Writings

Author: Kentucky Woman
Title: Sisters
Type of Work: story
Source: CMv1 #31 (2 parts), 33, 38, and 40 (3 parts)

(When I hear people talk about their family in terms of things and money, I wonder if they even have a clue what the word family means. It has nothing to do with whom you thought got the most love or who got the most attention or toys. These stories will be a compilation of memories I have of growing up with my two sisters. There is not another soul on this earth who understands like a sister. They know what happened behind closed doors. They were there when you got your first kiss and when you shaved your legs for the first time. They knew what if felt like when you got the lead in the school play and when you suffered your first heartbreak they were there to wipe your tears. You fought with them, cried with them, laughed with them and "borrowed" their clothes. Told on them and begged them not to tell on you! Sisters teach you to drive and how to do crossword puzzles. They show you how reading can be such a wonderful thing. You loved them and hated them, were jealous of things they could do when you were too young. But all in all I think sisters are angels sent by the Good Lord above to help us learn the true meaning of love. --Kentucky Woman)

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#1 the tape recorder

I am not sure how old I was, but I was still pretty young. I had done something to get in trouble and I was sent to bed. After Mother and Daddy went to bed, my sisters snuck into my room and took me to theirs. That began what seemed like hours of happiness and fun - but since I was so young it was probably just a while. My oldest sister Kay had gotten a tape recorder, I think for Christmas. I thought it was THE coolest thing. I think that night I learned that it was okay to be silly sometimes. There are not a lot of details that are clear but the memory is. We did a "man on the street" interview sequence. I loved make believe and making my sisters laugh by doing silly voices was one of the warmest feelings I have ever known.

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#2 stitches

My older sister Carla was in the house with her boyfriend and being the bratty little sister that I could be sometimes, I started getting on her nerves (our mother was at work). So she did what any self- respecting older sister would have, she locked me out of the house. I thought I would be smart and go to the back door and get in, but she had anticipated this move! The back door was locked too. So I started banging on the door. Unfortunately I started banging on the pane of glass part instead of the wooden part! And just as the thought, "hey stupid - this glass could break" it did. Long story short - being a pain in the ass little sister gets you 2 stitches on your pinkie knuckle!

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#3 easy as falling off a horse

Our daddy’s sister, Aunt Nannie had a farm. We spent a lot of time there doing things like playing in the leaves, fishing in the pond, and pickin’ up "hicker" nuts! Aunt Nannie had a daughter, Thelma, who had a daughter, "Vannie Lou". Vannie Lou had a couple of horses and on one particular visit my sister Carla, Vannie Lou and I decided to go for a ride on the big horse. We all climbed up and squeezed our little butts onto the saddle. Things were going just fine as we trotted through the woods. It was nice and cool in the shade and Vannie Lou knew how to ride. Then we came upon a small log. We decided to have the horse just step over it - the horse had a different idea. It just stopped! The saddle must not have been on tight enough because as we turned around the it slid around the horse and onto its side and down we all went. I don’t know if I have ridden a horse since! Later on another visit as I walked behind her "pony" (who just happened to have an injured front leg) I got a good kick to the shin. Needless to say I also learned the hard way that you DO NOT walk behind a horse!

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#4 The day of the shave

I have no idea why the people in my parents generation felt that shaving one’s legs was something that you just didn’t do until you were “older” nor did you wear nylons. When I was in something like the 7th or 8th grade one of the biggest clothing fads was wearing fish net stockings. I started wearing them and one day I looked down in the sunlight while I was in class and there were these ugly soft little hairs sticking straight out of all the holes in the fish nets. I was completely mortified so I started sneaking on a pair of panty hose under my fishnets so the hair would not show. Finally my sister Carla took pity on me and decided that it was high time that I shaved my legs. I will never forget it. First because of the feeling of thanks that I had for her, and second because IT HURT!!! Now remember I had never shaved my legs before, ever. And we used an electric shaver. (This was in the late 60’s or so – so I mean electric shaver!) That sucker ripped the hair out of my legs like a rusty Epilady on speed! But when all that hair was ripped from my legs – I felt like I had graduated from little girlhood into, well something bigger and better. Thanks Carla.

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#5 Keeping a little mouth shut

One of the best things was when I was in on a secret. Kay had just graduated from high school and her boyfriend at the time went into the Air Force Academy. They wrote and wrote. Then one time he got, I guess it would be called leave, or maybe vacation, or semester break or something. He decided to surprise her. In order for it to be a secret NO ONE could tell. What people around when you are the smallest do not realize is how much of their conversations you hear and understand or can figure out. So I found out. Everyone was sooo worried that I was going to ruin the whole surprise. The big day came and I did it!!!! I kept my mouth shut and overhearing someone (an adult) say how they just couldn’t believe that I didn’t “spill the beans”, I was really proud of myself. (Maybe I should have been pissed off that they didn’t’ have faith in me!!)

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#6 The driving lesson

As a teenager (a young teenager, maybe fourteen or fifteen), I could not wait to drive a car. I probably put 500 miles on our car just backing it to the end of the driveway and pulling it forward, and driving it into the back yard and washing it. The car was pretty clean during those years! One day Carla did something on the spur of the moment that put a smile on my face that I think is still there. She took me down to the old plant road and said “do you want to drive”! And she proceeded to teach me how to drive the car. That day was very special. (She must have either been really bored or took pity on her little sister!)

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#7 Dolls

The one thing that I think each and every one of us will always remember is what I did to probably every single doll that came through the door of our house. I guess I wanted to change their looks, because I took a pair of scissors and gave every doll in the house a new hair style at one time or another. Every Barbie, every Midge and Francie too, and let’s not forget Skipper. Her waist length hair just didn’t work, it needed to be shorter! Even the bubble haired Barbie got a new do! It’s a wonder that I didn’t become a hair dresser (or maybe a butcher!)