Etiquette Class; The Flood

1/2/09

My mother was telling stories about when I was younger and I was both listening to her tell them and in little vignettes of the stories. In one of them, I was five years old and sent to see my mother's best friend. In another, I was in an etiquette class, wearing a skirt suit and cotton gloves. I sat in a row with other women. The instructor told us how to sit with our legs crossed all at the same angle, and hold our arms in front of us so we could sit closer. I kept getting wedged out of place by the other women.

My family got ready for a flood. I pulled my car up to the top of a hill. My mother didn't want me going out alone but when the flood hit I went around the neighborhoods. I saved a tiny girl--she was really tiny, the size of a doll. I wrapped her up in my sock and fixed the tiny toy boat she was floating in. She told me how to find her family, who were grateful.