ABANDONED or MOM'S R&R TRIP TO EUROPE 1952

1952 BYU Europe Tour Group

        My mother made an earth shattering decision. She was leaving all four of us kids and going to Europe for three months. My Dad had helped to organize the BYU Study Abroad program and she wanted to spend the summer traveling through Europe with his tour group of 30 students. But what about us? My sister Kay was 8, I was not quite 7, Paul was 3, and Russ was still in diapers. Who would take care of us? That’s when we were introduced to Mrs. T. She was about 60, and could have passed for the Wicked Witch of the North. She was a stone faced general with no patience for kids.

        As soon as Mom and Dad were out of town she began laying down her ridiculous rules. “You will eat your mush with little milk and no sugar. You may not stir it and you must eat every bite!” The four of us looked at each other like this woman is nuts! Then came the best part: “If you poop yourself, you will stand naked on the back lawn while I squirt you clean with the garden hose.” I hadn’t pooped or peed myself in years, but just the suggestion made my sphincters twitch. We all looked at Russ who up to this point in his life thought a droopy diaper was a fashion statement. She was true to her word. She made us all stand at attention and watch as she hosed down Russ while he shivered and screamed. We tried to show him how to poo and pee in the toilet, but he was just too young.

Kay, Russell, Francis and Paul. 1952.

        “Now you will scrub this kitchen floor every day after breakfast.” “But it’s not dirty!” “You will scrub this kitchen floor every day, dirty or not! Did you hear me?” Oh joy. Only two months and 29 more days of this abuse! The dishes weren’t clean enough or dry enough so we did them over and over. Sometimes we scrubbed the kitchen floor two or three times a day. A few times I escaped the house just to see a friend, but mostly to get away from her. After being caught, I had to be by her side all day. I was like her puppy. I had to follow her wherever she went.

        Mrs. T’s old farm home was about two blocks away. I would follow her to her house where she slopped her pigs and watered her garden while Kay looked after the little ones. We all looked forward to the evenings when she would turn the reins over to a sweet, kind young lady who would tuck us in and stay the night.

        Our summer vacation was slipping away and soon we would be back in school. The General’s constant nagging, belittling and abuse of Russ was causing resentment to build to an explosive point! One day, after slopping her pigs she disappeared into her bathroom. While water was running into her bathtub I began exploring her kitchen. There on the stove sat a box of wooden matches. Hm. I pulled

over a kitchen chair, nabbed the match box, climbed down and began building a teepee with the red tips forming a beautiful peak. The teepee just happened to be constructed on her kitchen chair. Now for the finale! The last match lit perfectly on the side of the box and when I touched it ever so gently to the red peak the whole thing went up in a hiss of fire and yellow smoke. I don’t know if it was the loud hiss or the smell of smoke that alerted Mrs. T., but the bathroom door flew open and she was greeted by a blazing teepee fire on her wooden kitchen chair. The spanking that followed hurt, but not enough to overcome the joy of sweet revenge! When my parents finally returned, her only remark about me was, "This boy will end up in prison, if he lives that long!"

    And what about those great presents Mom and Dad promised to bring back from Europe? Well, we all looked just swell in our new lederhosen and traditional German outfits. We were ready to star in Mom’s next musical, “The Sound of Music.” Well, “The Sound of Music” never happened, but for the next few months we were paraded like showdogs for Dad’s German club events. And yes, we did look swanky, didn’t we?!

     I later learned that Mrs. T. was mother to my favorite Seminary Teacher who also became my Mission President. Strange how life works!