"John Kuthe" > wrote in message
...
> On Fri, 13 Feb 2015 21:11:50 -0700, Janet B >
> wrote:
>
>>
>>The subject line says it all. Do you make a sandwich? Use crackers?
>>What kind do you prefer -- tomato sauce, mustard, olive oil?
>>Enquiring minds want to know.
>>Janet US
>
> On crackers, generally.
>
> I used to take them for lunch in elementart school sometimes, and I
> loved grossing out the other kids by holding each one up by it's
> little fishy tail and lowering it into my waiting mouth!! Nom Nom
> Nom!! :-)

I liked the story of Frances. I think she was a badger. Actually there
were several books about her. In one story she would only eat bread and
jam. But then the day came when she decided to bring a hard boiled egg to
school for lunch and she tucked a cloth napkin and a salt shaker into her
lunch box. I could not wait for the day when my mom would let me bring my
lunch. And that wasn't often.

I couldn't manage the cloth napkin although I did try. I think we only had
the one set. Only used for holiday meals. So packed the next best thing
which was a decorative handkerchief given to me by my grandma. I whipped
that out, spread it out on my desk, then the egg still in its shell and the
salt shaker. Heh. That did attract attention!

But the most attention ever came from some kids who lived two blocks over.
The boy my age was named Kelly. He had a brother who was my brother's age
named Perry. And there was a sister whose age was in between the two. One
day they all had a Hostess chocolate pie in their lunch. I had never even
seen one before! My dad did sometimes bring home Hostess products because
there was a Hostess outlet on his way home from work but we only ever go the
fruit pies.

I can't remember now what all else was in the lunch. I know there were a
few smaller things, all of them sweets. Like maybe a cookie and a small
piece of candy. But nothing of substance.

We began whispering behind Kelly's back. We all assumed that he must have
packed his own lunch. But no! He told us that his mom made it!

Word spread to the playground and soon we confirmed that the brother and
sister had the same exact lunch! It never occurred to me until much later
that they may not have had any other food in the house to send in the
lunches. I guess I'll never know for sure.

My brother was friends with the brother for a time. I remember him getting
in trouble for giving his watch to the boy. Why? Because the boy didn't
have one. I used to do the same sort of thing. I guess we figured if we
had two of something, we might as well give one to someone else who didn't
have one. Anyway... He spent the night over there once and came home to
excitedly report how they ate popcorn. The mom had popped some in a pan
then passed out bowls of it. Also also sticks of butter which were likely
really margarine. Each person had their own stick on a plate and they took
the popcorn, kernel by kernel, passing it over the stick before putting it
in their mouth. Blech!

I find it interesting to see how some people eat. I once spent the night at
the neighbor's next door and they were an interesting bunch to say the
least. The mom said she could talk to spirits (last I read she was a
minister at some odd church on one of the islands here) and that their
oldest child who died with a purple heart would come in the night to flush
their toilet. I was told that the dad had a steel plate in his head. To
me, a plate was a dinner plate so I always pictured him like that.

Wasn't until fairly recently that we learned that all of the many kids they
had were really foster kids. I always wondered because many of them had odd
names. So odd that I won't even mention them here lest they read this post!
And they bore no resemblance to each other. The one who was a year younger
than me told me that their dad would get a job at some factory just long
enough to steal stuff then he'd quit. She said he had done it with Fritos
and some kind of toothpaste.

In the kitchen, they had a metal garbage can (the outdoor lidded kind) full
of potatoes. They also had flour, Karo syrup and a case of Baby Ruth bars.
We ate Baby Ruths for dinner. As many as we wanted. For breakfast, my
friend attempted to make flour and water pancakes. I protested and said I
would go home for some eggs and real syrup but when my mom got wind of that
she had me stay home.

They were also constantly "borrowing" things from us and the other
neighbors. Once, one of the kids came asking for soap. When my mom asked
what kind, she said "any kind". So my mom gave her a bar of bath soap.
They used it for everything. Dishes, laundry, bathing... It got to where
everyone else in the neighborhood bought specific, cheap things to keep just
for them when they went "borrowing" because they didn't want the kids to
suffer.

They moved away one night with no warning. Tons of damage had been done to
that house. And we were all pretty glad they were gone!