Lloyd’s Sled
I
was the child who discovered the sled. In the wintertime, November or December
of probably 1935, when it was too cold to play outside for very long, my sister
and I liked to roller skate in the basement of our two bedroom bungalow home
(1621-41st St., Des Moines, IA., phone number 5-4852.)
We
had no idea how lucky we were to have a basement with a concrete floor. In the
basement was also an area where Aunt Florence and Uncle Roy stored some of their
family’s things when they moved to Alabama. Their family consisted of cousins
Lloyd and Corrine. The stored things were behind the big dining room table,
legs removed and standing on end to hide the rest.
As
we were skating I bumped into the wall next to the stored things and saw a sled
behind the table. “Oh wow! A sled,” I thought. "I’ve been wanting a sled
forever. It probably belongs to Lloyd. Maybe Aunt Florence would let us use it." Off with the skates! I went running up the stairs to ask mother, “Do you think
we could write to Aunt Florence and ask her if we could use Lloyd’s sled?” (Write to Aunt Florence because
long-distance phone calls were only for emergencies and there definitely was no
email or other ways of communicating.) Mother said, “Well, yes I could do that. I will do that.”
Not
too long after that there were Christmas preparations, putting up the tree, and
other decorations. And then it was Christmas morning and there by the tree were
two identical sleds, and also I noticed they were exactly like Lloyd’s sled. Oh I get it! Mom and Dad were hiding their purchases of sled Christmas gifts in
Aunt Florence’s things, and my sister and I didn’t catch on. It was still a
surprise for Christmas morning. A wonderful surprise.
And
the weather cooperated with new snow, so the whole family went sledding that
afternoon on the hill behind Perkins Elementary School.
