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   The weather started to break and it was time for Edie and Susan to go back to their home. Mary hated to see them leave and Edie didn't want to leave either. They were good company for one another. With Mary's husband working the night shift and sleeping most of the day. Mary and Edie did the chores together. Edie did most of the cooking. Mary said she was the better cook. The kids agreed. And after all the kids were all in bed, Edie and Mary talked and drank coffee, cup after cup. They talked about old boyfriends and husbands and friends and neighbors and laughed. Everything about their childhood. Mary cried when Edie told her about her father breaking her nose and how mean he was. Mary's dad was like Santa and as big. Mary's husband was no company for her. Even on his night off he would go play darts and have a few beers with the boys at Pat's Beer Garden down the street. It was a man's bar. Very few women came in and they had to sit at a table That was the law in Pennsylvania). The bar had a large jar of food, like a jar of deviled eggs, another with sausage, another with sauerkraut, and one with pickled pigs feet. Oh, and baskets of peanuts in the shells which were thrown on the floor. Pat said he was going to clean them up someday but he never did.
    Mary pushed Edie's chair with a bundle of clothes from her lap while Susan carried an armful of a variety of things that Mary had given her. Clothes, toys and books her kids no longer wanted. Susan ws glad to get them. One of her daughter's was her size a year older. The clothes were store bought: Sears & Roebucks!  

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   Everyone on Canal Street without a doubt agreed the winter was the coolest they had seen in years. Even the canal froze over in the lower parts. The children from all over Deepwater came with ice skates new and bright, no doubt from Christmas. The children on Canal Street weren't as fortunate--well, maybe next year. But shoes will slide on ice, too. Everyone was laughing, even the ones who fell and started to cry stopped quickly and started to laugh.
    Susan pushed Edie down the street in her wheelchair to a lower bank of the canal so she could see Susan slide on the ice.
   "Now be careful, Susan," Edie called to Susan as she started to step out on the ice. Edie remembered the days when she ice skated and twirled around and around. She was good. Her Aunt Emma taught her, like she taught how to horseback ride and swim and tennis. She wished she could be out on the ice with Susan or at least afford to buy her a pair of skates. She thought, "I'll save some money and buy her a pair for Christmas next year." Then she thought "The canal may not freeze over." It hadn't in fifty-two years. "Maybe I should buy her roller skates instead."

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Mary's house was two stories and was on a little bit of a slant.  It was old.  But it was warm and cozy,and full of toys from her four children.  There was also a lot of laughter as well as crying.  Smells of breakfast foods like bacon, pancakes, coffee and oatmeal and laundry soap were abundant.

"Oh my what a busy household!"  Edie thought. "No wonder that Mary is so thin!"

Then a big dog ran through the kitchen with child chasing it with half his diaper off.  More smells.

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Susan thought, "Oh Goody!"  She hated school.  The kids were mean to her and made fun of her because her clothes were hand-made and not in style.  Plus, the lady from the Red Cross would come get her to get her shoes.  They were the ugly, brown tie-up shoes. The girls would ask Susan if those were the shoes the Red Cross Lady got for her and would go away laughing. They would never ask her to play with them.  Furthermore, the lunch ladies would always ask loudly if she got FREE LUNCH.  They already knew she did, but the asked anyway every day.

And not one of the girls ever sat close to Susan at lunch.  They said she smelled.  Her mother bathed her every night, but they didn't have a tub.  She hand-washed her.  Edie always said you could be poor, but, there was no excuse to be dirty.  Soap was cheap.

Even the teachers were mean.  Because Susan was slow, the teachers either ignored her or yelled at her if her grades were poor. Susan was dyslexic...But no one knew what that was in the 40's.

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   One night it rained really hard. The roof started to leak over the bed. Edie and Susan were wet and cold. The stove went cold too. They got up and went to the kitchen and the roof was leaking out there, too. Edie growled, "Oh no. Where do we start?" There were seven leaks. "Susan, grab anything, pots, bowls. I can't get down on that wet floor. Put the pans where the leaks are coming down. Do you want to play Old Maid?"
   "We can't sleep in our bed," Susan asked.
   "Sure," said Edie, "If you make some coffee. You're going to miss school tomorrow, you know."

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   Edie and Susan laid in bed all night listening to the radio and looking at their beautiful Christmas tree. The candles made such beautiful shapes on the decorations. They looked like they were moving. To Susan this three foot tree was the most beautiful tree in the world. The tree sat on the dresser and Edie took one of the two white sheets they had and put it around the tree and dresser. Susan found some pine cones and put them around the bottom of the tree. I better save room for a gift that Santa is going to bring. Maybe this will be a good year. 

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   Well, the tree went in the bedroom window. And between Susan and Edie they made beautiful decorations with the colored paper. Prettier than the store bought decorations, the neighbors said. They lit two candles in the window with the tree.