excerpt
…after chores and supper, for a few hours of fun. When
the moon illuminated the snow on crisp, clear nights we would
run and play and wrestle on the snow banks, or in the straw piles
created by the threshing crew. After getting our fill of the night
air it would be time to thaw out with hot chocolate and finish the
evening off with a game of cards. And then the walk home to be
in by ten o’clock and to bed.
This too was an experience in the winter. After our second
house was built our bedroom was the attic itself, unheated except
for whatever warmth found its way up the narrow stairway. So
the first one in warmed up the bed and resisted sharing the heat
with whoever was to share that bed.We slept in pairs, compatibility
being established by various methods including by dictates
from the parents—when all else failed. And it failed often. Scraps
broke out on minimum provocation and disagreements could last
an hour, a day or weeks.
Piling into a cold bed with a brother who was after your hide was
risky business. You were as likely as not welcomed by a smelly fart
which stopped you from getting your face under the covers to take
advantage of body heat. Instead it was necessary to tuck the feather
tick tightly under the chin to prevent any vapours from escaping
upward, at the same time to gently lift the edge of the tick with a
foot to provide an outlet for the smell. And no touching or bedlam
would break loose and one or the other would be downstairs pleading
his case in long johns before the court of last resort, mother, to
be specific.Mother’s justice was gentle enough and, by comparison
with Pop’s justice, downright benevolent. Pop would resolve our
disagreements by following a policy of no-fault resolution or, to put
it more accurately, all fault resolution whereby we were all equally
guilty and therefore all received equal punishment. It worked. We
usually went to mother to be the mediator. At least with her we
were given a chance to develop our case.
There were many things one could not do in our attic bedroom.
One could not take a glass of water up to the bedside; it froze by
morning.One could not kick off the covers; one froze by morning.
Manolis Aligizakis 