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Kokomo Kootsie
5/31/2002
Nibbles- Bits & Pieces
The Twins
They were about five years old when I first met them; twin brothers of a new friend I had made when I first moved to Star Ranch, in the Country.
Elmer was blond, small and shy-and, he sucked his thumb! But Earl was a robust little boy, freckled-faced, and a red head. His eyes were a blazing blue, and he promised to be a real heart breaker when he grew up. He was not shy as Elmer was.
They lived in an old one room, country church; it had been divided off into a living room, dinning room and kitchen; down the full length of the other side were a row of beds, not unlike a dormitory; two private cubicles were formed with sheets, hung on wire from work, for privacy for the two older girls, Mary and Martha.
The top was all open to the rafters and we could, and often did, climb up and walk the beams-all over the top of the other rooms, and look down to see what was going on, and to do a bit of eves dropping too! We got a lot of first-hand news, and opinions on various subjects, normally not discussed in our presence, or even mentioned to us.
Mrs. Hemmeger, had two sets of twins, Mary and Carrie, and Elmer and Earl. They also had a set of triplets; Donald, Dick and Dorothy, who all died in infancy, each one month apart. Carrie had died while still a baby, years before. Then there was my friend, Martha, and then Virginia, and Joan.
They were dirt poor, but they were millionaires in love, for and of parents, and one another. They had a cozy warm place to live; plenty of food, often goodies that my own family would not, or could not, spend money on; as donuts, and store bought rolls, cup cakes, Coco Cola, hamburgers, and hot dogs! Candy always, and new toys for the kids, often, when dad came home from work in the evening.
They were always dressed nice, clean and neat for school, had great school lunches. They were a very happy family. The father and mother were very jolly, laughed a lot, showed great love for their children, and one another. I just loved to play down there, and often spent a night too.
It was always fun to go there; no one was ever watching every move, to see if you had wiped your feet, or if you put your feet on the furniture; if you dropped a crumb on the rug. There were no rugs to worry about!
They had a big cabinet radio, Mr. Hemmeger bought on Christmas, long before we ever had any kind of radio; I hardly knew what one was! Martha got the sweetest baby doll on Christmas. She would bring it along when she came to play, and just drop it any where, while we played games that didn’t include a doll! Sometime she would let me ‘borrow’ it for a week, and I’d be so delighted.
Martha would get ‘teed-off’ now and then, for no reason I could ever fathom, then she would come and demand the doll!
Other times she would get these ‘streaks’ and try to provoke me. She would stick her foot out when I passed by, trying to make me fall. One time, tried to upset the boat to dump me in the creek! She would make snide remarks, and I, who fought my brother’s battles, some years before, was at a loss as to how to handle Martha; so I never said or did anything! She was really hard to like very much, but we played together the three years I lived in the country. The last two years, she went to her grandparent in Marion, Indiana-to spend the summer.
I would go down to their house, and in the summer we would play in the yard or go to the old swimming hole. Martha would tell her mother to keep the twins at home and not let them follow us, which they always did! At any play, they would be not far off, or peeking from behind a tree, bush or ‘outbuilding’, always tagging along, never playing together. We would throw rocks at them, they would stop, and then when we went on, so would they-like a tail on a kite. They kept their distance, but follow us they did, always!
I never saw them again when I moved into town. A few years after that, I left Indiana for good.
The War came, and Elmer went into the Army, and I was told he was still sucking his thumb! But the Army soon cured him of that!
Earl was in the service also. Both boys came home safely; Elmer married and rented our old Star Ranch country home.
My grandma was gone, and Auntie and Walter and Max, had bought a farm near Peru, Indiana, and were living there after the war ended. It was a huge old rambling house and had been the headquarters of Ringling Brothers Circus, at one time.
Once, right after the war, when I was home on a visit, my childhood friend, Wini, as usual, took me out to dinner, fun, and games! Kokomo, then had a night club! Earl was there with some friends at a table close by, and Wini pointed him out to me. He was a big handsome hunk; any girl would be thrilled to have follow her around!
He came over to our table, and when Wini asked if he remembered me, he said he sure did, and asked me to dance. He told me when he was a little boy, he always said, "when he grew up" he wanted to marry me, because he thought I was so pretty! He had never married. He had been engaged once, but he didn’t have enough money to suit her, and she didn’t want to make it together. She wanted some one who was already well established, not help him do it!!
Earl had the old church house, either remodeled or torn down all together, because one time when I went to see his mother, there was a new modern, very pretty house there! His mother came to the door, and she didn’t know me; nor could she, no matter how I brought up things to help her know who I was!! I was a complete stranger to her!
Yet the year before, I’d taken my two children to see her, and she knew me then. The first words she said was, "I was pretty as ever."
It is disconcerting to have someone you have known, and eat and slept and played in their house growing up with their kids, not know who you are anymore!
I eternally pray it never happens to me.
As for the twins, I never saw Earl again, and hadn’t seen Elmer since he was a small boy, when both insisted on being their sister and my shadow’s, so long ago. I know their sweet parents died long, long, ago.
I did see Martha, and Mary too, when I visited Martha and her so handsome husband, in Marion, Indiana. I was home on a visit, with JoEllen, my daughter, who was three years old, and I was expecting, Mickey, my son. Martha had no children.
All are no doubt gone now; it was so many years ago-generation after generation have passed away.
We, of that long ago time, have children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren; two I know, have great, great grandchildren!
How can it be?!
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