May 22, 2020
A story from her youth by Diana Pulver.
Playing Hide and Go Seek
Until I was 10 years old, I lived in a five-room apartment attached to a Sundries Store. A Sundries Store was an early version of Walgreens or CVS without the pharmacy and with a soda fountain/luncheonette. It had been my dad’s teen hangout in the late 20’s and then became my home when my dad bought it in 1947. There were stools for sitting at the soda fountain or booths for sitting together with a group. My mother managed the store during the day while my father worked at a foundry nearby; then my dad managed the store in the evenings and on Saturdays. Closed on Sundays, of course.
My younger brother and I were reared by the proverbial “village.” First of all there were the clerks who worked for us – adults during the day, teenagers in the evenings and Saturdays. And then there were the delivery men – Royal Crown Cola, Coca Cola, Borden milk and ice cream; various and “sundry” things such as candy and gum, toys, magazines, over-the-counter medications like Bayer Aspirin and that pink Pepto Bismol. Deliveries were a highlight of the day. Also a part of that “village” were the customers. There were workers on their lunch hour from my dad’s foundry or the glass factory across the street where Coca Cola bottles were made or the Campbell’s Soup factory just north of the store. There was the teenaged crowd who hung out after school. There was a barber shop next door whose owner had children our age. There was a coal company beyond the barber shop and a Graham Grain across the railroad tracks just west of our store. It certainly was not your typical neighborhood, although there were houses within a block or so on the other side of our street. My paternal grandparents lived within walking distance as did other aunts, uncles, and cousins. Lots and lots of people, all ages, all walks of life were a part of our lives and needless to say, as preschoolers, my younger brother and I were the center of attention!
Mother did all the cooking for the luncheonette – sandwiches, soups, and the best homemade pies you’ve ever eaten! She planned her meals wisely – what meatloaf didn’t get sold on Wednesday went into the chili on Thursday, today’s leftover vegetables became tomorrow’s vegetable soup. She also did all her own advertising signage. She was an artist and so printing professional looking signs in calligraphy came very easy for her.
It was a kid’s dream. There was always a scoop of ice cream available from the soda fountain or a hot fudge sundae with a cherry on top or, better yet, a made-to-order chocolate malt (pre-McDonald’s days). I would peruse the toy area, mentally making my Christmas or birthday wish list, or I would plop myself down next to the magazine rack and check out the pictures in the latest issues of Life, Look, Saturday Evening Post, or Seventeen.
My younger brother and I played a lot of Hide and Go Seek – many nooks and crannies in which to hide. My brother was a very good “hider” and a very good “seeker” so it was challenging for me to play for very long – I usually lost. During one of those play times, I got bored – I had tried and tried and couldn’t find him. So, in the middle of the game, I just gave up and found something else with which to entertain myself, ending up outside in our backyard.
Sometime later, Mother came out back where I was playing and asked where Jeff was. “I don’t know.” Still later, she, along with the clerk this time, questioned me again – in a more serious tone – where is your brother?!?
[Now, let it be known that, even at two years of age, my brother was a mischievous, fearless child who had to be watched closely! (and things haven’t changed much in 70 years!) He was known to sit on the curb on the main thoroughfare (U.S. 41) outside our store and shout out at the vehicles passing by, having been caught in the act by the R.C. Cola driver!]
At this point, it was apparent, even to this young girl of four, that this was a worrisome turn of events. “What exactly were you playing? Where were you playing? Where did you look for him?” And so, after having looked everywhere, including the out-house, the garden, the garage, along the railroad tracks behind our store, the barber shop next door, someone had the idea to look in one of the storage areas underneath the glass display cases. And, there he was! He had pushed aside the backup storage of candy and gum and had had to curl up to squeeze inside and close the sliding door. Quite an ingenious hiding place. But, it was too good of a hiding place for, he, too, had gotten bored, waiting for his big sister to find him, and had fallen asleep! When awakened, he had no clue as to the manhunt that had been taking place.
With a sigh of relief, hugs all around, some chuckles as reality set in, I was encouraged to not forget about my brother when playing Hide and Go Seek. I was encouraged to tell someone when I could not find him. And, of course, he was the center of attention for days on end as the story got relayed to delivery men, customers, friends at church, and at family gatherings. As I recall, we didn’t play much Hide and Go Seek after that – it was all anticlimactic – there were no better hiding places and I didn’t have the patience to find him anyway!
FYI. The setting for this story is my hometown of Terre Haute and it is the county seat of Vigo County, the Indiana county where Samuel Jackson farmed in his later years and where his daughter, Mary, became the progenitor of the maternal side of my family.
Submitted by Diana Pulver