Monday, July 19, 2004

 

CONNIE C

Connie C was my great grandfather.  I never met him; he died some time before I was born.  All I know of him comes from my mother.  Connie lived with her family when my she was a young girl.  What I do know is:
  
1. He was very strong. Once he lifted a car. And that was when cars were big heavy things, made of steel, not aluminum.
 
2. He started every morning with a half dozen eggs, a pound of bacon, and a big tumbler of whiskey.  One morning he came down for breakfast, went to get his bottle of whiskey and saw that it was empty.  He left the room, went to the bathroom, and came back with a big container of rubbing alcohol.  He poured himself a glassful.
 
The women of the house were shocked and dismayed.  My grandmother, Connie's daughter, asked him if were really going to drink it.  "That's poison," she said.
 
"Bah," said Connie.  "What's good for the outsides is good for the insides."  And he drained the glass. 
 
All heck broke loose. Everyone expected Connie to get sick and die.  One aunt was praying.  Another ran down the street to summon a doctor.  My mother was crying.    
 
But Connie was fine.  It turned out he was right about the insides and the outsides.
 
3.   He was never sick a day in his life.  In fact, he would probably still be alive today if he hadn't fallen and broken his hip, then taken a turn for the worse and died.  
 
4.  One time, all of the other adults were out of the house and Connie was charged with watching the grandchildren.  He taught them how to smoke a pipe and how to play pinochle.       
  
    






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