The Good Old Days
By Betty Lee Speckels, East Sierra Branch
Life on a farm is filled with hard work but there are always the lighter moments. The humor in some of those situations is what makes many people chuckle years later about the good old days on the farm.
One of the really funny situations that occurred in my family was during prohibition. At that time, we lived on a rented farm and the house sat on one corner of a country crossroads. Directly across the road was the small community church.
My father was like many hard-working men. He liked a little sip of “spirits” to help him relax in the evening. Since he could no longer buy it, dad decided to make his own.
He mixed up his batch and put it in a stone jar to ferment. Much to his surprise, the home-brew had reached the stage where it had to be bottled and couldn’t wait, even though it was Sunday morning. Dad was up early and busy at his task. Mother was fretting as she prepared my brother and me for Sunday school.
Just when the house had become really fragrant with the “bouquet,” there was a knock on the front door. There stood one of the most outspoken of the neighbor ladies. Mother quickly shut the kitchen door as she grabbed a dish-towel and tried fanning some of the odor away.
“Don’t you say a word about what your daddy is doing,” she admonished me before she smilingly opened the door.
Since I was a rather talkative five-year-old, I found it difficult not to tell what was going on. Finally, I said, “My daddy makes good smells in our house.”
My father never made home-brew again.
See another take on “The Good Old Days”
by Betty Lee Speckels
in the next edition of socalwritersshowcase.com.