Life was not really all bad at the new sitters house,despite all the things that seemed to be going on in the family.Mornings were always spent playing with her youngest son,mostly in his room.Most of the time it was like he wasn't even there,he was just so much younger than I was had we really had nothing in common.But he could be quite entertaining,as he was a toddler after all,and prone to being into just about everything.Occasionally he would take off his socks and throw them down the toilet.He would take off other items of clothing too,but usually it was only the socks that went into the crapper.Once he managed to crawl up onto the stove and turn on all of the burners and was sitting there when his mother came upstairs from the basement.No real harm was done,but it could have turned out much differently.Neither me nor my sister caught on to what he was doing,because we were in the other room at the time.But things could have had a very different outcome.
The sitter always provided a good,hot lunch,and I enjoyed most of the food she served.Usually it was some kind of soup and a sandwich,then some sort of dessert.Sometimes she would make pancakes,which was alright with me except that she insisted on soaking every pancake with syrup,and I would have really preferred to have had mine with just butter.At times she would serve corn on the cob too,and this really drove me kind of nuts,because of the way everyone put butter on it.At our house,you would use your knife to get a bit of butter,then spread it on your corn.Not at the sitters house!There everyone just grabbed their corn and rolled it in the butter dish until it was covered in way too much butter.It the end of the meal there would be the melted remains of a pound of butter in a big puddle in the dish.I tried doing it that way at home once,and it really flipped my mother out.She said it was "Barbarian." Then there were the occasions when our sitter served what she called "Spanish rice." Basically it was rice with what I suppose was chili peppers.But it tasted to me like something that someone had emptied a whole pepper shaker into.Later on ,I would come to like Mexican rice,but this "Spanish rice" was truly crap.It may have just been that as a kid,like many kids I just wasn't fond of really spicy food.But this stuff didn't taste much like Mexican rice at all.Her older kids liked it though,and seemed to get a kick out of the fact that none of us younger children did.So it continued to get served about twice a month or so,and when it did,she would sit there and watch us until every single grain of rice was gone.
In the afternoon,my sister,and the sitters toddler went for a nap.But I didn't have to,being five years old.Sometimes I would just chill out in the kitchen with the sitter,who really wasn't such a bad soul.She just didn't seem to want to be bothered with kids a lot,and spent her time on the phone,or sometimes neighbors would come to visit.I didn't mind her at all.We seemed to get along fine,and when she was in a bad mood,I could usually manage to stay away from her.Mostly in the afternoon,I got to watch whatever movie was on.That was okay if it were a cowboy movie,which were my favorite,or a war movie,but some of the other movies would bore me,and I might even nod off.But I'd do my best to never let anyone know if I did.
By late afternoon,the older children would return from school.One of them was in grade one,and would get home earlier than the other two.Sometimes she would watch the movie with me,but she was a really quiet sort,and would just disappear someplace.As much as I can picture her in my mind,I don't ever recall her having much to say.But the older kids were rowdy all of the time.They would fight among themselves,and they argued endlessly with their mother.By the time four o'clock rolled around,they would take over the television set.That was okay,because there were some really neat shows on.On Tuesdays there was a show called "Mad Movies" which were old silent comedy films,where all the motion was way too fast,and the characters were getting into really funny situations,something like the circus clowns do with that little car they have.Other days,the "Three Stooges" or "Abbott And Costello" would be on.Once a week there was a show called "Zorro." which was all about this guy with a mask that could ride horses really well and got into a lot of sword fights.At five o'clock,cartoons would come on.My mother would usually be by to pick us up before cartoons finished,and that only bothered me when the cartoon was "Woody Woodpecker." So I managed to spend most of my days at the sitters watching television,and that suited me fine.Because even though the sitter was alright,her kids were a pain,and there was a lot of drama in their house.I felt lucky if I was able to avoid that drama.
The sitter always provided a good,hot lunch,and I enjoyed most of the food she served.Usually it was some kind of soup and a sandwich,then some sort of dessert.Sometimes she would make pancakes,which was alright with me except that she insisted on soaking every pancake with syrup,and I would have really preferred to have had mine with just butter.At times she would serve corn on the cob too,and this really drove me kind of nuts,because of the way everyone put butter on it.At our house,you would use your knife to get a bit of butter,then spread it on your corn.Not at the sitters house!There everyone just grabbed their corn and rolled it in the butter dish until it was covered in way too much butter.It the end of the meal there would be the melted remains of a pound of butter in a big puddle in the dish.I tried doing it that way at home once,and it really flipped my mother out.She said it was "Barbarian." Then there were the occasions when our sitter served what she called "Spanish rice." Basically it was rice with what I suppose was chili peppers.But it tasted to me like something that someone had emptied a whole pepper shaker into.Later on ,I would come to like Mexican rice,but this "Spanish rice" was truly crap.It may have just been that as a kid,like many kids I just wasn't fond of really spicy food.But this stuff didn't taste much like Mexican rice at all.Her older kids liked it though,and seemed to get a kick out of the fact that none of us younger children did.So it continued to get served about twice a month or so,and when it did,she would sit there and watch us until every single grain of rice was gone.
In the afternoon,my sister,and the sitters toddler went for a nap.But I didn't have to,being five years old.Sometimes I would just chill out in the kitchen with the sitter,who really wasn't such a bad soul.She just didn't seem to want to be bothered with kids a lot,and spent her time on the phone,or sometimes neighbors would come to visit.I didn't mind her at all.We seemed to get along fine,and when she was in a bad mood,I could usually manage to stay away from her.Mostly in the afternoon,I got to watch whatever movie was on.That was okay if it were a cowboy movie,which were my favorite,or a war movie,but some of the other movies would bore me,and I might even nod off.But I'd do my best to never let anyone know if I did.
By late afternoon,the older children would return from school.One of them was in grade one,and would get home earlier than the other two.Sometimes she would watch the movie with me,but she was a really quiet sort,and would just disappear someplace.As much as I can picture her in my mind,I don't ever recall her having much to say.But the older kids were rowdy all of the time.They would fight among themselves,and they argued endlessly with their mother.By the time four o'clock rolled around,they would take over the television set.That was okay,because there were some really neat shows on.On Tuesdays there was a show called "Mad Movies" which were old silent comedy films,where all the motion was way too fast,and the characters were getting into really funny situations,something like the circus clowns do with that little car they have.Other days,the "Three Stooges" or "Abbott And Costello" would be on.Once a week there was a show called "Zorro." which was all about this guy with a mask that could ride horses really well and got into a lot of sword fights.At five o'clock,cartoons would come on.My mother would usually be by to pick us up before cartoons finished,and that only bothered me when the cartoon was "Woody Woodpecker." So I managed to spend most of my days at the sitters watching television,and that suited me fine.Because even though the sitter was alright,her kids were a pain,and there was a lot of drama in their house.I felt lucky if I was able to avoid that drama.
No comments:
Post a Comment