Dirty dishes & a dastardly deed - Mim memory

Our mother was not the sort of person to get upset at others, including her children.  But I remember one time she got truly angry at Mim.

It was a day that Mim & I were supposed to do the dishes.  We'd found a reason to not do them after breakfast, then were busy with friends - four or five tweens & teens - after lunch.  

Someone - Hannah? - suggested, "Let's go to the mall!" Malls were the hot new thing back in the mid-60s. 

Checked with Hannah yesterday & she recalled the one beckoning us that afternoon was the closest one to Bryn Athyn, the long-gone Bucks County Mall.

Mom was adamant - as she headed off to take her afternoon nap, she made it clear that we were not to step foot out of the house until we'd "taken care of the dishes."

And there was where Mom made her mistake.  She didn't say until we'd washed, dried & put them away. 

There was never any doubt that was what she meant, but it was most decidely NOT what she said.

So, Mim organized a strange sort of scouting party.  How many places could we find in the kitchen to tuck away the still-dirty dishes? 

We managed to get each & every one of them out of sight, got the sink nice & shiny - then headed out to the mall.

For a moment, imagine yourself Mom.  She gets up from her daily nap, hears utter quiet in the house, heads into the kitchen where she finds the sink neat & tidy, not a dish in sight.  And then she opens the oven door to take out a large pot.  And found the oven racks OUT, the entire space filled with dirty dishes.  Dirty dishes in the waste basket, dirty dishes under the sink, dirty dishes tucked away in places I can't recall.

When we came through the front door, laughing & extremely pleased with ourselves for such a brilliant stunt, we caught a tongue lashing I never imagined Mom was capable of leveling at us.  She was every shade of livid.  

Mim stood her ground, trying her best to excuse us, pointing out Mom had never actually said to wash them, just to "take care of the dishes," which some could say we had.

Mother was NOT amused.

 

We (Bob, were you there too?) were put to work, pulling out & washing, drying  & putting away every dirty dish, glass & piece of cutlery.  I would think she packed us off to our rooms for the rest of the night, but while she could have done that with 13 or 14 year old moi, don't think she'd try it with 21 or 22 year old Mim.     

There was one other time Mom made her displeasure known.  But will leave that for a later share!