 Sisters
I’ve been thinking lately of my two sisters. We are very close, not in age as there are nine years between each of us. Ione is the oldest, myself next, and JoAnn is the youngest. We did have a brother that was four years younger than Ione, but he was killed when he was twenty during World War II.
Ione was eighteen when JoAnn was born, and I was only nine. We lived in a very small community, and my parents owned a grocery store, which was just across the "road," not "street" from our house. It seemed to fall to Ione’s lot to take care of JoAnn quite a bit, as Mother stayed at the store much of the time. I’ve expressed to Ione that I don’t believe she really remembers things as they actually happened, because she has told me of some of the things I did that annoyed her very much. She really got mad one day and told me to take a note to the store to Mother. I can’t imagine why I didn’t read it first. You can only imagine my surprise when it said,“Give Esther a whipping.” The only thing I can think of that I did to make her that mad was I did find a little mouse, caught it and tried to put it on her. She was upset. She later married and moved away, and I had to take care of JoAnn some then.
The years passed, and we had our families and really had a lot in common. The difference in our ages seemed to diminish somewhat. We all lived in different parts of Texas, or as in Ione’s case, she lived in Colorado for a number of years. It was there that her husband passed away, and she moved back to Texas. Later, she and JoAnn went into the real estate business together, and we had moved to our farm here. At this time we were all living pretty close to each other.
Since the two of them worked together, I do know they plotted to get me involved with some of the things they did. They would go somewhere and find the perfect product and call me up…"Hey, you need to go buy a certain thing, it will make your nails strong or something else would take away the wrinkles….etc." I don’t know why I would fall for it, because nothing ever worked. There was the time I will never forget that JoAnn called and said, “Sissy, I have just read that fresh asparagus will make your skin so smooth - take away all the wrinkles." I just couldn’t wait to get into town and buy that miracle. I couldn’t find the fresh asparagus, as it was out of season, but my thought was that canned asparagus was once fresh, so I got two cans of that. I would never have put that green slimy stuff all over me if Leland had been home, but he was gone for several days on his job. I locked the bathroom door, even though I was home alone and prepared to get beautiful. What a mess. I waited the allotted time and showered off thinking, "This better work." It didn’t. All I had to show for all that was a green tint all over. It was gone before my husband returned.
Then there was the time that JoAnn gave me this little garlic baker. She explained that you get a bulb of garlic and bake it about an hour and it was delicious. I did decide to bake it one day; Leland was home then. It just so happened that we had a mouse to die downstairs about the same time. Our house is split level, and the downstairs has the garage and other rooms we don’t use every day. We do have to go through there to come upstairs. We had searched and searched for that mouse and finally decided it would just have to perish, and the smell would go away. We just held our breath as we came through to get to the stairs, close the door and escape the stench. This is what Leland had done and was expecting a breath of fresh air when he came in, but instead the garlic had been baking quite awhile. I had grown accustomed to it I guess, because I hadn’t noticed how bad it was. When he reached to top of the stairs he said, "WHAT IS THAT I SMELL?" I told him it was garlic...he twirled around and headed back down the steps. I ask, "Where are you going?" He said, "BACK TO SMELL THE RAT"…oh, my goodness. I threw out the garlic, opened the windows, aired out the house and called JoAnn. When I told her what had happened, she said, "Oh, well… I hadn’t tried it.”
I must say though, that Ione did give JoAnn and me a really good tip on a shampoo. She has found this, and it is the best I have ever used. It really does make your hair fuller and thicker. Thank you, Ione.
When they were in the real estate business, they bought computers and decided that I really did need one. I finally convinced Leland that I needed one too. The fax machine was next. I did write a little poem that pretty well sums up what all they got me into…
There are three sisters who are perfect
The whole family does agree,
“Not so” the husbands wail,
“they want everything they see.”
True, they all had gadgets to
Fulfill all their dreams,
Until JoAnn remembered,
“We don’t have fax machines.”
She went out and bought one
On that very day
Then Esther said, “Yes, I want one too”
But what will Leland say?
“That is nonsense, you don’t need that”
He was heard to scream.
“But darling I have a birthday soon”
So he bought a fax machine.
Then Ione said "I must have one too"
So she shopped until she found
One that she knew would do
Now they write letters daily
Sometime two pages long.
The fax seems to slightly frown
And then you hear ….a moan.
But never mind, the letters fly
To Canton, San Antonio and to Tom Bean.
The three sister’s are very happy
Because they each have a fax machine.
Ah, but now the fax sits idle
As we all have cell phones.
"What is next oh, what is next?" you hear the
Husbands groan…..
Proverbs 3:
5 Trust in the Lord with all thine heart;
And lean not unto thine own understanding.
6 In all thy ways acknowledge Him,
And He shall direct thy paths. |
