WOW!!!It's the 40th Rerun Sunday! Hop on over to Chari's Place for more!
AND on to Memoir Monday!
One summer a girl named Sonja came to visit us from Germany. She was cute and blond and knew classroom English quite well. Rob had met her over there when he was stationed in Ulm.
She brought me these hand-painted glasses
It just so happened that our daughter, Martie, was visiting us from Ohio at the same time. Therefore her friends from high school were almost constantly at our house, keeping us surrounded with clever, jubilant, twenty-something girls.
They lounged by the pool telling riotous stories of past escapades that they had perpetrated and somehow managed to live through. (That summer I learned that I was thankfully kept in the dark during Martie’s coming of age years.)
In telling a story, one of the girls used the term “Driving the Porcelain Bus.” Sonja jumped in with, “Vhat is this ‘Porcelain Bus?’”
The girls immediately began giving Sonja a lesson in the many ways a person can say, “vomit” in American slang, beginning with “Tossing Ones Cookies” and continuing through an impressive list including, Hurl, Make a Sidewalk Pizza, Bark at the Carpet, Pray to the Porcelain God, Yak, Blow Chunks and Call Ralph, Each new entry, complete with explanation, and even some acted-out demos caused all of them to laugh raucously.
Later, after nightfall, they left to go OUT, where ever that is. Martie, who was pregnant with our first grandchild, was the designated driver.
On the way out the door, they revisited the barfing conversation. “Call Ralph? What about ROY!” “Roy” was emoted with breathtaking authenticity. “Don’t forget EARL!” More realistic barf sounds. They continued to Ralph, Roy, Earl, (and someone even added a Buick), all the way out to the car until neighbors began to come out on their porches to see who was being sick in the street.
Much, much later, I woke to the sound of them making snacks and giggling downstairs in the kitchen. When Martie and Sonja came up stairs I called out from my bedroom, “What did you learn tonight, Sonja?”
She replied, “Tonight, I learn…um..I learn…” and then to Martie, “Vhat is this bag?”
I knew exactly what she learned before they said another word. She was speaking of an old-school utensil that came in a festive red color and was used for feminine hygiene.
(Thank you Beverly, for your patience with my inability to deal with Mr. Linky)
