Magpie
I have no idea where the idea for this came from. I remember sitting down and out it poured one day. Damn I miss days like that.
Light and fluffy, but not too sweet. Enjoy.
Aunty Magpie
I suppose at some point she expected me to stop my ‘unholy’ obsession. Now, before you get the wrong idea, the ‘she’ is my mom and my *gasp* “unholy Obsession” was comic books. Now, this was comic books of days gone by, where Superman was SUPERMAN and we all adored Captain Marvel. I’ve picked up a few now a days, and I’m glad to see the girls can do everything the boys can, even if they do wear the more ridiculous of the outfits.
Mamma always wanted me to grow up to be a lady, with all the charms and cooking abilities. I never was one for all them social graces and I burned just about everything I tried to cook. Mamma kept at it, though.
Thank the lord above for the Louis Lane and for nutty aunties name Magpie.
My mama’s sister moved north sometime after her weddin’. Married some man she swept off his feet and then he raced her to the courthouse. She let him win, on the account of his brother having to drag her out of a tree and drag her down the Main Street to the courthouse. All mamma’s friends were aghast. Someone finally wanted to marry Ms. Magpie, and she had to be drug kickin’ and screamin’ to the courthouse.
Now, it was also a bit of a scandal. Magpie, my mama’s name for her sister on the account of her spindly legs, getting married in a courthouse instead of doin’ it proper in church. It didn’t bother Magpie one bit though. Once the brother dropped her off in front of the judge, she reckoned that she ought to just marry the man and get on with life.
He was a right bit strange, accordin’ to the God’s Honest Truth Gossip Brigade. A northerner, and a writer. A romantic, too, but in a practical way. And, according to the Gossip Brigade, he would say the he fell in love with her by the way she shelved the books at the library, all while keeping her nose in one.
Damn strange what makes the hearts of some men beat, innit?
Now, Magpie was all happy as happy could be when my mama settled down and get married. Rumor has it that Magpie drove all the way from some town in the north cause she got a feelin’ that somewhat was goin’ on, and just an hour or two after Magpie flew into town, I was born. Some say it was a stroke o’ luck, how Magpie’s arrival coincided with mine, but luck is a funny creature. She makes things look all innocent when she’s set up a situation that will affect two lives forever.
Now, Magpie had done a lot more book learnin’ when she went north. Her husband allowed her to go to school, and she learnin’ to be a nurse. When she got to her childhood home and found Mama all huffin’ and puffin’ and takin’ the Lord’s name in vain (Magpie still likes to tease Mama about the mouth she’s got on her), she knew the doctor wouldn’t make it ‘fore I popped out.
Auntie Magpie ain’t got much in the looks department, or so people tell me, but she’s gotta lot of brains. She opened a window and hollarin’ about how my daddy better not show his face around this here house again or else -
And just before the Miss Marple’s head burst from the juicy gossip, Magpie hollered out for Miss Marple to stop listenin’ in on other people’s conversation, and could Miss Marple please tell her who the doctor is with tonight, as my mama was given birth?
Well, that sort of news ain’t gossip - it’s better. Miss Marple started ringing up everyone she knew trying to find the doctor, and passing along the news that MaryLouise was in labor! And ain’t it a shame that only poor ol’ Magpie was there to help out?
Within a few minutes, women were crawlin’ outta the woodwork to help poor ol’ Magpie, who had a chore for every set of hands that came through the door. Even if it was to go out to the shed in the middle of the night and get a crib to put me in. My poor mama hadn’t been expecting me for another few weeks and hadn’t even pulled out any cribs or nothin’.
Before too long, my cries had all the women in tears, or so they like to tell me. Nothin’ like a baby to bring the women folk together, they like to say to this day. Magpie, being the shrewd one she is, had made old enemies work together. Everyone was so excited by the time I came, that they didn’t care who they were huggin’. The doctor never did make it in time.
My birth may have been a big joyous event, but my life didn’t live up to those expectations, unless Magpie was in town. Or she’s come and get me for the summers.
Visits with Magpie made life bearable, and special, if only for a short while.
Well, that and she let me read comic books. Not just read them, she would even buy them for me. After all, she had a dime to spare to let me buy a comic book every week. If her husband had just sold something, she’d even let me buy two.
Now, for a girl my age to love comic books was an oddity back then. I’m happy to say that it is becoming less an oddity now a days. But back then, well, she was supposed to learn how to be a good wife from her mother and in school.
Aunty Magpie was different, though. She knew that girls didn’t always need to be saved, but she enjoyed reading the stories as much as I did. Then again, she also knew that being different was good, but it wasn’t always fun.
None of the boys wanted to date me in high school. Not that surprisin’ when I was smarter than most of them, and I knew more about comics than they did. That, and none of them were up to my standards of how a man should act. It’s hard to fill the shoes of Superman and Captain Marvel!
Being that smart and with no prospects of marriage knockin’ on my door, mama let me go north to go to college. I ended up going where my Aunty Magpie had gone, much to my delight. I think I broke my mama’s heart that day by being all excited about leaving. She had been born in that little town, just like her mama and her grandma. She expected me to stay, get married, and have babies who would have babies in this little hick of a town.
She never wrote me after I graduated. Still didn’t snare a man, seem to echo up all the way from the south.
It wasn’t until a few years later that I caught a man’s fancy. Wasn’t that hard, I grabbed the last copy of Superman from the newsstand. Really was his own fault, though. He said ‘Ladies first’. Didn’t know I ain’t no lady. Didn’t know I read the funny books.
Then again, I didn’t know I’d marry him at a courthouse three days later, with a Superman comic in my purse as readin’ for the way over.
Been married to him for over 50 years now. Enough to see the different changes goin’ on in the comic books. Enough to know that I wouldn’t have survived livin’ with anyone else.
-30-
Light and fluffy, but not too sweet. Enjoy.
Aunty Magpie
I suppose at some point she expected me to stop my ‘unholy’ obsession. Now, before you get the wrong idea, the ‘she’ is my mom and my *gasp* “unholy Obsession” was comic books. Now, this was comic books of days gone by, where Superman was SUPERMAN and we all adored Captain Marvel. I’ve picked up a few now a days, and I’m glad to see the girls can do everything the boys can, even if they do wear the more ridiculous of the outfits.
Mamma always wanted me to grow up to be a lady, with all the charms and cooking abilities. I never was one for all them social graces and I burned just about everything I tried to cook. Mamma kept at it, though.
Thank the lord above for the Louis Lane and for nutty aunties name Magpie.
My mama’s sister moved north sometime after her weddin’. Married some man she swept off his feet and then he raced her to the courthouse. She let him win, on the account of his brother having to drag her out of a tree and drag her down the Main Street to the courthouse. All mamma’s friends were aghast. Someone finally wanted to marry Ms. Magpie, and she had to be drug kickin’ and screamin’ to the courthouse.
Now, it was also a bit of a scandal. Magpie, my mama’s name for her sister on the account of her spindly legs, getting married in a courthouse instead of doin’ it proper in church. It didn’t bother Magpie one bit though. Once the brother dropped her off in front of the judge, she reckoned that she ought to just marry the man and get on with life.
He was a right bit strange, accordin’ to the God’s Honest Truth Gossip Brigade. A northerner, and a writer. A romantic, too, but in a practical way. And, according to the Gossip Brigade, he would say the he fell in love with her by the way she shelved the books at the library, all while keeping her nose in one.
Damn strange what makes the hearts of some men beat, innit?
Now, Magpie was all happy as happy could be when my mama settled down and get married. Rumor has it that Magpie drove all the way from some town in the north cause she got a feelin’ that somewhat was goin’ on, and just an hour or two after Magpie flew into town, I was born. Some say it was a stroke o’ luck, how Magpie’s arrival coincided with mine, but luck is a funny creature. She makes things look all innocent when she’s set up a situation that will affect two lives forever.
Now, Magpie had done a lot more book learnin’ when she went north. Her husband allowed her to go to school, and she learnin’ to be a nurse. When she got to her childhood home and found Mama all huffin’ and puffin’ and takin’ the Lord’s name in vain (Magpie still likes to tease Mama about the mouth she’s got on her), she knew the doctor wouldn’t make it ‘fore I popped out.
Auntie Magpie ain’t got much in the looks department, or so people tell me, but she’s gotta lot of brains. She opened a window and hollarin’ about how my daddy better not show his face around this here house again or else -
And just before the Miss Marple’s head burst from the juicy gossip, Magpie hollered out for Miss Marple to stop listenin’ in on other people’s conversation, and could Miss Marple please tell her who the doctor is with tonight, as my mama was given birth?
Well, that sort of news ain’t gossip - it’s better. Miss Marple started ringing up everyone she knew trying to find the doctor, and passing along the news that MaryLouise was in labor! And ain’t it a shame that only poor ol’ Magpie was there to help out?
Within a few minutes, women were crawlin’ outta the woodwork to help poor ol’ Magpie, who had a chore for every set of hands that came through the door. Even if it was to go out to the shed in the middle of the night and get a crib to put me in. My poor mama hadn’t been expecting me for another few weeks and hadn’t even pulled out any cribs or nothin’.
Before too long, my cries had all the women in tears, or so they like to tell me. Nothin’ like a baby to bring the women folk together, they like to say to this day. Magpie, being the shrewd one she is, had made old enemies work together. Everyone was so excited by the time I came, that they didn’t care who they were huggin’. The doctor never did make it in time.
My birth may have been a big joyous event, but my life didn’t live up to those expectations, unless Magpie was in town. Or she’s come and get me for the summers.
Visits with Magpie made life bearable, and special, if only for a short while.
Well, that and she let me read comic books. Not just read them, she would even buy them for me. After all, she had a dime to spare to let me buy a comic book every week. If her husband had just sold something, she’d even let me buy two.
Now, for a girl my age to love comic books was an oddity back then. I’m happy to say that it is becoming less an oddity now a days. But back then, well, she was supposed to learn how to be a good wife from her mother and in school.
Aunty Magpie was different, though. She knew that girls didn’t always need to be saved, but she enjoyed reading the stories as much as I did. Then again, she also knew that being different was good, but it wasn’t always fun.
None of the boys wanted to date me in high school. Not that surprisin’ when I was smarter than most of them, and I knew more about comics than they did. That, and none of them were up to my standards of how a man should act. It’s hard to fill the shoes of Superman and Captain Marvel!
Being that smart and with no prospects of marriage knockin’ on my door, mama let me go north to go to college. I ended up going where my Aunty Magpie had gone, much to my delight. I think I broke my mama’s heart that day by being all excited about leaving. She had been born in that little town, just like her mama and her grandma. She expected me to stay, get married, and have babies who would have babies in this little hick of a town.
She never wrote me after I graduated. Still didn’t snare a man, seem to echo up all the way from the south.
It wasn’t until a few years later that I caught a man’s fancy. Wasn’t that hard, I grabbed the last copy of Superman from the newsstand. Really was his own fault, though. He said ‘Ladies first’. Didn’t know I ain’t no lady. Didn’t know I read the funny books.
Then again, I didn’t know I’d marry him at a courthouse three days later, with a Superman comic in my purse as readin’ for the way over.
Been married to him for over 50 years now. Enough to see the different changes goin’ on in the comic books. Enough to know that I wouldn’t have survived livin’ with anyone else.
-30-