A letter from May 1986
Tables to paint, 90 minutes of tape, and a little boy who wants to go fishing
Agnes plans to repaint the worn dining tables and chairs once the manager brings more paint. She jokes that she has about 90 minutes left on the tape and will leave it plugged in to add more gossip. She ends with the little boy who didn't want to go home and made her promise to go fishing, and she divides a clump of flowers at 5:30 in the morning.
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That is the end of this story.
What Agnes says
Words in light grey italics were hard to hear, so they may not be exact.
And so life goes on, as it always goes on, now he's going to get me another. another package, another container. I think it's about a quart or a little more. I don't know. Anyhow, I got the things out already.
I got everything painted that I wanted to paint. But I found out that there is two tables and six, oh, no, four of them things they sit on, you know, when they want to eat at the table. And then there is another table with the two big things where they sit, a whole bunch of them can sit on both sides of the table, and they get my table.
But it's getting so worn, it shows off peeling and everything. And I told him, I said, because you should dye my shoes and do everything. I said, active decoration day, you get me another container, and I got the brush, and I'll do the two tables in the chairs.
Oh, he says, that would be just nice. He is nice all around, you know, for me. So we get along just fine. I'm not going to go work today and tomorrow. I'm going to just sit around and lay around a little while.
and then on decoration that John is supposed to come like I say and give me the take me the two bookies with me to John's and grandpa gargallops and I'll go to the decoration see the parade and all that stuff and how I'm going to get here I'll get here don't you worry about it one way or another well I don't know how much more I can go on say here.
I got 90 minutes, so I don't know. Well, I'll leave it, go. I'll have it plugged in, and I'll wait, and maybe something will come up so I can let you have some of the gossip around here. Oh, and another thing is I had the rice lake paper, and now through the summer I'm not going to take it because I got mostly my flowers and stuff.
And, oh, the littlest, the oldest one, he didn't want to go home. Oh, and he had quite a time. And she says, we've got to go and get a little groceries and gold. So we went. They went. But he says, Grandma, and he kissed me about four times.
And he says, Grandma, you just have to come over and go fishing with me. I says, all right, we will. So we'll see, maybe Johnny can just let me off at Rosie's for a day and we'll go fishing and do something, play.
Oh, he says, all the things he's got to play with and all that. And he says, and with this new thing, they're going to fish up, they'll give the kids so he won't be able to run away. And so I'll have to play with them with the things that he's.
he's got to play with. And, of course, I'll let you know how Rosie is getting with her thing. He's fixing him for her, you know, for the place where she, in the kitchen, you know, he's fixing up some of this stuff for her, for Rosie.
And I guess she's going to plant things, like tomatoes and other things. She brought me, she brought me a whole bunch, whole bunch of flowers again yesterday. So this morning, early, I got up at 5 .30, and I went and I take a big butcher night from the kitchen.
And I cut it in half. It was a big chunk and a clump like. And so I divided it in half and I planted it. So I haven't got no more stuff to plant on, you know, because it's all taken up with the flowers and different things.
Oh, and Mrs. Lark, Joe Lark is here, you know. Oh, this is he's so miserable.