Show elL r I- I i N 1 f r I 1 j r ft r I J I P j WiE EP I NG N G 5 By IRIS S 'S I IBy Shortly after we were married my husband hus hus- husband band and I move moved into a government housing development We learned to cope with coal stoves that were too hot concrete floors that were too cold and that worked when it felt fell like it but we never did learn to believe that some of the people who lived near us liS were real THERE WAS VAS THE girl next door whose two sisters came to spend the winter The three females shared the only bed so the husband spent his nights on the cold floor He had a cough all winter but he said he didn't mind that so much What he minded was having the youngest sister get pushed off the to edge of the bed to land on top lop of him from time to time Since that sister weighed about ten pounds less than a dump truck I could see his point There was the Sargeant across the court who insisted his wife was trying to poison him for his insurance Husbands get that feeling feeling feel feel- ing sometimes when their brides are learning to cook but this poor soul really thought his wire wile was bent on doing him in I knew from Crom talking to the wife that she thought good cooks used lots lots' lotsof of spices so I tried to tell the worried husband that maybe three te teaspoons spoons of oregano in m mashed potatoes would explain that remarkable taste He wasn't convinced He said nothing with a smell that would melt i ice e cream at ten paces could be anything but lethal OUR PRIZE though th ugh was the neighbor 1 we called Big Red She was about a n q ar- ar j w. w J. J t ter acre across the southern section her eyes ayes didn't q quite ite track and she was nearly deaf so that when she talked to anyone she put her face close to the helpless listener and shouted One of this charmers charmer's little habits kept the whole whale development in a state of perpetual uneasiness because she got her exercise b by y wand wandering ring around after dark peering into windows It was startling to look u up suddenly and see that face pressed against a pane A flattened nose didn't her help appearance any I I 1 FIRST KNEW she wasn't really one o of f us the day I came home from work earl early y to find her talking a shower in my apartment Is Is your shower broken I called wondering wonder- wonder lS ing ng h how shed she'd gotten en in No she yelled back My cat just lust had kittens in iii mine and I don dont don't t want to disturb the dears Until those kittens were grown she took her showers in m any apartment she found vacant How she got through locked doors no no one ever found Cound out One day I was hanging clothes when she waddled shouted up I stuck her face against mi mine e and d just found a mouse in m my y place Dont Don't t you think Id I'd better write wite to President dent Truman Whatever for I shouted bac back Because she yelled its Government property property prop prop- erty and if President Truman Truman's s 's got of mice he ought to know I ALMOST SWALLOWED a clothes Pine but after a minute I 1 nodded and told her to g go gosh o ahe ahead sh she If d and 5 write the letter deciding maybe Wasn't as nutty aS Id I'd thought she was After all a if Truman had had- mice ce he SHOULD know abo about it ft I know i lId v I Id I'd d want ont to to I |