My brother and I found this note stashed away among pictures and documents that my mother had saved. It’s from my mother to my father, who was called Vaughan, his and my middle name, by family.
It’s a little hard to read, so here’s what my mother wrote:
“Vaughan
We have something in the cabinet over the stove or in the attic or in the vent pipe. It sounds big.”
Then, after the drawing of some kind of sharp-toothed and –clawed animal with a yawning mouth, my father replied:
“You think I’m going in the attic if it sounds like that?”
This note was from some time in the 1970’s I think. It was written on a little pad from the Celanese plant where my mother worked. I remember the incident; it was a mouse that had somehow fallen into the stud cavity in the kitchen wall and was unable to get out. We first heard it, then smelled it after it died. I fished it out after it became mummified.
I also remember adding the “something” in the drawing.
I don’t know exactly why my mother saved the little note along with so many other more understandable things, but I’m glad she did.
That’s actually very endearing. I’ve enjoyed the stories about your parents, and the saving of such things that might seem so trivial. They really aren’t at all trivial.
After I left home at 17, I began to realize how different the relationships of most of my peers were to their parents, especially. Over the 40 years since then, those differences have continued to give me a jolt now and then.
Wayne — This is one of the things I’ll save. For me, it’s like a window directly into the past.
Such a wonderful note. It really captures the humor and warmth that your parents shared. I love that your mother saved it. And, I love that you are saving it.
Robin Andrea — It really is an evocative thing for me. I can see and hear my parents when I read the note.