When I was a little girl I used to love visiting my Grandma. She used to bake the best cookies and play the nicest music on what she called her "Hi-Fi." It was such a great place to visit. Only one thing really puzzled me about her house. Every time I came over I saw that she had covered her big goldenrod brocade sofa with a kind of clear plastic. I asked my parents about it and they told me to mind my own business. Well, you know how kids are. So one afternoon I was sitting on my Grandma's sofa--this was back in the 1970s--and I decided I would ask her anyway. I said, "Grandma, how come you keep this clear vinyl on your sofa?"
She gave me kind of a funny look, sort of as if she couldn't quite decide whether or not to tell me. I started to feel kind of bad for disobeying my parents. Then suddenly Grandma smiled real big and said, "I do that because I like to have company, child. Most of my friends are old ladies like me. They come over and we get to laughing about one thing and another. After a while, we old ladies can't stop laughing once we get started. Well, when you get to be our age, you like to laugh. What happens though sometimes is that some of those old gals laugh so hard they. . . well, they wet themselves. Now I like my friends, but I don't need urine on my brocade sofa, now do I?"
I never did tell my parents what Grandma shared with me that afternoon. But I did notice that every time Grandma's friends left her house, Grandma would go into the kitchen to get a wet wash rag.
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