Royalton – Part 3

This part will include memories from my sister Jennie. Some of them I vaguely recall and some I don’t. In any case, they satisfy the objective of memories of Royalton. Names may have been changed to protect the innocent (or guilty as the case may be).

Jennie – Most of my memories of Royalton are centered around mom’s sisters especially Aunt Jennie and Grandma. Here’s a story that always stuck with me: Uncle John was a contractor in Chicago and offered to install a toilet in Grandma’s house and her reply was “what fer?”. Evidently taking a crap anywhere inside your home was beyond her comprehension. I was spending the night with her one time and noticed that on a chair with the back broken off that was her nightstand was a glass of water and a hammer. This table sat below an open window with no screen. I asked her why the hammer was there and she told me in case someone tried to come in she would knock them out. I asked her what if they picked up the hammer and she said “they wouldn’t dare!” That old woman would tell me ghost stories and scare the bejesus out of me.

Jim – I also remember being scared witless by her ghost stories. I think she got a big kick out of scaring us. I wonder how much those stories had to do with my fear of the dark. I can remember when Mom would send me down to a bar to get my father. Of course, he would never come right away and I would have to go home by myself in the dark. I would try to walk on the sidewalk but something would spook me and I would run down the middle of the street as fast as I could. To this day, I really don’t like the dark.

Jennie – I was wondering if you remember when we were playing marbles. Our brother Richard swallowed some of them to keep you from winning them. We had to wait until he pooped them out. Seems to me like that was when we had chicken pox.

Jennie – I was telling my granddaughter how we took a bath in a washtub with water heated on a wood stove and it wasn’t changed in between kids either. She thought it was the most gross thing she ever heard.

Jennie – Remember when Fran fell in the outhouse at grandma’s? She always got so mad when we brought that up. Could have been worse…..mom and grandma thought we were saying she fell in the well!

Jim – I had forgotten about the outhouse incident. I do remember the well and getting water from it with a bucket tied on a long rope.

Jim – There was a small store on the corner at the end of the block near our house. It was a long narrow room with shelves and wooden floors. We used to run through the front door and out the back door. I guess we were too lazy to just go the few feet around the store on the outside.

Jim – From time to time, there was someone who would set up a screen (maybe it was just a large white sheet) in a field near our house. They would show movies for anyone who wanted to come. I don’t remember if they charged anything for doing it. I can’t recall what specific movies were shown. They were probably the typical ones from the late 40s along with serials. Maybe that’s were my affinity for western movies came from.

Jim – I remember listening to the radio a lot. We got the St. Louis Cardinals and St. Louis Browns baseball games. For a long time I remained a Cardinal fan after leaving Royalton. We also listened to radio shows from that era. The Lone Ranger, Hopalong Cassidy, Red Ryder, Boston Blackie, Suspense, Inner Sanctum, etc. A few years ago I felt a need to listen to them again and started downloading/collecting. Thankfully, most are in the public domain and available through the internet or Old Time Radio clubs. Eventally, I ended up with 6,883 files (49.4 gigabytes). Once in a while I’ll lean back and listen to some of them. If you’re reading this and want a particular show, let me know. I just might have it.