| LOUISA COUNTY, IOWA |  |
|
| LOUISA COUNTY, IOWA | |
Page 227
Peggy Lihs
Transcribed by Sharon Elijah, November 24, 2019
It was 1946, and the afternoon of the Christmas program. Things were really hopping in the old country school house! The old pot belly stove was red hot. Miss Metsker kept sending someone out to check for sparks on the roof top. When it was my turn, I looked around for Santa too! I’m Peggy, I’m eleven years old and in the fifth grade. The teacher insists on calling me Margarite, but my real name is Peggy.. I ASKED MOM!
We sure weren’t doing any school work today. Everybody in the school was busy getting ready for the big play tonight. My big brother Jackie was helping Anna Mae pop corn in the back. Bobby Marshall (my boyfriend, he’s eleven too) were helping the teacher hang the big curtain in the front of the room for the play. Bobby and I are the only two kids in the fifth grade (that’s why he’s my boyfriend). Dallas is supposed to be Santa Claus in the play. He’s the fattest kid in the class…fat as Santa himself! But…bet he doesn’t show up. Every year he ends up sick or something and there goes our Santa.
Don’t know how we’re ever gonna get enough popcorn popped to hand out to everyone tonight with Jackie back there eating it all the time. He’s got a big crush on Anna Mae, but she hates him!
Donnie’s supposed to be sweeping up the floor. Donnie’s my little nine year-old brother. He’s back there with little Betty Marshall (she’s his girlfriend). They’ve been giggling and pointing to something under Dallas’s seat. Boy, is Dallas red in the face now! “Dallas wet his pants, Dallas wet his pants, Dallas wet his pants!” Boy, that did it. Dallas squeezed out of his seat, and took off for home. I know he didn’t really wet his pants, he just sat on the orange in his back overall pocket. Boy, now we’ll never have Santa for our play.
Our little sister, Baja, she’s six, did wet her pants at school one day, but nobody laughed, ‘cause Jackie would have killed them if they did. Boy, everybody in town is scared to death of Jackie. He’s beat everybody up before. Baja is gonna be the baby in the manger. She fits in there pretty good. I remember one time when Donnie and I were mad at Jackie, we took him down and sat on him and had Baja come sit on his face with her messy diaper! I hid behind the door in the meat room all afternoon that day, afraid he was gonna kill me.
I forgot to mention the Thomas family yet. We have eight kids. Marshalls have five. The Thomases have six. Then there’s Dallas, and he has an older sister “Mona”…she had red hair, like Dallas…but she’s skinny. She goes to high school on the bus with all our older brothers and sisters, and I can’t wait to do that. We don’t get to go there until ninth grade.
Now, Janet Thomas is really bashful…sucks her thumb all the time. She didn’t want to do anything but pull the curtain, but teacher talked her into being a kid and a shepherd ‘cause she wouldn’t have to say anything. Janet’s my best friend, and she’s ten. Judy is pretty little and is Baja’s best friend. Their big brother Lyle is really an ornery rascal. He tried to beat up Jackie and he’s one year older so I hit him on the head with a board with a nail in it. It really made him bleed…Jackie said I probably killed him! But I didn’t, and he’s supposed to be one of the kings…he wouldn’t be anything else.
Page 228
Finally…teacher pulled the rope and school is out. I never ran home so fast. Had to put my hair in pin curls!! Had to peel the potatoes for supper (seemed like a hundred), help make the corn bread, polish my shoes…and then Wanda (my older sister) spilled the baked beans all over the floor…and everyone was yelling at each other and I was about to die ‘cause I wanted everyone to hurry. I sure was happy when Pop finally came home in his big red truck. Finally, Jackie and Donnie got back from milkin’ the cows, and Dad was yelling at them because there wasn’t much milk. “You boys been squirting milk at each other again?” I was so happy it wasn’t my turn to dry the dishes! I had to carry them to the sink and then I left to put on my red dress that had pretty little buttons down the front and a little hanky in the pocket. If only I didn’t have to wear those awful long brown stockings. I thought we would never get dishes done. Wanda took forever in the outhouse. Mom said she’s pulling sister Shirley’s old tricks. Shirley’s eighteen now and my oldest sister Pat is twenty. Pay dyed her hair blond once. It was beautiful. I want to do that too. Sure hope they both came to our play. My oldest brother Dean can’t come. He’s in the Navy. We say a prayer every night for God to keep him safe.
I thought it would never come…but it was finally time for the big program. Everyone was all excited, cause Anna Mae was sick, and couldn’t come. But… I didn’t see Dallas either. Why, it would be ruined without Santa.
Then the curtain opened. The first scene was the grandmother sitting in a rocking chair telling all the little kids the story of Christmas…but guess who was grandma since Anna Mae was sick. There sat Jackie…looking more like a grandma than my Granny Sellers did. He knew her lines perfect! And even quivered his voice like a grandma’s supposed to. Most of us were the kids sitting on the floor while grandma Jackie told us the story of the baby Jesus.
The curtain closed, and while everybody got into costume, Sonnie came out and sang “All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth.” He was perfect for the song and you can guess why…can’t ya?
The second scene was Mary and Joseph with the baby (Baja in the cradle). Anna Mae was supposed to be Mary too…so I had to be Mary…which I didn’t like with Jackie as Joseph and Baja kept waving at Mom and Dad and everybody. Here I was supposed to be her mother.
Then came the angels…I was supposed to be an angel, but there I was Mary. So, we just had two angels, Judy and Betty. They were so scared, it took a long time to coax them out. I wouldn’t have been so scared!
Next came the shepherds…Donnie, Bobby and Janet (we didn’t have enough boys) looked good, until Donnie turned around and hit Bobby with his cane, and Bobby slugged him good for that. Teacher yelled at them so they stood still. Then Janet got nervous and sucked her thumb.
Last came the kings. DALLAS STILL WAS NOT HERE! He was supposed to be a king too. Teacher said he was probably stuck in the snow. So teacher had to be one of the three kings with Jackie and Lyle. Then everyone started giggling, because Baja fell asleep in the manger.
I was really worried to death who was going to be Santa…it would be ruined. Dallas was a big chicken. Jackie said he had a yellow streak down his back.
Page 229
Then it was time for Bobby to sing his solo. He had his big brother’s army suit on under his shepherd’s robe. When he took it off and put on the army hat he really looked handsome. He stepped outside the curtain and sang “I’ll be home for Christmas.”
Dallas still wasn’t there, but the curtain opened for the last scene.
This was my main part. I was supposed to be crying ‘cause my boyfriend was at war and we were afraid he wouldn’t make it home in time for Christmas. One by one, all of my friends (the kids in the class) came in to say, “Merry Christmas.” Then they put presents under the tree and kept saying, “Don’t worry, Sally, there’s still time.” Then they all began singing Christmas songs. Everyone was acting real happy but I kept looking sad and watching the door. Finally at the end of “Jingle Bells,” there was a knock at the door. Everyone was quiet as I opened the door…it was him!
We rushed into each other’s arms! (He about tripped on those long army pants.) We got to hug all the way into “Joy to the World!” Boy, did my ears feel hot!
When everyone started singing “Here Comes Santa Claus” I thought, “Oh boy, Dallas made it, but it wasn’t Dallas, it was Jackie. He was kind of a skinny Santa Claus, but everyone was laughing and loved him anyway! Dallas would have been perfect.
Santa handed out the presents to everyone and we passed out the fudge and big cans of popcorn.
It was a wonderful evening. I wonder if anyone beside me noticed Dallas peeking in the window at the end. Oh, well, maybe he’ll come inside next year!