Apparently all of my life I have been a talker. I remember once on a trip with The Fabulous Foursome (Uncle Bill, Sissie, Aunt Louise and Uncle Allen), when I was about six or seven. We were driving along and I stopped talking and was looking out the car window at something. The Fab Four all burst into laughter and Aunt Louise said “32 minutes!!!” I didn’t realize it, but they were timing me to see how long I would talk without anyone else saying a word…I talked 32 minutes. I must have had a lot on my mind. 😉
As a result of my talkative nature sometimes things come out of my mouth that are a surprise to even me. Because of the inability I had to keep my mouth shut, they never told me about surprises or secrets because I would always let it slip out somehow.
We were very poor growing up. My sister and I were always trying to earn money (she mowed lawns, I did babysitting, sold cards door to door, etc.) Daddy would always take most of what we earned away from us…said we owed him “rent”. It was so frustrating.
When I was living with Sissie and Uncle Bill, I worked at Mann Drug on Green Street in High Point. I mainly worked at the soda fountain and actually got to keep my money..it was awesome. I spent it mainly on teenage girl stuff….makeup, gifts for my little brother and sister, Beatles albums, etc. Most of all I loved having money to buy Christmas gifts.
I would get so excited to “surprise” my aunts and uncles with something I knew they would like but invariably I would let slip what I had bought and ruin the surprise. On the rare times when I didn’t let it slip, Uncle Allen ALWAYS guessed what his gift was. I started going to great lengths to try to hide the item somehow in the wrapping. Once I even wrapped a bottle of after shave in a huge long tube. It was so long that Uncle Bill had to hold one end of it while Uncle Allen unwrapped it. Even then he guessed what it was…I probably let it slip somehow.
As a result of of my constant slips of the tongue, as Christmas approached in my senior year, Sissie was so excited about the gift she had purchased for Uncle Bill. I begged her to let me in on the secret. Nope, she said I would tell him before Christmas. I pestered her enough that finally she relented and told me she had bought him a new suit. She was so excited about it and knew he would love it.
I was excited about his gift, but also that I was “grown up” enough to be trusted with the secret. As Christmas approached, one night after dinner Uncle Bill was teasing about Christmas gifts and said “I know what I’m getting for Christmas!” Sissie flipped around quickly and looked at me and yelled “ROSE MARY!!!” I immediately began to protest and told her that I hadn’t told him. She pressed me further saying “I know you let it slip!”
Uncle Bill was sitting there grinning ear to ear. He really had no idea what his gift was, but he was trying to get Sissie’s goat. Sissie continued to fuss at me until finally in a fit of trying to prove my innocence I blurted out, “I swear, Sissie! I didn’t tell him that you bought him a new suit.”
Uncle Bill nearly split his sides laughing. Sissie stayed furious with me for days and I’m pretty sure that was the last secret she ever told me.
Daddy always called me “motor mouth”. I guess he was right.
