I was only six when our family moved away from the center of Mesa into a new home east of town. I don't have many clear memories of the old house on North McDonald, just vague vignettes that appear in my mind when I try to see back to those days.
I can see our front room in my mind, sort of. Mom had painted a Swedish Couple in traditional Swedish costumes on one wall, above a couch, I think. She was always proud of her Swedish heritage, and she was a fantastic artist.
One day we heard chirping coming from that room. Upon examination we found a little sparrow flying around in great agitation, trying to get out. Mom called for dad, but neither could figure a way to catch the poor little thing or help it. Funny, I don't remember what happened. I suppose they shooed it out the front door eventually. Later, mom explained that the bird must have built a nest on top of our chimney and somehow found it's way down, through the fireplace, and into our house.
I remember sitting on the floor in front of our tiny, black and white TV set, watching Romper Room. Miss Dinah, (or was it Miss Kathy?) was holding a magic mirror in her hand, looking at all the kids out in TV land, wishing happy birthday to children who were born on that day. As she called out their names I got excited looking forward to my birthday when she would see me in her mirror. It never happened, though. Maybe we didn't watch Romper Room on my birthday, or perhaps mom forgot to send in my name. Either way, the Romper Room lady never saw me in her mirror. Darn.
Neither did Wallace and Ladmo. My brothers and sister and I loved to watch those two funny guys on their TV show. They told jokes, did silly sketches, showed cartoons, and gave prizes to kids in the studio audience. At first the prizes were actual toys they took down from shelves behind them. I always envied the kids who got picked. Later the prizes turned into Ladmo bags, still filled with goodies, but by the time I was old enough to consider actually going into Phoenix and being on the Wallace and Ladmo show the Ladmo bags had turned into little sacks with some candy and gift certificates, and they really weren't very tempting anymore.
I liked candy, though. Halloween was one of our favorite holidays, and we looked forward to trick-or-treating and bringing home bags filled with goodies. Mom wouldn't let us eat more than a few pieces on Halloween night, so our loot sat on the dresser in the bedroom for days while the candy was slowly rationed out. Sometimes our costumes sat on the dresser, too.
I remember that bedroom. It was long, shady, and cool, with three beds and a crib as well as the dresser against one wall. All four of us kids slept in that room: my older brother Keith, my littler brother Phillip, me, and our baby sister Linda. We used to take a pillow out of it's case, fill the pillowcase with toys, throw it into the baby crib, and then climb in and play Santa Clause. That crib made a good sleigh!
One morning I woke up very early, before the sun was up. I must have had a nightmare because I lay in my bed in the dark, half asleep and half awake, too scared to get up. As the morning light slowly filtered in through the drapes shapes began to take form. I saw in the corner of the room a dark figure with a black, pointed hat. I just knew it was a witch! I was frightened out of my wits; after all, what is a witch doing in a little kids bedroom? I lay in my bed, covers up over my head, trying to stay as still as I could so the horrible thing wouldn't see me. From time to time I peeked out from under my covers, but she was still there, a dark shadow with a pointed hat. I knew I couldn't call out to Keith or Phillip, if I did the witch would know where I was, so I just hid under my covers and waited. I had never been so scared in all of my life! Finally I heard my brothers stirring, and I peeked out one more time to see if the witch had turned to look at them. She was still staring straight at me! The light was brighter in our room now, and suddenly the figure in the corner became clearer. It was the high, ladder back chair that always stood in the corner, with a blanket draped over one side. My Halloween costume witch hat was perched on the corner of the chair, and that was the witch! I was so relieved I almost cried, but I also was so embarrassed for being such a scardy cat that I never told anyone about that horrible morning.
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