Because we didn’t have enough to take care of, (ha!) we got a dog – a Boxer named Cindy, given to us by a man who couldn’t care for her. Cindy was a wonderful dog and we all loved her. She would check on the boys in their cribs as if she was their parent. I can still see her with her nose sticking through the slats in the crib, making sure her boys were all right. Cindy would also lie on the floor with her front paws around Michael and hold him like a mother holding her child. When she had checked them in their beds and made sure they were all right, Cindy would come downstairs to relax and get her cookie reward. LOST HEIRLOOMS As a pastime Herman whittled toys when he was in college. He would sit in the back of the classroom and whittle. It must have made quite a mess. The boys played with those delightful little animals; they were really cleverly and well made. You don’t realize at the time that these will some- day be the most precious family heirlooms. I don’t think a single one is left. I am so sorry I didn’t save them. We put a white picket fence around our little front yard and got a sandbox. Of course the sand would blow away so it became a weekly $5.00 expense to refill the sandbox. Our next door neighbor, who had kind of a mean streak, complained that our nice, white pick- et fence brought down the value of his house. On the other side of the house lived a family named Flanagan. Mr. Flanagan would do so many favors for me that it made his wife mad because she had a hard time getting him to do things for her. They were very nice people. When Michael was about two years old we had a very scary incident with him. We had just come home from Nana Dora’s house one evening. My mother was with us. Mae took the boys upstairs to put them to bed. She had put Frank into his paja- mas and turned to see that something was wrong with Michael. Suddenly she was back downstairs with Michael in her arms. We saw that his eyes had rolled back in his head and he was almost unconscious. We called our pediatrician, Dr. Lachman and he raced through red lights to get to our house. He put Michael on the dining room table to exam- ine him. When he saw that Michael was wear- ing zippered coveralls he tried to undo the zipper
Mike and Frank in the Crib
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