Poor But Rich

We grew up poor one minute, rich the next. Rich is relevant, of course. We were rich if we could get new school clothes or make a big grocery shopping trip. Daddy made sure that happened, no matter what kind of weather he had to work in…

Of course, being the Momma she was, we kids never knew there was a problem. Momma could take a dollar and turn it into ten dollars without ever leaving the house.

I never learned that trick….It’s more like I take ten dollars and turn it into one dollar without ever leaving the house, so Momma let me down by not teaching that magic trick to me!

One night, I lay awake and eavesdropped on my parents. Momma was crying and Daddy was attempting to comfort her. She said, “I don’t know what we are going to do…I have spent almost a hundred dollars on Christmas!”

“We will make it somehow…these kids come first..don’t cry.” My Daddy said.

I started school early. I was about to be five years old. Back then, only “high faluting” people sent their kids to kindergarten, and since we were “low faluting”, I just went on and started first grade.

 My birthday was in the wrong place, and I am sure Momma wanted to get rid of me….I was a hand full, to say the least, and there were two more of us at the time. Poor Momma had discovered a legal way to get rid of a kid….the dreaded Wilson School Bus!

One day, I was being washed behind the ears, (remember how your Momma dug into your ears with that wash rag and scrubbed behind them so hard it left red marks?) when Momma suddenly screamed, “OH MY LORD I DON’T HAVE LUNCH MONEY FOR YOU!”

Now, lunch was a serious business in those days. Schools didn’t serve breakfast as they do now, and our school was filled with “Pore People”. We all went to lunch like a herd of hungry goats!

Momma ran around the house in her “shimmy tail” which is what she called her pajamas. She was frantic. She searched every shelf, jar, under the couch, in all her purses and bags……

She mumbled, and called upon the name of the Lord, who soon came through for her, but in a weird way..

Finally, it was time for the bus.

Momma came running to me with a note, a diaper pen, (yes, babies used to wear cloth diapers), and something I had never, ever seen in my little life, a ONE HUNDRED DOLLAR BILL!!

Now, folks, I rarely see one now, but if you compare what money was worth then, and what money is worth now, it would kinda be like seeing a thousand dollar bill today.

Momma knelt before me, pinned the money to my shirt, and said, “I don’t care WHAT I have to do, you are going to eat lunch! Now, when you get to school, give this to Mrs. Montgomery. When school is over, you’ll have an envelope and you bring it to me, and DON’T lose it!”

I got on the bus, not yet five years old, with a one hundred dollar bill pinned onto my little, flat chest.

The note said, “Mrs. Montgomery: This is all the money I had in the house. Please use it to pay for Sheila’s lunch and put the change in an envelope. Please pin it on her dress. Thank you, Lois.”

My teacher sent me to the office as soon as she saw the money. She was a little freaked out by my Momma’s determination to get lunch for her baby!

The principal, a nice man named Alvin Parker, just laughed, unpinned the money, made change, put it in an envelope and told me to take it to my teacher.

When I got off the bus that afternoon, Momma was waiting on the porch, tapping her foot. She had her arms crossed, which meant she was serious… She laughed, and hugged me when she saw the white envelope pinned to my dress.

She confessed to Daddy when he got home from work.

She said, “I worried all day long, I just knew that money would not make it back, but that baby did exactly what I told her to do.”

“I knew she would.” My Daddy said, putting a newspaper over his face, but behind the paper, I could see him grinning.

That may have been one of the last times I did exactly what my Momma told me.  I was way more responsible with money at four years old, than I am now…

….and, for the record, I wouldn’t pin a hundred dollar bill on any grandkid! They would just have to carry a peanut butter sandwich to school……there may be a yard sale close by!