by Mary Farley
April 20, 2020
We have been in Quarantine before. I was in the third or fourth grade. I came home a little sluggish from school and a couple of days later some of the siblings started having spots. A doctor came to our house in Fort Dodge and put a "Quarantine" sign on the front door. The Farleys had Scarlet Fever. I remember Kay being covered with little red spots. Dad was away from home when the doctor came to put up the sign, and he could not come home unless he was going to stay home for the duration, so mother was stuck at home with all the kids who were to stay in the house. Dad was a 'traveling salesman' then and probably stayed at the YMCA downtown.
I didn't get sick so I got roller skates and I could roller skate on our front sidewalk but I could not go off our property. There was a very nasty boy next door, Dicky Miller, who didn't like me because he wanted to play with the boys and 'no girls'. He stood on his side of the driveway that separated our property from theirs and shouted at me that "If you go over that line, I am going to tell my father." I never did get to be a good skater because the front walk was very short and I am not a natural athlete
I was outside one day when Dad came home and went up the front walk and stairs. He had a bag of groceries. He knocked on the door and mother opened it and handed him some ironed white shirts. He quickly kissed her and left. He told me not to come near him as I stood on the lawn and watched him leave again. I remember the day the man came and took the sign off the door.
No comments:
Post a Comment