Little Roof Jumpers

Chapter 10 Lotte Kraus

My mom, Lotte Kraus's lived in a little town outside of Hamilton called Deer Creek. They lived in the country in a little house that didn't have running water or a bathroom and it was 1960. There was an old hand pump outside that they used to fill buckets with water to bring inside for dishes and other necessities like taking a bath in a large tub in the kitchen. They also had an old stove in the kitchen that Mom's sister Christina filled with wood early in the morning before anyone else was awake. My grandma cooked on the big steel burners and baked in an oven that doubled for heating their home.

The folks from Deer Creek had an accent and slang that was unique to their little town. Instead of saying "fish" they said, "feesh", dish was pronounced "deesh", sink was pronounced "zinc" and a toilet was "tarlet", wash was pronounced "warsh". The slang and different pronunciation of simple words made them sound uneducated and slow.

Mom was the youngest and very pretty as were her two older sisters, Sophia and Christina. My aunts acted like young ladies, they didn't like to get dirty but loved to pose and have their pictures taken. Mom was a Tomboy who liked to follow her brothers and come home dirty only to be scolded by her sisters and grandma.

Grandpa and grandma moved often with their five children. Switching schools in midyear was their way of life. Grandpa was jealous and had a temper, which prevented him from keeping a job for long. It also prevented grandpa from paying their rent and other bills. With five children to feed, house and clothe, keeping a job should have been his priority.

Grandpa Kraus was a small thin man with bright blue eyes and a long narrow face. He wore his dark hair one length combed back behind his ears. He came from a large family, five sisters and four brothers. Grandpa looked quiet a bit like his father and had inherited his temperament. Great grandpa, "William Kraus" was a mean little German man that worked in one of the local factories. When he came home if things weren't just so, he beat his wife and children, one of which he used as a servant. Ada was the family servant for her parents and eight siblings, after she served them dinner she waited beside the table. When they were done eating she cleaned up and was then allowed to take what food was left over to her room and eat.

When grandma was dating my grandpa he invited her to have dinner with his family, not knowing any better grandma invited his sister Ada to sit next to her. Ada shook her head, "No!" Grandma then patted the seat next to her and Ada sat down. Grandma thought Ada was just shy, and was afraid to sit next to her. She had no idea grandpa's father would started yelling, calling Ada stupid as he began beating her in front of his family and guest. He then locked Ada in her bedroom for daring to sit at the table with the family.

I asked grandma if she asked grandpa why his family treated his sister so terribly. Grandma said that was the way they did things back then and grandpa said, his Pop was the boss and they did what he told them too. I told grandma it sounded strange to me and she thought it was strange too. And then Grandma said, "Queer wasn't it," and shook her head. Grandma and I usually laughed when she said something was, "Queer." It was grandma's way of telling me something she thought would shock me, neither one of us laughed about poor Ada. Most of the stories grandma told me of my grandfathers family shocked me, they sounded crazy! I wanted to ask grandma if grandpa was nice to her when they were raising their family but I was afraid the answer was something I didn't really want to know.

Grandma didn't go back to grandpa's parents house for dinner for a long time. She said when her kids were little once in a while they did visit grandpa's parents but she was uncomfortable and so were the kids. Grandma said grandpa talked to his dad but he ignored his mother. I thought this very odd.