Blueberry Pie

By Doris Washton

After World War II, Bob and I and our infant son lived with my parents because there was a shortage of apartments available. My mother was thrilled with the arrangement because she cooked her heart out and Bob just loved her cooking. This went on for a while but we soon realized that Bob was enjoying himself a bit too much and was gaining a great deal of weight. Mom and I approached him and convinced him to go on a diet. He agreed and was careful until...

Well, one day Mom and I were passing a Horn and Harvest Retail store and froze. This presented a dilemma. You must understand that Bob, Mom and I were avid fans of the blueberry pie baked by the establishment. What to do! We desperately wanted a pie but how could we prevent Bob from knowing about it. My mom said, "We'll buy it!" and we proceeded home with our treasure.

Once we got into the house, then what? How could we hide the pie? Leave it to Mom -- she put it in a section of the dining room server. We would attack it the following morning when the house emptied out. Well, morning came. Mom put up the coffee and told me to get our treat out. I put the string-tied box on the table, took the string off the box, and pulled the wax-wrapped pie out of the box. Surprise -- there was a huge chunk cut out of the pie and in its place was a quarter and a note saying that $.25 was the cost of a slice of pie at the Automat.

Needless to say, Mom and I were shocked. Mom was a wise lady and could have fun with something as serious as a health matter. Bob on the other hand, showed his preference for eating pleasures -- damn the torpedoes ahead.

Doris Washton, who is married to fellow author Robert Washton, raised "four loving, thoughtful and devoted children." She was a bookkeeper before retiring and likes to read. She has 10 grandchildren.