My Book……………LILAGCS (6)

October 21, 2010

The Iceman Cometh

My first recollection of anything was the Icebox  and an old cook stove!  Yes, the real honest to goodness “Ice Box”

                                      

The thing I remember was the Iceman. Whenever mom would need to get ice she would place a card in our front window. The card had printing on all four sides, as you would rotate it around. The printing on the card would tell the iceman how much ice we needed. As I recall it said whole, one half, one third or one fourth.

                      

The iceman always had to use his ice pick and chisel away the right size chunk for us. He always had small chips of ice that he would give me to suck on. One very interesting event in my early years was the time I decided to run away from home. We were still living across from the Spencer Municipal Hospital where I was born so I must have been about two years old.

I had gotten angry about something and decided that Grandma Riches house would be a much better place to live. I always called my grandparents by their husband’s first name. Grandpa Rich’s name was Theodore Richard Niemand, but I omitted the Theodore and used the Richard by shorting it to “Rich”. Grandma called Grandpa either “Rich” or “TR”.

                                

I decided that the candy and cookies at Grandma’s were where I wanted to spend the rest of my life.

I recall that mom was busy mixing up chocolate chip cookies in the kitchen as I gathered all my important belongings together in a bag to take on my trip.

I had a tricycle that I loved dearly and a little red wagon that my dad had adapted to pull behind my tricycle.

                                                                

After I had everything stuffed into my travel bag and placed in my wagon, I started off down the sidewalk to Grandma’s. I wasn’t aware that mom had been secretly observing my every action. I recall that when I reached the corner I hesitated and remembered that mom had warned me to look both ways before crossing any street.

It was then that the thought of her chocolate chip cookies overwhelmed the desire to continue on to Grandma’s. I turned around and went home. That was my first and only experience of running away from home that I can recall.