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Mom got an old green Plymouth soon after we moved to Cape Girardeau. We called it “The old Fliver” or sometimes “Nellie”. When it wouldn’t start Mom would say “Come on Nellie!” It was old but at least it would run (usually). Here is a picture of Grandma standing beside “the old fliver”:

I will never forget the day the brakes went out on “Old Nellie”. Mark and I were in the car with Mom. We were just coming into the driveway at the house/garage when the brakes went out. The driveway sloped slightly downward toward the house/garage. You get the picture….we were headed straight for the front door with Mom pumping the brakes like mad trying to avoid crashing into the house/garage while Grandma stood in the doorway yelling “Don’t hit my rose trellis!”

Mom swerved quickly to the right and barely missed the corner of the house/garage. We continued on through the neighbor’s yard going downhill all the way….Mark and I were cheering in the back seat. We were bumping up and down with each hole the car hit. Wow we thought that was such fun. When the car finally came to a stop at the bottom of the incline Mark and I both begged Mom to “do it again, do it again!!” Needless to say, Mom hadn’t enjoyed it as much as we had. And Grandma was rather put out that we had hit part of her rose trellis.

It is a fond memory now. Amazing how kids see things so differently than adults.