jujube
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Every year I remember the story my grandmother told me about her 8th Fourth of July.
Her 16-year-old sister had come home to their mother to have her baby, as women tended to do frequently in that age especially if it was her first, and had been in labor in the upstairs bedroom all day. Of course, Grandma had no idea what was going on, as people did not tend to discuss any aspect of procreation with children back then. All she knew was that everyone was saying, "Maggie, get out of the way. Maggie, go outside. Maggie, I don't have time for you now, etc."
It had gotten dark and she was sitting dejectedly on the front steps when the doctor came out and said, "Maggie, you look down in the mouth. What can I do to cheer you up?" She told him that she wanted "more fireworks than she could shoot off all night", so he sent her father down the street to buy a basket full of firecrackers. She, the doctor and her father sat out on the front steps throwing firecrackers out into the yard until she fell asleep. (I'm sure poor old Sis laboring mightily upstairs really enjoyed that!)
She said she woke up the next morning in bed and something laying in her arm was making a real racket. She looked over and there was a new baby! The doctor was standing at the end of her bed and said, "Maggie, guess what! Somebody left a baby on the front porch. Do you want to keep him?"
She said she was very upset when they told her that she didn't get to keep him after all and that her sister would be taking him away with her. Very unfair, she thought, she had him first!
I think of this story every year.
Her 16-year-old sister had come home to their mother to have her baby, as women tended to do frequently in that age especially if it was her first, and had been in labor in the upstairs bedroom all day. Of course, Grandma had no idea what was going on, as people did not tend to discuss any aspect of procreation with children back then. All she knew was that everyone was saying, "Maggie, get out of the way. Maggie, go outside. Maggie, I don't have time for you now, etc."
It had gotten dark and she was sitting dejectedly on the front steps when the doctor came out and said, "Maggie, you look down in the mouth. What can I do to cheer you up?" She told him that she wanted "more fireworks than she could shoot off all night", so he sent her father down the street to buy a basket full of firecrackers. She, the doctor and her father sat out on the front steps throwing firecrackers out into the yard until she fell asleep. (I'm sure poor old Sis laboring mightily upstairs really enjoyed that!)
She said she woke up the next morning in bed and something laying in her arm was making a real racket. She looked over and there was a new baby! The doctor was standing at the end of her bed and said, "Maggie, guess what! Somebody left a baby on the front porch. Do you want to keep him?"
She said she was very upset when they told her that she didn't get to keep him after all and that her sister would be taking him away with her. Very unfair, she thought, she had him first!
I think of this story every year.
