COUSINS

I think I probably had way more cousins growing up than most people. The ones who were generally around ranged from three years younger than me to eight years older. There were thirteen of us in about five miles.

Summertime meant wienie roasts at Grammie's and Grampy's house on Saturday night. Grampy had built a swing about eight feet long and four feet wide with a roof over it. It swung end to end. We would all load on and boy could we make it go!

Grampy always bought a watermelon if there was one available. It wasn't cut up for us-it just dribbled down our fronts and mixed with the dirt we piled up while playing in the yard. There was no such thing as S'Moas. If we were very fortunate, someone would bring a bag of marshmallows. It was a great time. If you didn't grab a stick and cook your own hot dog, you went hungry-and believe me no one went hungry!

As soon as dinner was over, the adults would go into the house to avoid the mosquitos (and the kids). We would play hide and go seek, tin can alley and tag. Of course, the bigger kids always won but I don't ever remember anybody whining about it.

I guess I'll rephrase that. My cousin, Judy, who I now love dearly, was one of those "tattle tales". I remember my cousin Butch got his butt busted one time cause she fell down when he tagged her. She cried and carried on so that none of the adults believed it when we said it was an accident. Judy's parents were D-I-V-O-R-C-E-D so all us kids were expected to defer to her.
We all liked to roller skate. She didn't! When she was there, we went to the movies on Saturday afternoon instead. I guess none of the adults realized just how much they made us dislike her by insisting her wish was our command.

I think the cousin I was closest to was Tom. I was six months older than him and he lived just up the road. He came down every day in the summer. My brother, Rick, Tom and I would pack fluffernutters and some Kool-Aid and head out to our camp in the woods every day. My grandfather could never hang onto a board or a nail. He never gave us hell for taking them either. Along towards dark we would head on home. Our parents must have loved us cause they never had to bother with us.

When Tom got older he sort of fell into horse trading. He was a born salesman. First he had a pony (that's another story) which he traded for a motorcyle which he traded for an old jalopy. We had some good times on that motorcyle. I've got the burns on my leg to prove it.

Tom used to come down every Saturday night to watch "Weird" with us. It was a show that started at midnight and was hosted by local yocal "Eddie Driscoll". He always tried to dress scary and was the weirdest thing about the show! He would present a horror movie and we would sit there glued to the tv for a couple of hours. The Pod People was the scariest movie ever! Tom never spent the night so we'd take a flashlight out and stand there shining it until we thought he made it home. He would run really fast but it was a half mile to Aunt Hazel's house. He was a brave kid!

You know, we never ran out of fun things to do. We didn't have many toys but we loved to read. The best reward Rick and I could get was a new Trixie Beldon and a new Hardy Boys. Everyone in our family was a reader-Aunts, Uncles, Cousins-Everybody! It was just the thing you did when you had time.

Well, I hope Cousin Judy doesn't read this. By the time we were teenagers, she had turned into a really good person and I love her.