Funny, Scary Memory...

Maryellen and I shared a double bed most of our growing-up years. This story took place very early...Arcadia, CA...ceria 1950. Our mother had just scared us by telling us about two little girls who had been kidnapped from their beds and killed. This was shortly after a Christmas where we had received a metal baton from our paternal grandparents.

This one night, we were scared enough to need some kind of protection. We decided that each of us would hold onto one end of our baton; if one of us was taken during the night, the other would feel the pull on the baton and would be able to cry out for help. But as children will do, we also imagined the kidnapper was crouched right outside our window and, unfortunately, only wanted to steal little girls, not little boys. That's when we started talking to each other...in loud voices...about how sad it was that our mother dressed us up as girls when we were really boys. This conversation went so far as us talking about how awful it was to wear dresses and how we hated having long hair.

Luckily, no kidnapper hovered under our window that night. We woke up the next morning, safe and sound... still holding on to our end of the baton.
I love you Maryellen,
Diane