The strap was made of leather. The words "Hand Tooled" come to mind even though I'm not exactly sure what that means. The shape of the handle was like handle shapes I have seen on cheese cutting boards. Comfortable in the hands. It was 3 or 4 inches wide and maybe a foot or more long. It lived on a hook in the basement stairwell.
When the strap came off the hook, the going mantra was "Iwill,Iwill,Iwill,Iwill," even though, as Monica pointed out, most of the time it should have been "I won't." Nothing could put more butterflies in the stomach than seeing that strap come off the hook.
We girls, in our upstairs bedroom, liked to have a good time. Sometimes that good time involved getting in and out of bed and maybe some chasing around the room and into the closet. As an adult, when I could cross the room in two steps it didn't seem possible that I could have been winded from running around in it. Also, when 2 sisters were playing and leaving 1 sister out of the game (perhaps the youngest one) the left-out person was able to retaliate with "I'm going to call Mama."
Then, if Ms "left-out" couldn't be persuaded otherwise the chant would begin. "Mama,-- Mama,-- Mama,-- Mama," When there was no response we would start with "Papa,-- Papa,-- Papa,-- Papa." There were times when we were sure there was going to be no response and in a fit if giggles would all start with "Mapa,-- Mapa,-- Mapa,-- Mapa."
More often than not, there was a response and it would be in the form of a warning. Sometimes, what was going on upstairs, just got funnier and funnier and the giggling was just too far gone to stop abruptly. After the warnings came the footsteps. At that point things got serious as a crutch.
If the footsteps were on the way up, we could be sure the strap was in hand. Oh, My, God, how did we ever let things get to that point? Papa appears, the scrambling begins, three voices chanting "Iwill,Iwill,Iwill,Iwill." I don't remember Papa ever getting "nothing but air." He hit flesh with every swing. Later, Marcel admitted that he and Bernie used to follow Papa up there just to watch. I don't know how come they weren't in bed.
When I bought the house on Navy, we found that strap on top of a cupboard in the basement. Its bottom edges were frayed. Papa's famous last words on the subject "We never actually hit you kids with it."
4 comments:
I think this story is all too familiar, even with today's children. I can remember getting in trouble and saying something like, "I'll stop! I'll stop!" or the same, "I will, I will, I will, Iwill!" But I guess nowadays it's less about a strap or a hand, and more like getting grounded or getting their Nintendo taken away. Oh well...whatever works.
Anyways, I am really enjoying these! Can't wait to hear about my grandfather some more!
Sean
Ahhh, selective memories; they're the best.
I can remember being the smallest butt on the bed and making sure that I was between Kathy and Gretchen so they would take the brunt of the belt and my little butt would be left unscathed. I think my giggling gave me away.
What can I tell you. We are doomed to repeat the mistakes of our fathers.
Well, from grandpa's generation to yours it went from a "strap" to a belt, I supposed I will be beating Jackson with a wet noodle. I already threw a dry noodle at the boy, but he was begging for it and he giggled just like his mom.
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