The Color Red

  Isn't it strange how just a glimpse of something can bring back a flood of non-related memories?  Ms. Ez was being her usual doggy self and decided to get into something not so fragrant.  I do believe her play area of choice was a mound of oyster shells that were just getting "ripe".  Mark had opened several sacks of oysters last week and the shells have been sitting in a mound since then.  This probably would not have been so bad had the weather stayed cold but 80 degree temperatures have a way of promoting stench among the shells.  Ms. Ez could not resist so it was up to me to "un-funk" her.  A doggy bath was in order.  I bathe her on the front steps with the water hose.  While doing this, I noticed a bit of loveliness in the form of crape myrtle leaves.  These leaves were the brightest red and the setting sun caused them to almost glow!  Well, that made the chore a bit easier!

  Those red leaves left me feeling a bit nostalgic for some odd reason. Call me crazy but the leaves made me remember a coat that I had when I was just a tyke.  I had mostly hand-me-down clothes from cousins and this coat was most likely one of those donations.  I was always so happy to get these clothes because these cousins were just a bit older than me and I always thought they were the most beautiful girls on the face of the earth! Anyway, the coat was quite a lovely shade of pink when it was given to me but, lo and behold, a stain mystically appeared on one sleeve.  (Keep in mind that this stain had nothing whatsoever to do with me snitching a handful of blackberries Mom had gotten from the freezer! Nope...no way!)

   No matter what Mom did to the stain, it refused to budge.  Now she could not have me running about in a pink coat with a huge purple stain so she decided to dye the coat.  She asked me what color that I would like.  I chose purple!  Of course!  It needed to match the stain.  Since Pop was going to the store, she asked him to get some dye.  He bought red dye.  My pink...wishing to be purple coat soon became red.  Mom left it in the tub for a good long time so not to waste the store-bought dye.  (She also threw in anything else that might look good red!) Anyway, my nice wool coat came out to be a bit smaller, a lot thicker and red....dark red.  I loved it!  It mattered not that the coat was now matted, tight in some places, loose in others and not purple.  I wore that coat until I could not squeeze myself into it anymore.  The next fall when my sweet aunt called and said she had another box of clothes, Mom was so relieved to find that there was a coat for me.  I sure miss my red coat!