Page 64 - With Lexie O'Hare, Big Intervale (Part Two)

ISSUE : Issue 43

Published by Ronald Caplan on 1986/8/1

(You had no children.) I had a fallen womb. I went to a doctor and he put a brace on me. And he told me I'd have to have a slight operation before I could have chil? dren. This was after we were married, I didn't want to have children first--we had no money, Frank, from the war, broke, and he signed his money over to his mother. I never wanted it, I didn't care, I was able to work. It was his parents. (And you didn't want to have children?) I wasn't in a hurry. See, I had Raymond. I wasn't in a rush at all. And time went on and on and on and on--and I never had the operation. (As a young girl, how did you learn about sex?) I never heard the word until--I nev? er heard the word sex in the States. We were very very very modest. I wouldn't un? dress in front of my sister. We had to blow the lamp out. I was a tease, I was devilish, you know. And my brother'd be fishing--Willie--and he'd get soaking wet. 'Cause they used to wade the pools, you know. (He'd be fishing for salmon?) Oh, (and) trout--you could fish all you wanted to, you know--and even the brooks were full of trout. I used to go along with him when he fished the brook, to carry the trout. (There was that much of it?) That much of it--two gads--we used alder gads. It's a bush with two branches on it. You cut it down and trim it, and you slip the head of the trout on that. I'm so short that the trout would be dragging on the rocks. We'd only have to go about a mile to get those. The river was so full of sal? mon, in my mother's day, the horses used to slip on them and fall down. They'd cross the river on horseback--there was no bridge. And she'd--you know the bread pan-- you know, they made bread every day--she'd take that when they wanted a trout or a salmon, and go down to the river, scoop one up. An3Aft7here, anytime. The river was teeming with trout and salmon. And they lived right near the river. The brook here, and the house here, and the river there. And then they had a great big freshet sep? arated the bam from the house; then they had to build another bam. That's where the river is today. (You were telling me how modest you were.. ..) I was a tease. My brother would come home soaking wet and he'd go upstairs to his room. And he'd holler down, "Throw up my dry pants." And I'd go to the foot of the stairs, pretending I was climbing. He said (shouting), "I thought I told you throv? them up! Throw them up!" I said, "They won't go over the bannister--I'11 walk with them." (Lexie making a thumping up stairs.) "I'll throw "if you ever sound like going up "Ee~ ;ays, you out the window, come up here!" (No one ever told you about sex?) Nobody ever ever ever did. (When you were going a- way to the States, didn't your mother take you aside?) No. She went out the night be? fore and she wanted to cry. I looked out and I saw her way down in the field and I ran and I caught up with her. You know, she had an apron on, she wiped the tears-- she didn't want anyone to see her cry. I asked her what the trouble was. Mother. "Nothing, just I'm going to miss you so much. I m not going to worry about you, Lexie, because you were always a good girl"--and that was all she ever said to me. (How long were you actually married?) Elev? en years. We went together 10 years. And we never had a quarrel. (Aw, that's not true.) That's the truth to God. We never SAVE YOUR WINDSHIELD! STONE DAMAGED WINDSHIELDS RESTORED FOR FREE! Your Insurance Company Pays All DAY 564-4527 NIGHT f' Now full auto .glass service, if your windshield is beyond surgery MAIN CLINIC: 6 LIBERTY ST., SYDNEY (Free House Calls) The Windshield Surgeon - FOR A REAL CAPE BRETON WELCOME TO CAPE BRETON - %l4Kf.* OLD SYDNEY PUB vT' Finest Food and Beverages * Nightly Dancing * Fresh Lobster Suppers * Everything We Serve Is Homemade * * A Comfortable Atmosphere for a Meal and a Good Time * Phone 539-3003 581 Grand Lake Road, Sydney '' 'hTrh''' ' < J"s* O*' Highway 125)

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