MauMag July Aug 2014 WEB

Lemonade Summers in Miami, Oklahoma
(My-AM-uh, not Miami, like they say it in Florida)
By Mary Elaine Lester
July/August 2014
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About the time eggs could
fry on asphalt, our Arkansas
and Texas families converged
in Miami, Oklahoma,
at the home of our beloved
Grandmother Dot--- a winsome, brownhaired
woman, who always wore ruby
red lipstick and, on special occasions,
Evening in Paris perfume. This woman
was the center of all our lives: smart,
spunky, tenacious, and ready with a
smile or hug. She always knew which
to give. Grandmother Dot inspired the
youngest to the oldest. Once she ordered
a car out of the Sears catalogue.
One small problem, Dot didn’t know
how to drive. I can hear her saying,
“No time like the present to
learn.” Somehow she persuaded
the delivery man to give her a
few quick lessons. The driveway
was at an incline, so she definitely
had to know where reverse
was. With the knowledge of how
to change the gears, where the
brake and gas pedal were, Dot
was fearlessly off to another adventure.
Her can-do spirit drove
her to publish her own book,
Convincing Answers to Prayer,
long before the word self-publish
was coined. A day of rest was
not in Dot’s vocabulary. On Sundays,
true to form, she visited the
shut-ins. The whole town loved
her. We had to share our very beloved
grandmother.
Anticipating our annual
quest to Miami, Oklahoma, and
the exploits to come, fueled the
fires of our imagination. Soon homemade
meals would keep our stomachs
full and hilarious stories would keep
smiles on our faces. These rewards
would help us forget the countless boring
miles of “I spy a cow…” with unruly
siblings. Grandmother Dot only had a
black-and-white TV, but we knew joy
was not going to be had in front of that
box. After all, in the front yard, we delighted
in a tire swing that hung from
the pear tree. We fought over turns on
the tandem bike (rented for the week),
splashed in the neighborhood pool,
and won races at the skating rink. How
could those adventures be topped...
just open the creaky double doors to
grandmother’s attic. I can still smell
the dust as I stepped into another
world. Something we did every day in
Miami. Through that magic gateway
we found wooden treasure trunks to
explore,complete with clothes, hats,
jewelry, and shoes way too big for our
small feet, but that was part of the fun-
-- trying to keep our feet in those shoes
and walk in our fashion shows. Laugh.
Laugh. Giggle. Giggle---over and over
again all day long. The good times never
ended except when we had knockdown-drag-out
fights over who got
the last sugar cookie.
But what we looked forward to
most of all was walking downtown.
Mom didn’t have to drive us.
We got to go alone. Freedom!
We did have to pay a price for
that freedom, though. We had
to run past a few spooky houses
haunted by rusty washing
machines and car parts in overgrown
lawns. For us nothing
but nightmares brewed behind
the shuttered windows. Yes,
we definitely held each other’s
sweaty little hands as we hurried
by those houses. Keeping
our eyes glued to the front
doors we almost tripped over
the spiked sidewalks. “When
did Miami have an earthquake”
we asked each other with silent
glances. Disappointed, we
found our later tree roots had
done the damage. These were
small mountains to climb and
risks to take for the freedom our
little legs found.
We were not only free but rich. Because
I was the oldest, Mom had trusted
me with the five dollar bill to pay for
everyone to go to the matinee and that
even included popcorn and drinks. I
kept checking to make sure our small
fortune hadn’t slipped out of my pocket.
I was happy to finally give that five
dollar bill over to the ticket taker. We
armed ourselves with popcorn and
soda. I had convinced the little ones
to get a small popcorn and to share
a coke with two straws. With the left
over change we could enjoy a banana
split later at the Woolworth’s fountain.
Somehow the good times always multiplied
in Miami.
With mouths full of popcorn we
entered the theater. Even before the
movie started we were spell-bound by
the golden ceiling. My younger brother
Joe asked, “Is this what heaven looks
like” Carol, my baby sister, answered,
“No, Joe, heaven doesn’t have red velvet
curtains. This is a castle.” I certainly
knew Little Rock didn’t have such fancy
movie houses.
Every year we would set up a lemonade
stand to greet the neighbors and let
them know we’re back! Grandmother
Dot provided her legendary lemonade
served with orange slices. The neighbors
would stop by for a vanilla wafer and a
glass of the world’s best thirst quencher.
We couldn’t keep the customers or the
flies away. Grandmother Dot’s love was
what really sweetened that lemonade.
As a child I didn’t realize or appreciate
how much the simple joys of my
Miami adventures would shape my
life. Like Grandmother Dot, I bought a
standard car I didn’t know how to drive.
“There’s no time like the present to
learn,” I heard my grandmother’s voice
across the years and across the state in
my Arkansas home. My mother, Dot’s
daughter, Dorothy Dayle, taught me
how to drive that stick shift just as Dot
had taught her.
Today I live in a historic neighborhood
with sidewalks, porch swings, and
lemonade stands. I knew I never wanted
to leave Miami and I never will.
I can still taste those lemonade summers.
MM
Mary Elaine Lester is a career mathematics
instructor currently teaching at the Distance
Learning Center in Maumelle. Her hobbies include
gardening, treasure shopping, decorating her Hillcrest
home, collecting seashells, and traveling. Mary loves life,
people, and telling their stories. She enjoys C-Span and
documentaries as well as classic black-and-white movies.
Today her favorite quote is Carpe Diem.
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