by Richard Ellis

Created on: May 15, 2009

My grandmother's house

When my younger brother and I were very young boys we loved to go to visit Nanny, our maternal grandmother. She and granddad lived in a large three story house on the corner of a very busy intersection in town. There was no air conditioning in those days, so, on hot summer evenings, after supper, everyone would go sit out on the front porch. Neighbors would be out on their porches or strolling along the sidewalk and visiting along the way. Everyone knew everyone. It was a close neighborhood. Granddad would usually stay in the dining room, hunched-up close to the radio, listening to his favorite programs. He was a bit hard of hearing. At bed time the windows were left open and we went to sleep to the sound of cars passing on two sides of the house. The reflection of their headlights crawling across the ceiling as they went by made strange shadows on the walls.

Many a summer morning you could catch a street vender pushing their cart along the sidewalk singing "But-ter-beans, ten-cents-a-pint; fresh col-lard greens; sweet corn, okra, 'maters, sweet 'taters; red ripe wa-ter-mel-on". Some would carry their vegetable laden basket on their head. Nanny could always count on fresh vegetables for the table without having to go to the market. The big A&P Market was only two blocks away, but the venders were cheaper and more convenient.

Nanny lived within easy walking distance of what we called the "Big Park". Sometimes mama would take us up to the park to play on the swings, slides and see-saws or to feed the pigeons and squirrels, if she had a dime to spare for peanuts. My brother and I would walk along beside her, holding on to the carriage in which our little sister was riding. The big park was about four blocks long and two blocks wide. There were great old Live Oak trees full of Spanish moss with huge vines hanging down. The park contained hundreds of Azalea bushes and many long park benches. The birds and squirrels would come right up and eat out your hand. It was a wonderful place to take children.

Most of the time we were pretty much confined to the house or its small backyard. Now, that might sound as if it would be a dull place for two energetic young boys, but we liked it there because the house had many rooms with mysterious nooks and crannies to explore. And on days when we could not go outside we did explore!

On the first floor, was the living room, which was strictly off-limits to us kids. Next was the dinning room and

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