Hazel Langhorn

More bits & pieces

One day Pooh came to me crying, sobbing…. absolutely heart broken.  He threw his arms around my neck as I tried to figure out what was wrong.  I was good for asking the kids if they needed to go to the emergency room…did they need an ambulance…what was hurting them.  His reply was that he didn’t need the hospital…It was Granny Hazel. He hurt…..I asked him what did Granny Hazel do…because as far I remember Mom never whooped Pooh.  He was crying like he had met Mr Extension Cord.  He said she hurt him right here…and he pulled up his shirt to show his big ol Winnie the Pooh belly and said she hurt his feelins’.  “Right here”….so, me being me….I hollered at Mom about hurting his feelings and making him cry.  She said next time she was going to do more then hurt his feelings.  I asked him if he wanted me to give Granny Hazel a whoppin.  Being a sweety..he said “no” but he went to Momma and told her that he told me not to whoop her.  You can imagine Mom’s reply…lol.  Yes, our mother had the power to evoke tears by her tongue in addition to her hands.

When you travel with kids you learn ways to communicate without including them in the conversation.  You don’t want to get them excited or focused on something. One of our favorite things to do was to get the drummettes at Long John’s Silver or Pralines & Cream ice cream at Baskin Robbins.

Well, this particular day Mom is driving and we have Pooh in the back seat…he couldn’t have been much more then 3 or 4 years old.  So, Mom decides to ask me in adult spelling code if I want to stop for some I-C-E C-R-E-A-M.

All loud and estactily excited Pooh shouts from the back seat…”Yeah, yeah, I want some ice cream too!”  We laughed so hard and stopped and got the cones.  We were so busted trying to be smart.

This particular day Mom & I were hanging clothes in the back yard.  All of sudden we heard this blood curdling scream from the front of the house…immediately we recognized it.  We dropped the clothes and tore out for the front.  There lying on the ground was Pooh crying his heart out.  I thought he’d broken his arm, leg, foot, hand, wrist and neck….maybe even an eyeball…..I’d never seen him cry like that.  Scared to death, Mom asked him what was wrong.  Through Niagara Falls tears he said he couldn’t fly.  WHAT!  He couldn’t fly.  COULDN’T FLY!

He wasn’t hurt.    He jumped off the coffee table and it didn’t work……so, he jumped off the porch…tried as he might…he just couldn’t fly like Superman.  He was heartbroken.  Mom & I were so relieved….at least it wasn’t the roof.

Just think the world is so full of possibilities and dreams when you are a child.  That’s why I refuse to grow up.  I still get caught in the rain, splash in puddles, sing those kiddie songs and enjoy cartoons.  Mom use to talk to me when I was little about the things she “wished” or “hoped” for in life.  She had to be a responsible adult early in her teens and while she may have missed out on some things….she tried her best to give us better then what she had.

I think she succeeded.

I have a run away story for you.

Kikki – I’ma  runnin away and ain’t neber comin back!

Mom -  No problem…pack your sh^t. Judy …go upstairs and get my beige makeup case.

Well, I don’t remember what she put in it but she left….draggin that thing.

Mom – Go watch where she goes.

After a bit, I went back in the house and reported to Mom that Kikki is sitting on the makeup case on the corner of First & Charlton Streets.  We let her sit there for the longest time until finally Momma told me to go check on her.

Me – Come on home, Idiot. 

Kikki – No!  I said I’ma runnin away!

Me – Aw…then why are you sitting on this corner?  You ain’t goin no where.

Kikki – screams at the top of her lungs…. You know I’ma a get a whoopin if I cross the street!  Momma said I can’t cross the street by myself!

Yes, my little sister ran away from home…..all the way to the corner.  But she knew better then to cross the street cuz Momma didn’t play that.  Our environment had boundaries.  We played in the yard and alley.  When allowed into other folks yards…it was with permission form both household’s adults.  Mom established those rules to keep us safe and out of harm’s way.  It didn’t occur to us to just defy her instructions.  So, Kikki knew she was not allowed to cross the street and she didn’t.

Eventually, I got sick of checking on her and dragged her bad azz home before it got dark.

You never know when certain things will bring back the strangest thoughts. I was sitting at work and there were these purple flowers that used to grow in the neighborhood and I remembered Ms. Watson having some in her yard. For some reason I remember sucking on the bottom of those flowers and that triggered the memories of eating those green grapes off of the vine on Ms. Comptons house and getting those itchy lips. Or eating those red berries  (that was full of all kinds of bugs) without washing them. This also bought on the rubbarb that grew near the fence that we ate for years.

Momma used to say we could live off of the land, God provides all we need. Thank God he watches out for kids that don't think things need to be washed before eaten.

I remembered when I knew I was gonna get a whoopin (don't ask me what for) and I had the nerve to go upstairs and stuff some magazines in my pants. How dumb did I think Mom was? That was one whoopin to remember. I remember when I sucked a glass to my face and all around my mouth turned red and swollen and I thought it would never go away. I cried and cried. I remember when I tried to feed the stray dog and he bit my finger and I was scared to death that i was gonna get a thousand rabby shots. But the big one was when I packed a sandwich and some panties in a brown paper sack  and ran away from home. I didn't know where I was gonna go so I hid in the garage and waited to hear everybody run around calling my name. While I waited I ate my  sandwich and wondered why nobody was looking for me. Little did I know Mom had seen me go into the garage and knew where I was all the while. In my mind I was gone for hours but I'm sure it was about twenty minutes. Me and mom talked  and laughed about that. God knows I miss her.

By the way, just because it's big green and round there is a difference in lettuce and cabbage and your momma will make you take it back to the store.

Got to talking to Shawn the other night in the car on our way to Red Lobster on our date with someone else. Shawn wanted me to know that the reason he doesn't talk to me about mom is because he does not want to see me cry. I told him that it's okay, I'm sure he has some things to say that may make me smile. All memories of mom aren't painful. He said he will never forget going to the hospital to see momma and she told him that not taking baths was nasty and don't noboby want to smell you. He said that she said it in a real nice way with love for him, and she has been the only real grandma he feels he ever really had in his life. Every since momma told him that, he has not only been taking baths,(daily) but he actually tries to smell himself to make sure noone else can. (For those of you who knows Shawn imagine him smelling himself). I know you're smiling.

We went to Missouri and Shawn decided he was not going to ride home with Pooh even tho he roaddown there  with him. Pooh left ahead of everybody else and came on back to Peoria. When it came time for everybody else to load up, there was Shawn without a seat or seatbelt. I then pulled one of mommas "I know she would have" stunts. I told Shawn that he (without a ride ) has to live in Missouri. We all got in our cars and left. When we pulled off Shawn was sitting in the middle of Aunt Paulines yard . We left. His sisters went to crying," Please don't leave my brother". I ignored them and we all pulled into the gas station and filled our tanks, bought our snacks, and hung out for a while. Eventually I went back to Aunt Paulines and in the same spot where I had left him was Shawn crying his eyes out.  To this day he  still says he did not know if I was really going to come back to get him. Kenny had started telling him about the school he would go to.

I know mom who never said a word knew that I wasn't going to leave that boy , but knew that I had done the right thing. As kids we were not allowed to make choices....there were consequences.

 I know that I will never in this life command the respect that my mother was able to get by just being our mother , but I will always appreciate that I had the opportunity to watch me and my sisters become who we are as the products of our environment. There are not enough "thank yous" in this world to honor our upbringing.