A Childhood Buddy's Memory

Don was so excited when one of his boyhood chums called Tuesday night and told us that he and his wife were in the area and wanted to stop by. Every time I see this man, I remember the story that Don told me (and now shares with his children) about Wally's trip to Don's house with summer morning. It seems that Wally's mom was washing clothes one Monday morning using an antique-type washing machine; you know, the type that had the rollers that you pushed the clothes through to squeeze out the extra water. This particular morning, Mrs. G accidentally rolled her hand right into the rollers, on up to her arm! (OUCH!) She yelled for Wally to run over to Don's house and get his mom to come over and get her arm out of the monster machine. So, off Wally goes fast as his long legs would carry him, to Don's house. When he saw Don playing outside, Wally decides to stop and get involved with the fun activities, so they played and they played and they played some more. About a half-hour or more later, Don's mom stepped outside and saw that Wally was there playing with Don. She spoke to him, saying, "Hey Wally. How's your mom doing these days?" Wally looked at her with big, round eyes, and said, "Oh, yeah. Mama said for you to come over to the house and help her get her arm out of the washing machine!!" I doubt his mom would think that story funny, even after 60 years!! Don's mom had to laugh afterwards when everything turned out all right for his mom. This goes to show that you don't have to be very old to have a lapse in memory. Sometimes, though, our memory goes along with what is important to us at the time; and, that was playing for Wally. Often, I don't even know the reason I have memory lapses!