1. Tell us about a memorable neighbor from your childhood neighborhood.
We knew everyone in the neighborhood, but I had a special interest in the old ladies houses. I’d often head down the street to find my cousin Laura and we would concoct plans to get food. Sometimes this meant sneaking a Tab from my refrigerator while she weaseled a row of Ritz crackers from her mother’s cupboard, but more often than not it meant Laura knocking on the doors of the old ladies houses to ask for candy while I waited in the bushes and watched.
On a successful day Laura might come back with two hard candies that were more than likely pried from a dish that had been sitting on the old ladies fireplace mantels for a year or so. It didn’t matter. The only thing that mattered was finding the candy. I like to consider myself the secret service commander…Laura was the soldier, right there in the front lines.
Hazel lived directly next door to my cousins so she was an easy target for us. She had an off limits apple tree in her backyard we would steal from and she was fairly reclusive. It wasn’t often that we would see her little fro of thinning red hair and when we did (usually staring down at us from her large window as we stole her apples) we were sure to run away screaming as fast as possible. On particularly brave days (when I forced her) Laura would knock on Hazel’s door and more often than not come back empty handed.
Around the block there was Milly. Milly was sweet, but she never gave us candy and we weren’t going to just gab all day with Milly without payment so she wasn’t typically a place we wanted to get caught at.
Mr. and Mrs. Maddox, on the other hand, now THEY were givers. I didn’t have to hide in the bushes from them. Mr. and Mrs. Maddox would invite us in to sit down (now we’re talking!) and we smiled brightly at each other every time Mrs. Maddox scurried into her kitchen to see what she might have for us. Cookies and milk, candy, berries picked fresh from their garden, you name it!
Sure we had to endure long conversations about their grown kids (one named Kathy just like me) living far away, but the candy was usually worth it. They talked about grand kids and asked about our parents. They had formed a special bond with my Dad who befriended them long before I was born.
I remember their faces when my little brother and sister and I decided to run over to tell them our Dad had died. How concerned, but composed they remained while consoling us before we ran along our way. I’m certain tears were shed when they closed that door because they loved him too.
Mr. Maddox helped my brother learn to ride his bike. Mrs. Maddox kept a page in her notebook that listed all of our birthdays. They often asked about how our Mom was doing and we continued to be tricky little kids who are broken on the inside, but you never really can tell what’s going on with them because they continue to be focused on candy and breaking your trinkets.
When Mr. Maddox died we were sad because he was such a happy little man and we weren’t sure how Mrs. Maddox would ever get along without him. She was quieter after that and as we got older we stopped by less and less. Our summer days once filled with bike rides and blackberry picking were soon replaced with TV watching and phone talking.
Eventually we moved away from that neighborhood and lost contact with Mrs. Maddox. I heard after old lady Milly passed away Mrs. Maddox maintained a friendship with Milly’s husband. Knowing she had a friend still in the neighborhood always made me happy, but I prefer to remember her the way I loved her most….with Mr. Maddox by her side and a plate of cookies on the table, “now which one of you has a birthday coming up…are you December or is that your sister. Let me just get my notebook out here…”
When I’m an old lady I promise to always coax children into my home with candy and cookies…just like Mr. and Mrs. Maddox.
Although creeping on kids stealing from my apple tree like old lady Hazel sounds awfully appealing too. Why didn’t Hazel let us pick those apples? Her tree was massive.
Now it’s your turn!
Choose a prompt, post it on your blog, and come back to add your name to the link list below. Be sure to sign up with the actual post URL and not just your basic blog URL (click on the title of your post for that URL). For good comment karma try to comment on the three blogs above your name!!
The Prompts:
1. Tell us about a memorable neighbor from your childhood neighborhood.
2. Tell us about the last time you broke a sweat.
3. Share your latest project.
4. Write a blog post inspired by the word: sharp
5. Tell us about a vacation you plan to take this summer.
Abby says
Omigosh, how sweet were Mr. and Mrs. Maddox? Remembering your birthdays!
I had one childhood friend with whom I engaged in similar activities. LonaMae, retired home ec teacher, made the best cookies. Later in life, I felt guilty about our mooching ways. Glad to know it wasn’t just us.
John Holton says
We had an apple tree in the back yard where I lived in high school, The apples were pretty much inedible, wormy and foul-tasting. Maybe Hazel was trying to keep you from getting sick…Mr. and Mrs. Maddox sound like great people, on the other hand. People used to be like that, easy to mooch off of.