Gimme Back My Peanuts.....

 

The more I write, the more I realize, my best memories are from the place that in today's standards would be considered poverty, or not fit to raise a child.  In my adult life, I have learned love can live in a mansion or a single wide mobile home with a metal roof and a grandfather who is terrified of a "cloud".  Daddy and Mama worked hard to make sure our home was safe and secure.  Sometimes in the winter our pipes would freeze, some winters they didn't.  Once a week we had to take our small propane bottle to the places that sold the gas, so we would have it for mama to cook our food.  We had a window air conditioner that could cool down the North Pole, and that good old wood/coal heater.  Remember?  The one that Mama would get so hot the door would glow a bright red?  We had a wood pile in the corner of the yard and sometimes we would buy a load of coal from a local man.  We didn't have a phone for a long time, and we only had a washing machine.  Mama would hang the clothes on the clothesline, and in the winter, well I can't remember what we would do.  On cold mornings before school, Mama would take my clothes to the living room and put them in front of the heater so they would be warm when I put them on.  We had 2 bedrooms and one bathroom; with another small room we used as one big closet.  Since there were no closets in the place we had to improvise.  There was no danger in us going hungry, because we had fresh foods at our disposal, and Mama was a great cook just like my Granny.  Daddy loved him some snack cakes, so there were always Little Debbie's for the taking.  I used to love it when Daddy would go to the store, because I knew I would always get a treat.  Mama loved peanuts, and she would always get a pack of them when we went to the store.  She treasured those peanuts and was extremely protective of them.  She had bought a pack one evening and was saving them for the next day.  She could devour a pack of peanuts like a ravenous wolf at a Saturday night raw meat buffet.  The next day finally came, and she marched to the kitchen to collect her peanuts.  With the excitement almost too much to handle, she reached for the package.  Disappointment quickly crossed over her soul, then the anger took hold.  Her peanuts were gone!  She knew I didn't take them, so that only left one person... Daddy!  She knew he had stolen her peanuts and ate them, and this kind of thievery would not, COULD NOT stand!  That same evening, she went back to the store and got another pack of peanuts.   She was going to catch him in the act this time!  She would expose his thieving ways to the world and set things right!  After darkness fell, a hush fell over our home.  The trap had been set and Mama was waiting for Daddy (thinking she was fast asleep) to get out of bed, creep up the hallway, and eat her treasure.  Mama was asleep when she heard a rustling of plastic.  That was it!  She had caught him!  Not looking to see if Daddy was in the bed, she rushed to the kitchen to find it empty.  Bewildered, she stood there in silence.  After a few seconds, she heard the rustling of plastic again.  It was coming from under the sink!  Now how in the world did Daddy fit in that cabinet under the sink?  She opened the cabinet door and there looking her in the face was a giant gopher rat!  He had her peanuts and was heading down a small crack in the floor.  He was having trouble getting the full pack of peanuts thru the gap, and that would prove to be his downfall.  Mama, without hesitation, grabbed the package!  A tug of war broke out between Mama and who we now call Gary the Gopher!  With the battle well under way, Mama yelled for Daddy to come help her.  Out of a dead sleep, Daddy leaped to his feet and put on his cowboy boots and hat!  He bolted up the hallway wearing his underwear, hat, and boots, knowing for sure a robber had broken into our home and was trying to hurt Mama.  After he arrived at the end of the hallway, he could hear a struggle but couldn't see anyone.  Making his way into the kitchen area he saw Mama on the floor with a fierce battle underway.  Gary was relentless, but so was Mama.  Finally, the struggle was over.  Mama had come away victorious.  She held her pack of peanuts over her head and let out a yell that would've made our Native American warrior ancestors proud.  She gathered her composure and went back in for Gary.  He was gone!  In her jubilation, she had left her foe unattended, and he escaped!  He was never seen again, but I think his descendants are still roaming the area of Turkey Hop Hill.  Gary's masterful escape didn't seem to bother Mama very much, because she knew that night, she was victorious!  She held her peanuts close from then on because she knew to never take the safety of nuts for granted.  Daddy stood there in his undies, hat, and boots in the middle of the kitchen floor, waiting on his apology for being wrongly accused of theft and a thank you for all of his assistance during the battle royal......  Mama went to bed....