ABC Wednesday L is for laughs!

Moi Age 7!

When I was about 9 I went to Brownies. As part of the session we were asked to spell Mississippi! I spelt it Mrs Sippy! I thought it was the name of Brown Owl the leader! One of my favourite activities was to go to jumble sales. Many of the neighbours looked out for me as they were aware of our situation at home. In those days there were few one parent families. One lady in particular, Mrs Cripps ran regular jumble sales at the local church. Like so many other children I loved going to these events and on one occasion as I entered the church Mrs Cripps called me over. She had put to one side a baby doll for me. It was quite tall and dressed in shocking pink hand knitted clothes. Everything from a bonnet, jacket, leggings, booties, gloves. The full works! I was really awe-struck and thanked her with a profuse enthusiasm ( as I had been brought up ALWAYS to say Thank you!) I ran home to show mum. "I hope you said Thank you to Mrs Cripps Denise! " were her first words. "I did mum!" "Good! That was very kind of her you know!" "I know mum!" I went upstairs to my room with my new doll. Being a typical 8 year old the first thing I did with my new doll was to undress her. I took all her clothes off, but as I removed her bonnet I made a shocking discovery....the doll only had half a head! The back of her head had been stuffed with newspaper and concealed with the bonnet! I could see all of the mechanisms which controlled her opening and closing eyes! Being the inquisitive potential nurse I examined the intricate workings with a pencil! As I poked about I heard a "snap" and part of the plastic structure snapped off! I panicked and dressed the doll, taking pains to pack in the newspaper into her head. I sat the doll on my dressing table and all was well......well to start with. A few moments later, as I was looking at my doll one of the eyes rolled and looked directly at me! Can you believe it? Can you imagine the terror it struck in the heart of an unsuspecting 8 year old like myself? The mechanism I had broken controlled one of the eyes of the doll! from then on I was absolutely petrified of the doll. I couldn't tell mum as she would have reminded me how kind Mrs Cripps had been and how ungrateful and thoughtless I had been to break such a lovely kind gesture! So I was stuck with it! I found a place for it where I could not see its face, but often I would hear the mechanism move, for no reason the eye would roll and always seem to end up looking right at me....well it would at that age! I attended a Salvation Army Sunday School. The Sunday School Trip was an annual treat! Now the Salvation Army makes a stand against any form of gambling, including Bingo. Auntie Dot and Auntie Joan went to the bingo once a week. On one of the Sunday School trips we went to Whitby and it rained all day. Escaping from the dreadful weather, mum and I went to play Bingo! As luck would have it I won! Now in those days we didn't have a choice, we were given the prize. As a 9 year old I was given what every young girl dreams of, a bright blue, 3 tier plastic vegetable rack! It was hardly the type of thing I could hide under my coat, away from the Major's prying eyes! The Major was standing on the steps of the coach as mum and I approached. I could see her looking at me in an enquiring way but I gave her a smile which indicated that THE thing to buy in Whitby was not a toffee apple or a stick of rock I could see other children had brought onto the coach! No! THE thing to have was a bright blue, 3 tier plastic vegetable rack! I can tell you the journey home was rather uncomfortable and I had a lattice imprint on my thigh for the rest of the day! LOL! Still, it found a good use in the kitchen! To see more contributions to ABC Wednesday click on the logo in the sidebar, or simply go here!