming year.
1951 April 1.
Hello my sweet! We just came back from seeing you and your
Mommy in Champaign. After three months in Florida you did
recognize Grandpa and me, which made us both very happy. You
changed a lot since we saw you last Christmas, but for the
better and you got very smart too, talking everything and very
plain just like a grownup. But no wonder as your Grandpa
proudly tells everyone you are going to College. Anyway you are
with College people all the time, including your Mommy and Uncle
George, and all their friends. You are a very sweet child,
goodnatured and goodhearted. Whatever you have and someone asks
you to give it up, even Cookies, you do it every time. Hope
when you grow up you’d be a little more selfish and look out for
your own interest first. We both love you more
than you can guess.
1951 May 11.
My Dearest Sherry! You and Mommy came to visit us for the
weekend… We bought a large 20” TV set just a few weeks ago and
you too enjoyed seeing the pictures on it. But most you liked
to see dancing and you tried to imitate everything you saw, even
how to curtsy, by putting one foot behind the other which was a
hard thing for a 23-months-old baby. Grandpa and I just watched
you instead of the pictures and got a bigger kick out of
you…
1951 August 30.
Hi Darling: It is a long time since I chatted with you, but
everything was so crowded in and you grew mentally so much I
didn’t know where and what to say to you. You and your
Mommy were here for a short vacation, she left after a week and
let you stay with Grandpa and me for an extra week which we all
three of us enjoyed tremendously… You love to help in the
house, help me make the beds and wipe the silverware and small
dishes, and you are doing a good job of it too. Last week
I made you very happy by letting you have a piece of cookie
dough, and we both were making Cookies to take them to Mommy.
We will miss you dearest, but your Mother needs you more than we
do, because she’s alone there and Grandpa and I have each other
yet. We will go see you on the 28th of Sept., when your
Mother will have her birthday too. I would be so happy if
I’d be sure she is contented with her life as it is, just to
have you and her friends; but I never can tell what she is
thinking and she never talks to me about the things that made up
her life a few years ago, meaning your Daddy. I am afraid
she still feels deeply hurt by him, and that’s why she
doesn’t talk of it even with me. We all love her and you dear,
more than we can tell.
1952 January 3.
My Darling Sherry! You are here again, your Mommy brought you
home after Christmas and left you with Grandpa and me for ten
days. You never will know what these few days really mean for
both of us, and I am proud to say you are enjoying them just as
we old folks do. You were home in Champaign for Christmas and
Santa Claus was very good to you, got so much toys you just
didn’t know what to play with first. I was there too and two
days after Xmas we all three of us came to Chicago to be with
your Grandfather. You are getting to be a big girl and don’t
like to be called a baby anymore. Grandpa started to teach you
to spell Cat and Dog, and was so happy each time when you
remembered how to spell it. Then now he’s teaching “Geometry”
with drawings like these
and you both have lots of fun learning them, what each object
means. You have a wonderful mind and memory, can learn
everything very fast. You love to help me clean house, put the
bedspread on the bed and wash and wipe dishes. Just like your
Mommy was when she was your age. When we asked her “What are
you doing Mártuka?” she always answered “Working” and laughed
just like you…
In the spring of 1952, Martha discovered a two-story
single-family dwelling at 1010 West Stoughton which had been
split into a duplex. With “massive economizing” she and Sherry
were able to move into the first floor apartment, which featured
a fireplace. The following summer Martha went off for a long
and much-needed vacation, touring the East with Esther Ewald,
and Sherry stayed with the people whose names she had turned
into a
chant and repeated over and over: “My Grampa Ehrlich and my
Gramma Matyu.”
1952 September 6.
My Darling Sherry! You were here in Chicago with us for 2½
months this summer. Your Mother went on a vacation, the first
in five years, and she needed it badly. So we took care of you
all this time, your Grandfather and I, and we all enjoyed it a
lot, including yourself. You learned an awfully lot while you
were here, Grandpa took all the time you wanted to play with
you, and to teach you a lot of things. You learned to read the
A.B.C.’s fluently, capital and small letters alike, and you
loved to show off to anyone who asked you. We were so proud of
our little granddaughter, Grandpa almost burst with pride each
time. But now it’s over a week you and your Mommy went back
home and we miss you something terrible. You were attending
Nursery school while you stayed with us, so you had other
children to play with and we could do some work while you were
away from 9:30 AM to 3:30 PM five days a week. And weekends we
took you to the Parks and beaches and you had such a good time.
I have some snapshots in your albums to prove it to you when you
grow older and want to remember about these things. You called
me up on the 2nd, long distance, it was my 57th birthday. It
made me so happy, but at first I didn’t recognize your voice, it
was so soft and sweet. When I asked who it was you said Me,
Gramma. Then I knew, and it made me even more lonesome for to
see you. So next Sunday Grandpa and I will ride out to see you
and your Mother, I can hardly wait for the day and Grandpa even
more so. He’s crazy about you. I love you too very much my
sweet.
Your old Grandma Ehrlich.
1953 January 12.
[To Martha] I am starting to translate your childhood
Diary my dear, so you and your children can read it too,
whenever they like. It might not be a perfect translation, but I
will do my best to make it as close as possible. I hope my
darling, you will enjoy reading it personally sometime; you
cried the first time you saw the book, and heard the recordings
of your earliest start on life. Dad and I were very happy, we
were in love, and we had you to show for it. We loved you best
of all, and when you started to understand things, we both were
overjoyed. So here, I will start on it, and hope you and your
family my
dear daughter will enjoy reading it too. Your loving Mother
Matyu.
Mathilda wrote her translation on unused pages toward the end of
the Diary. Occasionally she skipped over bits, such as the list
of new words little Márta was learning (“I’m not going to repeat
the words, because in this translation they won’t mean much to
you or your children either if they’re going to ever read it”).
And once in awhile Mathilda added parenthetical commentary: when
József resolved to teach Márta that good books and good plays
were worth more than silly friends or dances, Mathilda observed
that “he sure changed his view since then ha?” The translation
took her nearly seven months, but on August 3rd
she wrote Martha:
Well my dear, I finished with the translating today. Tried my
very best to follow it as close as I possibly could, not taking
or putting anything more to it than the original diary had. I
know I made spelling mistakes plenty in it, but I also know you
forgive me for that. But I hope it isn’t so bad as not to be
understood by you when you read it. I am happy to still be here
to see you and your brother George growing up, and on your own,
doing something you both want and like to do, and also to see
you measured up to our expectation of loving one another, as we
hoped sister and brother to understand and care for each other.
Life is too short my dear children to do less, and I am asking
you again to be good to each other as long as you both live, and
be happy, very happy my dears, then we shall be too, content in
your happiness. So long
my darlings, Your ever loving Mom.
1953 July 31.
[Letter to Sherry, headed by rows of capital letters]
Hello my Sweet! You were visiting your grandparents in Chicago
for just a short week. Your Mommie was lonesome for you and she
came in to take you home sooner than we expected, but we had
lots of fun even for this short period. I just want to show
you, my dear, how smart you were when you were four years and
two months old. You wrote these A.B.C.’s all by yourself, and
you were so happy when you saw your accomplishment. We all
thought you really deserved our praise, for your age it’s quite
good too. You can spell out long words like “Mississippi” and
count till fifty without any mistakes. You always ask your
Grandfather to read with you the headlines from the newspaper,
and you can spell out all the letters on it. Your Mommie was a
smart little girl also when she was your age, but I think you’re
even smarter in some ways. I am saving this paper for you to
see when you get older and you will get it from your Mother. I
hope Grandfather and I will still be around too, but who knows?
We both are nearing our 60th birthdays and time just rushes by
at our age. So till I have again some interesting things to
tell you, I say so long my Pet, your Grandmother loves you
more than you ever know.
1953 November 1.
My Darling Sherry! I took you back to your Mother’s today,
after a ten-day lovely visit with us in Chicago… You had a
wonderful time with your Grandpa, he played with you all the
time, never getting tired of it, sometimes I was thinking he is
a bigger child than you, my sweet. But you both had a grand
time like always… Grandfather took you to see [your] first play
to see in the Goodman Theater,
“Cinderella.” He told me when you came home, it was a wonderful
experience for both of you, but especially for him to watch your
face when the story you know so well unfolded before your eyes.
But when a sad part came, you turned your head away, didn’t want
to see it. Just when “Cinderella” was happy, then you too felt
happy… A few days after you had been in the Theater to see
“Cinderella” you fell off a chair and were crying hard, I guess
you got hurt a bit. But midst of the crying, you told your
Grandpa, “As long as I am crying, let’s play I am Cinderella.”
Which struck him so funny he started to laugh, and you too with
him. But you wanted to play that all the time. Grandpa took
turns being the stepsister or stepmother. But you,
always the Fairy Godmother or Cinderella…
1954 April.
My dear, your vacation has been extended over the Easter
because your Mother had to go to a Teachers’s Convention out of
Town. But neither of us mind that, we sure are having a nice
long visit together, but in a few days I will take you back to
your Mama. The other night while we all were watching TV all of
a sudden you said, “I wish I was two Sherrys.” Grandfather
asked you why? You answered, “Then one could go home to Mommy
and the other Sherry could stay here with you and Grandma.” We
were surprised and so pleased to think you loved us enough that
you’d wish a thing like being two, to divide yourself for us.
Then again you said “I wish I was seventeen years old.” When
Grandpa asked why? you smiled kind of shy, and said “Oh you
wouldn’t understand, you don’t like cowgirls.” So you’d like to
be seventeen so you could be one cowgirl. This, and to be a
ballerina is all your wish now. You love to watch dancers on
TV, and trying hard to do what they do. You are very graceful
when you dance. Hope your Mother can send you to dancing
school while you are still young…
1954 August.
Hello
Darling! Your Mother took you home yesterday after a three week
vacation with us in Chicago. We had a lovely time
together, playing Doctor and Nurse with your grandfather almost
all the time. I hope really, when you get older too, you
still would like to be a nurse as you say now. We read a
lot to you as you love books, as much as your Mother and Uncle
George ever loved it. Could listen to stories all day if
we could read that long to you. But we both get tired of
reading as our voices are not too strong, but you are a sweet
little girl and when we tell you we can’t read any longer, you
right away say OK. Then Grandpa takes a piece of paper and
pencil and teaches you different things. These are
your first arithmetic problems, quite neat for a five-year-old,
no?
In January 1955 Martha wrote her parents that “Sherry was
expounding words of wisdom to Winnie who said—‘Guess it pays to
have a teacher for a mother.’ The answer was—‘Oh, I don’t learn
anything from my mother—my grandfather teaches me all I know!’
After that what else is there to say?” Mathilda responded:
I just have this to say to you, Sherry my Pet. Your learning
comes mostly from your Mother, because you are with her most of
the time. But from her, teaching comes as everyday doings,
which you darling don’t notice as much as the few days at times
you spend here with us. Then everything stands out more in your
mind. But all your nice manners, and speech, come from your
Mother’s, which you sometimes forget when you are here, because
Grandpa lets you get away with things your Mother nor I
don’t approve of, don’t ever forget that my dear.
1955 January 9.
Hello Sherry my Sweet! I just took you home after a two week
vacation with your grandparents in Chicago… While here, you
sure had a good time playing with Grandpa most of the days, and
when I had the time I did the same. I have to admit that now
you are 5½ years old you have a mind of a much older child, but
just as stubborn too. We had quite a few arguments about that,
and sometimes we got impatient with you, because you wanted your
way all the time even if you knew you were wrong. But we loved
one another just the same, and enjoyed your visit with us. I
felt bad when I came away to catch my train after I took you
home, because you started crying when I put my hat on. You
didn’t want me to go home. Hope the next time you come for a
visit you’d be more sensible than that. You had lots of fun
with the pink ballerina dress I made you for a Christmas
present, and your Uncle George got you a Cinderella wrist watch,
and your Mommy got you a manicure set, and a lot of other nice
things I can’t exactly remember…
Hoping when you read these lines you will be able to remember
all the happy days in your life with us here in Chicago.
“…I remember lots of little things, as children do. Things that
other people are amazed I’d remember. The first place I
remember them living in was on Devon Avenue in Chicago. The
building had a round window over the door. Grandpa taught me
‘Pig Latin’ one day carrying me up the steps to the apartment.
It was a small, cozy place. The store with its mirrors in
front, then the shop, then home. There were French windows
between the shop and the living room, covered with sheer white
curtains.” (Whenever there was a customer in the shop, Sherry
and those in the apartment would have to whisper; they “mustn’t
disturb the customer.”)
“The living room had a beautiful desk and a bookcase with glass
doors that slip up above each shelf to get at the books… The
bedroom had yellow wallpaper on it with narrow white stripes and
garlands of flowers. At first I had a crib (light blue, I
think) and then a rollaway bed. And in the mornings I’d crawl
into bed with them. He’d always tell me a bedtime story too.”
(Sherry would balk at bathtime—the Devon tub was an “old
Victorian footed thing”—but once in it she would start playing,
and never want to come out. Grandpa always sat nearby “to make
sure I didn’t drown or anything.”)
“The kitchen was big, with an enamel table with a red border in
the middle of the floor. The floor was linoleum of red and
white squares, and the gas stove was in a little room of its
own, off to one side. It was a very old stove and Grandma would
always make me go away when she lit it with the match. And
there was a very tiny back porch just big enough for two
chairs. In summer Grandpa and I would sit out there in the
evenings with a jar and catch fireflies. But we’d always let
them go before we went in. Once we found a bird that was hurt
and tried to take care of it. We put it in a shoebox and tried
to feed it bread soaked in milk, but it died. He took a shovel
and we went into the back yard and buried it. If I went there
today I could probably show you almost the exact spot.
“I remember Grandma baking cookies too, at that same enamel
table. And putting icing and nuts on some of them. And how
good they were dunked in milk… Her old treadle sewing machine
in the shop, and the button box. I still have the little coat
and cap they made for one of my dolls out of some sort of curly
blond fur. And a dress from a leftover scrap of one of
Grandma’s old dresses…
“It always smelled just like Grandma and Grandpa’s home should
smell—a combination of mothballs (love that smell) and cookies
and whatever fantastic things Grandma was cooking for dinner.
And age. It’s very strange but age has its own scent too—musty,
somehow, and warm and cozy and very safe…”
Notes
