But every evening mother would get us all around, and we had a fireplace. She would pop a great big pan of popcorn and we would sit around the fireplace, and she would read to all of us. We all sat and listened to her read.
Billie: When you are raising your family; and I couldn’t work at that time because I couldn’t drive. I had just bought new bedspreads for their bed, and I was so proud of them. My niece, I kept her for a little while that day, and all three of them were in the bedroom playing, and they had a little toy tool set with a little hammer. She came down on the bedspread with that hammer, and put a 3-corner tear in that bedspread. She felt bad about it. Ron was the middle one. My older son and my niece, they decided to blame the little brother. I was so upset because you know, you didn’t have money every day to buy new bedspreads for two beds. I made Ron come in and sit on a chair for punishment because he tore my bedspread. He kept crying, “I didn’t do it, I didn’t do it, I didn’t do it.” That went on for a long time. And you know, we know our kids, and I thought, “That isn’t like Ron to keep saying he didn’t do something when he had done it.” He was stubborn and he would not give up that he had done that. Finally I said, “Ok Jim and Susan come in here. Ron is saying that he did not do that.” They told me the truth then. I had already spanked him for doing it. Oh, I felt like I was so bad. They have never let me forget that. Susan said “Aunt Billie, you shouldn’t have punished us because it was an accident.” I said, “Yes but we didn’t have money to buy new ones.” Kids are so funny.
