My sister and I were talking about the recent death of a distant relative. That conversation got me thinking about Mrs. Gee who lived in my hometown when I was growing up.
Mrs. Gee went to everyone's funeral and she always needed a ride. Attending the funerals might have been admirable, except she didn't know most of the people. She would attend funerals miles away if someone was going. She would often walk to funerals in town, and she got upset if she missed one. Ricky Smiley's prank calls character, Sister Bernice Jenkins, has many similarities to Mrs. Gee.
Mrs. Gee was short, less than five feet tall, with one leg shorter than the other and something was wrong with one of her eyes. She ran a neighborhood store and it was always so dark in there. The building was a two-story cinder block with one window in the front center of each floor. She and her family lived on the top floor. If she wasn't in the store or at a funeral, she could usually be found in the upstairs window. She knew everything that went on in the neighborhood.
Mrs. Gee had no help running the store. Her husband sat in a chair out front all day. I think there was something not quite right with him. She had a son who was a wild child and she was always yelling at him from the upstairs window.
I always wondered what Mrs. Gee found so fascinating about funerals. Maybe it was simply a way to escape her mundane life.
What memories do you have of strange or different people from your childhood?
Peace
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