Harvey and Lori Ferguson Ch. 20 Living at Grandpa Shep's

Valrae's Journal

Since the fire my family is staying at Grandpa Shep's house and there are a lot of things I like about that. Mumma says we are fortunate to have this chance for "multi-generational" living. She tries to be cheerful but the day after the fire she started crying and crying up in her room until Daddy went up there and talked with her. I was in my room so I don't know what he said to her but when Mamie called us down to dinner they came too. Mumma's face was dry but all red and puffy from crying. She was smiling at Daddy, though, so I knew it was all right. Then she kissed both me and Gray on the top of our heads.

Anyway, Gray and I get to spend lots of time with Grandpa Shep and Mamie. They are Daddy's parents and I will tell you about them. They have a big old house with a porch that goes all the way around and it's right by the lake. Grandpa Shep is Sheppard Ferguson and he used to be a policeman and then a private eye in California. He met Mamie there in San Francisco. He's retired now, though. Mamie's real name is Madeleine Judith Ferguson, but Meme is French for Grandma. She spells it Mamie so it's easier to know how to pronounce it, she said. 

They have six kids and Daddy and his twin, Aunt Holly, are the 4th and 5th children. Aunt Gillian is the oldest, then Aunt Margo and then Uncle Nicky. Next come the twins, and then Grandpa Shep and Mamie adopted Aunt Debbie. She is funny and very nice, but she is away at University right now. That is why there is plenty of room for us at Grandpa Shep's. Gray and I are sharing Aunt Debbie's room across the hall from Grandpa Shep and Mamie except Daddy put her double bed in the attic and bought twin beds for us. We have our own bathroom! Daddy and Mumma have their bedroom on the third floor and they have their own bathroom, too, and a tiny little l living room with a TV and a pinball machine. Mumma said that's where they lived for the first year when they got married until their house was built. Not the new one that got burned up; but the very first house, the one Gray and I were born in. When Aunt Debbie comes home for Thanksgiving break I guess one of us will have to sleep on the couch downstairs. I hope it is Gray so I can sleep in the same room with Aunt Debbie.

Every morning when Gray and I wake up Grandpa Shep and Mamie are already awake and downstairs. We have cereal with them and then Mumma and Daddy come downstairs to have breakfast, too. Then the school bus comes and we go to school.

Daddy and Gray go swimming in the big pool almost every day when Daddy gets home from work, but it is usually too cold for me this time of year. The pool is heated but the air is cold when you get out because it is autumn. Don't you love the word autumn? I think it is a much better word than "fall". Anyway, half the time they show up for supper in their swimsuits and Mamie pretends she is shocked and yells "Naked men!" and covers her eyes for a couple seconds. That always makes me and Gray die laughing.

Mamie says she is especially thankful to have us here because now Dad has been helping Grandpa Shep with a lot of "projects" around her that he's been putting off. He's not as young as he used to be she is always saying when she makes him rest or even take a nap. It makes Grandpa Shep grumpy and he says he is not an invalid, for crying out loud, woman. He is only pretend grumpy, though, because Mumma says he is "crazy" about Mamie and he actually falls asleep every afternoon, anyway. Sometimes sitting up.

Daddy rakes the leaves for Grandpa Shep now who would rather work in his garden all the time when he isn't painting. He and Daddy put in swings and a merry-go-round and monkey bars for Gray and me. Then they put in a lot of new flowers and bushes and added new awnings. Well, Daddy mostly did the awnings on the second and third floors. I have always loved Grandpa Shep's house because it is old fashioned, but now it looks even prettier.

Mumma loves to sew and Mamie has a nice sewing room, but Mumma doesn't want to interrupt Mamie's sewing. So Daddy put a sewing machine in their bedroom. All her patterns and material and supplies burned up in the fire, but she got some more. Not as many as she used to have though. She is trying to save some money by making clothes for us so that we don't have to spend as much money getting new ones. She always made most of my clothes anyway. I get to help her pick out patterns and material.

One Saturday it was really warm for October and we had Melinda Howard come over for lunch and for swimming. Even Mumma and Daddy went in the pool but not Grandpa Shep or Mamie. They said they would wait for summer because they had "old bones". I didn't know things inside your body got old just like gray hair and wrinkles but Daddy said they do.

When it was suppertime and we came in from the pool Mamie cried "Naked men! Naked women!" I think she scared the heck out of Melinda. Gray has a major crush on Melinda so he patted her shoulder and said in what he thinks is a manly voice, "It's okay. Mamie is just joking. My family is kind of--unusual."

So I made a "crazy" face at him, sticking my tongue out to one side, crossing my eyes and waggling my hands up by my ears. Melinda looked like she had a brain freeze, but Mamie just winked at me. 

I overheard Daddy and Mumma talking in the upstairs living room and she was asking him couldn't all of us please just get away for a while? Okay, I didn't really overhear more than a couple words and then I stood outside the door and listened, which is bad. I was supposed to be putting towels away for Mamie. But if you ask me--which you didn't, but if you did--I think if kids didn't snoop they would never know what was going on in their own family! Anyway, she was kind of upset and sad and she said she knew a vacation would help all of us forget about the fire for a while. Daddy has been saying we will rebuild and this time he will oversee a lot of the work because in the house the wiring was not good and that's what caused the fire. Anyway, he told Mumma now that they should think about it for 24 hours to be sure. He said it means closing her bakery while we are gone--which just opened a few weeks ago--although his health spa could stay open because he has a good assistant manager. 

Daddy doesn't like to make decisions in a hurry. Mumma says you just can't push him and we only make it worse when we hop from one foot to the other, saying, "Pleeeeez, Daddy! Pretty please!!??" Of course, he doesn't take 24 hours to decide in most cases like whether or not he will take us for ice cream at Sam's Snappy Service, or if we can buy the latest version of Sims or some other game with our OWN MONEY (for crying out loud). But he pauses while he thinks it over. It can be torture, believe me. Mumma is really good at coaxing him, though. She gets her little "cute face" on and flirts with him. My parents are pretty romantic anyway; they kiss a lot and Gray says it is mushy and gross but I like it and, anyway, I'm used to it because they were like that at our old houses, too. He should get over himself. Both sets of my grandparents are kissy, too, but I don't think Nana and Poppa are so much now. That makes me sad. I don't think all parents are romantic. I'm going by when I go to some of my friends' houses and their parents act like they are only friends, or maybe even just work at the same place. I guess it might be they are just shy about kissing in front of strangers or 9 year old girls.

A couple days later before we went to school was when Mumma and Dadddy told us we are going to the family place at Twikkii Island. That is the best news ever! The house belongs to Nana and Poppa and Mumma's been going there since she was a little girl. It's her favorite place and it's where she and Daddy went for their honeymoon. We go at least once every year, we went last summer in fact, but it's never enough for Gray and me. It's right on the ocean and close to all the attractions on the island including the pirate ship. Gray and I CAN'T WAIT!

I love you and you love me,

Valrae Diana Ferguson

Next blog update: Harvey and Lori Ferguson Ch. 21 Vacation Part 1

When Mumma's family went to Twikki Island the first time

Mumma and Daddy's honeymoon at Twikkii Island