THE OIL CLOTH

This is a True short Story from my Past. 

My continued stories will resume soon.

 

What a Difference a bit of Color Makes !

 

The kitchen was always dim for there was only a small window in the room.

Near the window sat a square table about five foot square.  On it was the water bucket which held a little less than three gallons and alongside the bucket was the wash pan.

The oft used towel hung on a nail driven into the wall for drying purposes. There were other items on the table also such as soap, another smaller water bucket, and a tin cup for drinking.

In the middle of the room near the cook stove was another table a bit larger than the service table on which was put the vittles at meal time.  A bed was in the corner where two or more slept (sometimes a half dozen kids) and was available for sitting when the table was filled with people.

The tables were rough and worn from long use. They were most unattractive to look at.

The time came when we could afford to go to the general store down the road from us and buy some oil cloths for these tables. We would spend a lot of time making up our minds as to what pattern we would buy.

We usually settled the same pattern for each and once placed on the ugly tables they became beautiful. They now were smooth, water proof and pleasing to look at.

For the next year we were going to be proud of our new cloths till they began to show wear and tear from heavy use.

Sadly the time came when we had to give up that which had given us so much pleasure. They were the only thing that added color to our lives.

As they gave up the ghost they were given a last goodbye being burned in the fire place.

I would hope it wouldn’t be too long before we could afford new oil cloths and brighten our world once more.

This post is shared at “Tell Me a True Story.”