Alvin Follow einer Story

I stared out of a foggy window of our camper parked in the driveway at a dim light. I quickly jumped up and put my slippers on . The ground was wet. Everyone was still asleep. I grabbed my doll and ran to the backdoor where my grandmother was clanging dishes in the kitchen. She was setting a plate in front of where my grandfather sat. It was drizzling outside. I glanced at a man walking across the yard. My grandmother said " Alvin, looks like Bill is going to the shop to light the furnace, " He grumbled and finished eating. He went and got dressed. I ran to get dressed too. He then waved his hand toward me as he walked out the door. My grandmother gave a puckered look "be careful out there". I will" I replied". He walked me to the shop. On the wall was a group of glass click clacks hanging from nails. A row of baby food jars were sitting on the shelf with glass beads in them, other jars held different colored powder in them. He pointed up to the wall and said," well which one do you want"? I picked the red click clacks. I waundered over towards the loud noise coming from the back of the shop. There were some workers who were just showing up with sheets of glass and beer bottles. They just shattered the window glass inside of barrels. They were crushing the bottles inside a smaller pan. They organized the pieces of broken glass by color placing it in some of the old cans lined up in rows on a rack. My cousin Ralph Smith Jr. showed up with his father my Uncle Ralph Smith Sr. I remembered my grandfather also allowed each of us children to blow our own vases. I remembered my grandfather would work with sweat dripping down his face rolling a tube in a small flattened bowl made from cement that sat next to the red firey furnace. It was frit or culit which was broken glass to put the swirls of color into glass pieces like we see today. Ralph and I went outside and played click clacks. We than walked around the neighborhood knocking on the doors asking for broken glass picking up the glass others left on the lawns bringing it all back to my grandfathers shop. There were a few more men there. They kicked a blob of glass around while sitting on the bench which sat right on the outside of the shop. They were laughing and telling stories. I remember them saying it was one of the men that messed up while trying to blow a vase. Later in the evening we all went inside while some of the men stayed in the shop working. We ate a roast dinner and sat around the Christmas tree in the living room. I was sitting on my grandfathers lap after I brought him his spitoon. It was a nice visit.

written by : Leona Beaumonte 2023