Is That You Tom

My parents rented a house from Mr. and Mrs. Hale when I was six months old. It was a little two bedroom cottage that sat behind the Hale's house at the edge of the woods. I loved living in the little house. We lived there until I was eight years old. 

Mr. and Mrs. Hale had a nice modern looking house with a lovely paved circular driveway. They had a hedge separating their yard from our yard behind the driveway. Mrs. Hale had a flower bed along the hedge. I liked to watch her plant flowers and tend to her garden. Sometimes she let me help. I believe that is where my love of gardening began, with a lady in a garden learning to tend to beautiful flowers.

Mrs. Hale was a lady in every sense of the word. She was married to Clifford Hale who was Superintendent of Dalton City Schools. They were both well educated. 

One time they had a beautiful garden party for some of their hoity-toity friends. They had tables set up with tablecloths and china under the trees. Bouquets of flowers enhanced the elegance setting. I'd never seen anybody have such a beautiful big party like that before. I stood at the edge of the hedges, watching the guests and activities at the party. It looked so exciting.

The little house we lived in behind the Hale's house was nestled at the edge of a tree line. It felt very secluded from the neighbors. We could only see the Hale's house in front of us. I always felt safe living there. The only time I was ever scared was when I got lost in the woods. 

I wandered around in circles until I came out on the other side of the tree line at a neighbor's house. Several people were outside in the yard and saw me come out of the woods crying. They called around until they called Mrs. Hale. She told them she would tell my mother. We didn't have a telephone.

Momma came to pick me up and take me home.  Momma thought I'd run away from home but I didn't. I was just being a goofy little kid wandering around in the woods near my house when I realized I was lost and was hunting my way home. I was pretty scared. If I hadn't had my little cocker spaniel, Janey, with me I don't know what I would have done. She stayed by my side and didn't leave me alone.

Our little house had one bathroom and I can remember being so little I had to wrap my legs around the toilet to keep from falling in when I sat down. I was always afraid of falling in. One evening while I was sitting on the toilet, looking at the Sears Roebuck catalog like my Daddy did, I heard a loud noise outside the window. Momma hollered at me to ask, "Is that you Pam?"  I told her I hadn't done anything. The sound came from outside.

Daddy wasn't at home so Momma got Daddy's pistol out of the bedroom and walked down the hall, past the open bathroom door. She told me to stay inside; she was going to go check outside to see if she could see anything. She came in a little bit later, madder than a wet hen. 

Momma said someone had been peeping in on me while I was in the bathroom. She said she should have gone out the front door and she would have caught the sorry rascal.

We had a propane gas tank sitting under the bathroom window and there were hand prints in the dust. We saw it clearly the next day. We had proof that someone had been spying in our windows. Momma promised herself she'd use better judgment next time and she'd shoot him if she caught him back there. I believe she would.

I never thought about the implications of someone getting their kicks out of peeping at people, much less kids, when they were naked when I was young. I just thought they were probably 'touched in the head'. Looking back at the situation now I realize how dangerous the situation could have become. Maybe we were lucky the guy saw Momma come down the hall holding a gun. That probably caused him to think twice about coming back. I'm pretty sure Momma could have made a hole in him if she had a chance.

AS ALWAYS

PIO

************

>>>> Vote on my Valentine poll >>>>

vvvv Go below and click on a few things vvvv