Darlajune.com

Mom, Mark and I went to live with Grandma Johnson on Cedar Lane in Cape Girardeau Missouri in 1955. Cedar Lane was a 1-block long dead end. There were 3 houses and one garage on Cedar Lane. The Haas family lived in the first house on the left. The second house on the left belonged to the Norman family. Directly across trom the Norman house was the Sander’s home. Grandma lived next door to the Sanders. Grandma’s house was actually not a house originally. It was a garage. That’s where we lived. It was a nice garage. But there was no indoor bathroom. We had an outhouse. That outhouse scared the daylights out of me. The hole was SO BIG and my butt was so small (I was just 5 yrs old). I was afraid of 4 things when I had to go into that outhouse:

1) I was afraid of falling in. I had to balance myself just right and hang on to the wooden ledge for dear life.

2) My second-most fear was snakes. Snakes sometimes hide out in outhouses in the heat of summer in order to find shade. I always thought that maybe a snake might be down in that hole and that when I sat down it was going to bite me in the butt. So I did a thorough check (while holding my nose – it smelled so bad in that hole) before sitting down.

3) Another fear I had was of spiders. I also thought that a spider might be down in that hole so while I was checking for snakes I also did a spider check.

4) Last, but not least, was a fear of wasps. They had made a nest in a corner of the ceiling. I kept a close eye on that nest while I was balancing my bottom over that dangerous hole. If a wasp came out of that nest I would go screaming out of there.

I don’t have to go to an outhouse now (thank God), at least not very often. If I’m in a park and must go the outdoor restroom, I still check for snakes and spiders; and I am on the lookout for wasps too. But I no longer have to worry about falling into the hole ’cause my butt is all grown up now.