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Mema
AKA Cleo |
It was in the summertime and there
was no air conditioning. North Florida
summers were hot and everyone kept his or her windows open day and night to let
in any breeze. This also allowed sweet
smells of the pine trees and crepe myrtle blooms to drift in your windows at
night and lull you right off to sleep.
After a bedtime story and prayers, little children were tucked in bed
early enough to hear the birds softly calling to each other as they settled
down for the night. If you were lucky
enough to have a window right by your bed, you could watch the night get darker
and darker and see the moon rise over the tops of the pine trees, or watch the
stars pop out one at a time in the night sky.
You could think about Jesus being up there somewhere and loving little
children especially much.
But, to tell this story properly, I
must start at the beginning of the summer when Cleo was 5 years old. Home to her was her Gamma’s house with her
mother, her brother, Henry, and of course, her Gamma. Her mother did all the
cooking and fixed yummy meals.
One day, Mama had important news. She was to leave for the summer and finish
her degree at FSU. Cleo and Henry would
stay at home with Gamma. Thinking about
summer without Mama made Cleo sad. All
of a sudden, she really panicked! She had never seen her grandmother cook. What if she didn’t know how to cook! What would they eat? “Gamma, can you cook?” she asked. Gamma assured her she could cook enough to
feed them through the summer. Mama said
they could all come to FSU at the end of the summer and see her graduate. They would get to spend the night, too! So all was well because they would be fed and
kept safe with Gamma and have an adventure at the end of the summer.
Everything was just fine until one hot summer night. In the children’s bedroom, there were two
beds end to end. Each bed was beside a
nice big window, which was kept open, to let in the breeze and sweet smells of
summer. Since nighttime was a little
hard for Cleo without Mama at home, Gamma slept beside her. That made Cleo feel all happy and safe –
until one night.
Waking up in the middle of the night Cleo realized she had to
go to the bathroom. That was probably
why she had had a nightmare about a robber breaking into their house and stealing
all their money and taking Gamma away.
Thank goodness it was only a dream.
Well, it was pretty dark in the bedroom but you could see the
familiar shadows around you. Thinking to
not wake Gamma, she sat up very slowly and felt her way across the bed. NO GAMMA!
Her side of the bed was empty!
Where could she be? Was her dream
not a dream at all? Had someone really
stolen Gamma? Looking around, she gasped
in horror! There on the other bed right
across from her lay the big robber snoring loudly. AND in his outstretched hand was his sack of
stolen money.
Had the robber gotten so tired from all that robbing he
decided to take a snooze? Cleo snuck
back under her sheet as quickly and quietly as possible, her heart pounding! What should she do? She must be extremely quiet so as not to wake
the robber! Her own breathing seemed so
very loud. She must breathe quietly! The air under the sheet was getting used
up she was sure. Maybe she could just
hold her breath and not breathe at all.
That turned out to be a not so good idea, so it was back to breathing
quietly again.
She heard a noise of rustling sheets. Oh no!
Was the robber waking up? She
better get her head out from under her sheet and keep an eye on the robber so
as to avoid any surprises from him. Back
to silent breathing. She lay still and
thought and thought. Her stomach hurt
more and more. She had to do something!
What if Gamma were
tied up somewhere in the house? That’s
what robbers did wasn’t it? They tied
you up and stole all your money! Maybe
if Cleo screamed really loud, Gamma would hear her and answer and the robber
would get scared and run right out the window by that bed. Her heart pounded inside her chest. Should she do it? “Pound, pound” went her
heart! She opened her mouth to scream and nothing came out. She was so scared. She glanced once more at the sleeping robber
and watched his body go up and down with each big snore. Maybe she could jump up and grab their money
from his hand before he could wake up.
NO, not that! He would grab her before she could get away! She would just make herself scream as loud as
possible. That was the best solution by
far. AAAAAND SHE DID!!!!!!!!
The robber’s whole body seemed to jump right up in the
air! As he came to a sitting position,
Cleo realized it was no robber at all! It
was her own dear Gamma instead.
As she rocked Cleo close to her, Gamma explained that she had
been so hot sleeping in the bed with Cleo’s snuggling, she had gotten up and
moved to the other bed. The sack of
money in the robber’s hand wasn’t a sack at all. Gamma was holding part of her sheet. Being able to sleep at last, she had begun to
snore and snore in peaceful bliss until she heard that blood-curdling scream.
Well, after a good hug and a trip to the bathroom, Cleo was
finally able to sleep until morning. Who
knows whether Gamma slept another wink?
All in growing up and not letting your imagination run away
with you.
