Like One of the Family (11 page)

Now you just look at anything in the room or in this apartment and try to point out something that working people didn't have their hands in…. Well, you can stutter and stammer all you please, 'cause you can't name a solitary thing, be it cheap or expensive.

Take that chair you're sittin' on…. Can't you see the story behind it? The men in the forests sawin' down the trees … the log rollers … the lumber-mill hands cuttin' up the planks … people mixin' up varnishes and paints … the artists drawin' the designs … all the folks drivin' trains and trucks to carry 'em … the loaders liftin' them off and on … all the clerks writin' down how many there are and where they're goin'—and I bet that's not half of the story.

Now Marge, you can take any article and trace it back like that and you'll see the power and beauty of laboring hands.

This tablecloth began in some cotton field tended in the burning sun, cleaned and baled, spun and bleached, dyed and woven. Find the story, Marge, behind the lettuce and tomato sandwich, your pots and pans, the linoleum on the floor, your dishes, the bottle of nail polish, your stove, the electric light, books, cigarettes, boxes, the floor we're standin' on, this brick building, the concrete sidewalks, the aeroplanes overhead, automobiles, the miles of pipe running under the ground, that mirror on the wall, your clock, the canned goods on your shelf, and the shelf itself. Why, you could just go on through all the rest of time singin' the praises of hands.

So you can see we are all servants and got a lot in common … and that's why folks need unions. Well, for example, Marge, suppose all you had was money and you wanted to make some more money…. Oh hush, girl! I know you wouldn't, but let's suppose…. Well, you'd hire ten people without any money who knew how to make tablecloths … and you'd sell them for four hundred dollars and pay the folks who made them one hundred of that…. Marge, I didn't say you would do that…. I'm only pretendin'…. Well, never fear, honey, we would form a union and tell you we wouldn't sew any more for you until you paid us fair … and then you'd either do that or make nothin'!

Now, contrary to some opinion, I contend that healthy folks love to work, but “a servant is worthy of his hire” … and they want decent pay and clean places to work where they won't be burnt up in no fire trap building, they want a little time to rest and enough pay to buy and enjoy some of the wonderful things they have made.

Yes, indeed, girl—I do get so tired of hearin' folks say, “I'm
just an ordinary
workin' man.” Why, workin' people are the grandest folks in the whole wide world. They set the steamships on the ocean and the lighthouse on the land, they give us our breakfast coffee and a roof over our heads at night…. That's right, Marge, when workin' folks get together it should be with the highest respect for one another because it is the work of their hands that keeps the world alive and kickin'.

Oh, Marge, what do you mean “you guess they're right nice.” … I told you before …
YOU HAVE BEAUTIFUL HANDS!

C
OME ON IN
. M
ARGE
! The coffee pot's on and I'm just sittin' here relaxin' over a magazine…. Tell me, if I was to buy a car would you envy me? … No, I'm not sayin' that you have a jealous nature, but this ad here says to buy this shiny car and be the envy of all my friends…. No, I don't usually buy such dicty readin' matter but this headline on the outside of it caught my eye…. Yes, it says: “Make Yourself Over.” No, I'm not tryin' to run away from myself but you know, sometimes we do let ourselves go and it crossed my mind that I oughta take that fifty dollars out of my savin' account and spend it on yours truly…. Sure, life is short and there ain't nothin' wrong with Mildred doin' for Mildred sometimes.

Well, I bought the book in order to help me make up my mind just where and how to spend the money…. No, I haven't decided yet 'cause the more I read, the more disheartened I get…. Well, for an instance, I should get a good perfume like this one here…. No, I will not move my hand from over the price mark. I want you to guess how much it costs. It's called “Wild Enthusiasm” and it costs forty-five dollars a ounce…. Well, there you are! I'd be smellin' real nice but lookin' just the same with only five dollars left for makin' me over. It is mighty expensive but just look what it does: “Will make him lose his mind and reason at first meeting…. The magic of bottled moonbeams drawn from the everlasting fountain of youth … maddening … ravishing … wicked … tantalizing …” and so on. But I guess I won't get any of it. If it does all of that, I guess it would be dangerous to walk the street. Be like takin' your life in your hands, so to speak…. Yes, girl, makin' myself over ain't too easy…. See here, I need all these hormones in my cold cream and of course that jacks the price way up 'cause you can't buy none of that in the five-and-dime store, and since I'm a wee bit flat-chested, I'm supposed to buy “falsies.” See, these are called “Just Between Us Two” and costs twelve dollars and ninety-five cents. No, I won't buy it … I guess I couldn't carry it off quite, and there I'd be with twelve wasted dollars on my conscience, or should I say off my chest! … I guess I may's well leave the fifty where it is for the time bein'…. Now dig this! In order to remake me, I have to have a manicure, a pedicure, my hair styled, a new girdle, foundation cream, night cream, day cream, bath lotion, bath salts, fingernail cream, toenail cream, toilet water, sachet, soap, bath oil, rouge, powder, hair remover, hair grower, curlers, straighteners, eyebrow pencil and … Oh honey, don't talk about the clothes! … I'll have to have a hostess gown, a playsuit, a evening dress, a dress suit, town dresses, country dresses, city dresses, a sport suit, a bathing suit, a bathrobe, nightgowns, slips, blouses, skirts and … No, I haven't forgotten my mind at all, but give me a chance. I'll have to join a book club, a record club, a picture club. Yes, and then I'll have to see the latest plays, movies, lectures, and … You see there! … I'm forgettin' the most important thing of all…. Yes, time! I should have one hour a day just to loll aroun' in my scented tub while I think pretty thoughts. I need time to shop carefully and make sure that I'm buyin' only the things that suit my very own personality. I need time to plan well-balanced meals, I need time to go to the drug store and buy vitamins and all them toiletries. I need time to purchase newspapers and more magazines. I need time to do some volunteer work for churches and clubs, and I need time to answer all mail promptly and keep up with invitations and entertain lightly after the theatre and make myself into the ideal American woman and … What? … Girl, I had no idea it was gettin' so late! And here I have to make early time in the morning and be over on the East Side at eight o'clock sharp! … Pour the coffee, Marge! I guess I'll have to put up with bein' myself for a long while to come. But I can't help wonderin' about the women who go through that routine all the time … I mean … when it's all over, what have you got? … You're right. Like the song says: “Another day older and deeper in debt!”

I
‘LL HAVE TO ADMIT
that I'm not wild about housework, but on the other hand I must also say that I'm good at it. You know what I mean, Marge. I don't short-change anybody and I don't expect them to be short-changin' me. I'm a pretty good cook, too, and I do take pride in fixin' a dish so that it looks as fine as it tastes. And when I clean up, you can tell that the place has been done, but I can get awful evil with folks that try to put me at a disadvantage. Oh, I've had lots of tricks pulled on me like people settin' back the clock in the middle of the afternoon in order to get a free half-hour on me.

Workin' for Mrs. L … was really kind of all right, but it took me a long time to catch on to her ways. I remember one afternoon last summer I was just gettin' ready to leave and it was hot as blazes. Mrs. L … strolls into the kitchen holdin' out a black organdy dress on a hanger. “Don't you think I should wear this instead of my white suit?” she asked. “No mam,” I said real fast, “I think your white suit is just the right thing.” “I don't know,” she says, “it seems to me that the suit would be too warm.” “No, no,” I says, “it might turn cool later on and the first thing you know you'll catch a cold.” She shook her head then. “I'll swelter in this suit. I'd better wear the organdy. After all, I can carry a stole to throw around my shoulders.” “Well, I guess you know best,” I told her, “but if it was me, I'd stick to that suit.”

Now, Marge, the whole time we was talkin' I had one eye on the ironin' board which was still warm from me pressin' that suit and the one thought uppermost in my mind was how I could keep from ironin' that old long, ruffly organdy dress.

The next thing she asked was, “Does the dress look crushed?” “Oh no,” I says real quick, “it seems fresh to me.” Now I must admit, Marge, that it did need the touch of a iron here and there, but time was passin', the temperature was risin' and I was a mite on the tired side. “Well,” she says, “I think it needs to be ironed.” And with that she plugs the iron in the wall again, so I reached over to take the dress from her, but she holds on to it real tight and says, “I will iron it.” “That's all right, Miss L …,” I said, “it's awful hot today, I'll do it.”

Marge, she looked at me kind of funny and then said somethin' real nice. “I don't feel the heat any more than you do, and if it's hot for me, it's hot for you too.” And then she went on and ironed that dress.

Another time I remember was one mornin' when I just couldn't make it to her house at nine o'clock because there was a big winter coat sale down at Crumbley's Department Store, and I just had to get down and find me one. I called her up and told her that my sister had took quite sick, and I wouldn't be able to get to her until noon. Well, honey, when I got out to her place she was nice as could be, but she didn't say anything about my sister or ask me any questions.

That evenin' when I was leavin' she says real nice-like, “Mildred, if you ever have anything to do and would like to change your hours around a bit, I won't mind because you can always make up the time like you did this evenin'.” And after that I never made up any stories about illness or death and one time when Eddie came in town unexpected-like, I told her about it and took the day off. Well, the followin' week I worked for her three days instead of two, and I must say that she was always nice about things like that and I really felt free and easy around her.

Mrs. L … was by no means what you'd call a wealthy woman, but I always enjoyed her Christmas gifts better than any others that I got from the people I worked for. I was with her two Christmases, and she never gave me the kind of things that I got from other folks like new uniforms, tough lookin', old, black pocketbooks or heavy ugly-colored stockings.

Well, the first Christmas she gave me a lovely, beaded evenin' bag with a five dollar bill in it. The second Christmas she gave me a bottle of
her
favorite toilet water and a ten dollar bill. Several times I had told her how pleasant that toilet water was and so I guess she thought I'd like to have some, too. Honey, I'm tellin' you, there's some folks that don't want you to have
anything
that's like somethin' they got.

I enjoyed talkin' with her, too, because she never nosed in my business or tried to poke fun at me on the sly. You know how some people do things like that! They will ask you, “How's your boyfriend?” and although there's nothin' wrong with the question they will be smilin' and sort of half-laughin' like it's funny as all get-out that you should have a boyfriend and also kinda meanin' that he must be a riot too!

She would tell me about the books she had been readin' and the plays she saw and about all manner of new things she would see or hear about. And I would tell her about my club meetin's and how my niece was studyin' to be in the theatre, and I also told her a lot of South Carolina folk stories and such.

I really liked the way I always knew where I stood with her because she treated me the same way all the time and never acted like a stranger when she had company call on her. You know, some folks will crowd in real friendly on you but when company calls they get kind of distant and cold-like with you. No, she didn't do that! She stayed on a nice even keel all the time and I would find myself tellin' her things about myself simply because she wasn't eaten up with curiosity about me like I was somethin' peculiar.

It didn't happen all of a sudden but one day it suddenly came to me that I thought a awful lot of Mrs. L … and that if she ever came to my door I'd be glad to invite her in without feelin' a strain. I found myself doin' little extras now and then and when she had a party or somethin' like that I really put myself out to make it a nice affair because I was
interested
.

No, it wasn't always smooth sailin'. There was times when she got on my nerves about somethin', but I was always free to tell her about it and get things straightened out. Yes, and once in a while I'd skim over somethin' I'd promised to do, but when she told me about it I never felt like she didn't like me or was all tied up in knots about it. 'Cause she'd just speak her mind like, “I wish you'd get to the pantry shelves on Thursday because it's inconvenient when you leave it until Monday.” And I'd say, “All right.” Other times I might say, “I can't do it on Thursday if you have company comin' in the evenin'.” And then we'd change things around so that the schedule would fit.

There was times when the work was piled up a little like at spring-cleanin' time and then she'd pitch in, and we'd work together and get everything in ship-shape order. We'd eat lunch together and talk about what to do next, and there was no feelin' of boltin' your food down. But by and large I believe I did more work for that woman than for anybody that I've ever worked for.