a library where the librarians recognized us because we went there so
much. They helped us find books they thought we'd like, and we filled up
the wire baskets on our bicycles and pedaled home right down the
middle of the sidewalks, as if we owned the place. Since Mom and Dad
had all this money, we got our own telephone. We had never owned a
telephone before, and whenever it rang, we kids all scrambled for it.
Whoever got there first summoned up a super-snooty English accent:
"Walls residence, the butler speaking, may I help you?" while the rest of
us cracked up.
We also had a big record player in a wooden cabinet that had been
Grandma's. You could put a stack of records on it, and when one was
finished playing, the needle arm automatically swung out and the next
record dropped down with a happy slap. Mom and Dad loved music,
especially rousing stuff that made you want to get up and dance, or at
least sway your head or tap your foot. Mom was always going to thrift
stores and coming back with old albums of polka music, Negro
spirituals, German marching bands, Italian operas, and cattle roundup
songs. She also bought boxes of used high heels that she called her
dancing shoes. She'd slip on a pair of dancing shoes, put a stack of
records on the phonograph, and crank the volume way up. Dad danced
with her if he was there; otherwise she'd dance alone, waltzing or
jitterbugging or doing the Texas two-step from room to room, the house
filled with the sounds of Mario Lanza, or oompahing tubas, or some
mournful cowboy singing. "The Streets of Laredo."
Mom and Dad also bought an electric washing machine that we kept out
on the patio. It was a white enamel tub up on legs, and we filled it with
water from the garden hose. A big agitator twisted back and forth,
making the entire machine dance around on the cement patio. It had no
cycles, so you waited until the water got dirty, then put the clothes
through the wringer—two rubber rolling pins rigged above the tub that
were turned by a motor. To rinse the clothes, you'd repeat the process
without soap, then let the water drain into the yard to help the grass