Grandpas Rubbers !!!

When we moved to town we lived right next door to my grandmother and step-grandpa. Grandpa was deaf as a door nail and he read lips to understand what you were saying when you talked to him. He was a little guy about 5 foot 6 inches tall and didn't weigh very much. I think he had to hold on to a tree or something if he got caught out in a strong wind to keep from blowing away. He was a pretty cool ole guy and I always liked being around him. He chewed tobacco and smoked a pipe which my grandma didn't like. He always had tobacco juice stains on his shirt.

When we got our TV he would come over a lot and watch. He loved to watch 'rasslin and would get all worked up watching the matches. He swore that the matches were real. His favorite 'rasslers included Gorgeous George and Wahoo McDaniels.

Years ago people wore goulashes (rubber foot wear) when it was wet and rainy outside to keep the mud and water off your shoes. Some were real fancy and just slipped over your shoes and some went clear to your knees with fancy buckles or zippers to close them up on your pant legs.

One time when grandpa came over to watch 'rasslin it began raining and then it started storming. The weather turned really nasty and our drive way was real muddy. Grandma called my mom on the telephone to see if we were okay during the storm. While she was talking to grandma, grandpa got mom's attention and asked her to ask grandma to bring over his rubbers. Well, when I heard that, I freaked out. I was about 10 or 11 at the time and was just beginning to learn about the birds and the bees and learning what all the graffiti on the bathroom walls meant. I was learning all the "dirty" stuff and had just learned what prophylactics were and that the common name for them was "rubbers."

A few minutes later grandma showed up carrying grandpa's goulashes (rubber foot wear) which he called his rubbers. You can imagine how shocked I was to learn that rubber foot wear were also called rubbers.

I was shocked and thoroughly disappointed to learn that grandpa didn't want his rubbers for what I thought he wanted them for.