Grandma Teddy

 

"Get in the car!" yelled my father as he would walk around the old Crysler and get into the passenger's seat.  He expected my mother to drive and liked to reminisce about the farms along the way to Grandma Teddy's house.  She only lived about 4 miles away, but the drive was through farmlands and dad liked to talk and point out people that lived in each house that lined the way through the pueblo.  "There is where my friend Joe inherited the land from his father and grandfather.  He only has 2 horses now but back in the day he had 6 or 8 horses.  They were beautiful bay horses that would run alongside the road as the cars drove by."  I would look out the window in the back seat and look at the barren field and nod my head in agreement to his story.  I would hear the same story each Sunday as we drove to Uncle Johnny's house, and I would act like it was the first time I had heard it.  My brother had automatically ignored my dad's stories and had drifted off into the world of Def Leopard as his music pulsed loudly in his earphones.  "Now that is Uncle Alfred's house.  He had me help him section off the back field so he could try raising cattle.  I told him that to have a couple of cows wouldn't be worth the money of the hay and tractor he would need to use each day.  He ended up turning the small 5-acre field into an alfalfa field.  He would borrow the tractor from my dad and all the equipment from a neighbor.  He would be out walking the field and would get my dad to come over and look at the dry land.  He would swear he irrigated the field a week before, but my dad used to ask the elders, and they would just shake their head and talk about the government cutbacks and how the irrigation ditches all dried up.  Instead of cursing in front of me my dad would say something in Indian and hit the wheel of the car.'  As we turned up dirt road in front of the post office he would say "OH hay did I tell you about your aunt Erma?  She lived up that road in an old single trailer.  Do you remember that?"  I would shake my head as I was an infant in those days.  "She used to give you cookies from the pueblo women, and you would have to guess what was inside.  She used to add honey to the vegetables and not tell you what they would be."  He gave the thought a little laugh and look up out the window as we pulled into Uncle Johnny's driveway.  He would give me the look to get my brother out of his rock and roll world to listen to the rules once again.  " Remember to sit quietly on the floor and watch Mutual of Omaha's show and don't make any comments that will upset anyone.  We will be playing cards but can hear your eyes rolling without even looking up from the cards in his hands.  OH, and make sure to give Grandma Teddy a hug and a kiss. I know she doesn't speak English, but she knows when you kids are here, don't jump on her walker because as you know it's a table as well and she might have coffee on it.  Don't forget!" and we would walk in the house as we did each and every Sunday for the first 10 years, we lived on the pueblo.... or until she died.  I can't remember which came first.