IN
PORT DOVER
My
mother wrote:
Black Diphtheria
When I was in Port Dover one summer I met some American girls who
were interested in art and we used to go out sketching along the River
Lynn and other picturesque places around Dover. We were out on one
of our daily sketching tours down by the fishing boats and the dock
when I was overcome by a feeling of dreadful sickness. I went home
to Grandma as I was running a high fever. She called the Doctor and
when he came he diagnosed my illness as a particularly violent case
of Black Diphtheria. I will never forget how I suffered. My throat
was swollen to the point where I could hardly swallow and was filled
with a grey, crepey phlegm. The Doctor told me to gargle with hot
saltwater. This seemed to help me and to relieve the soreness. Of
course, in those days, they did not have the wonder drugs that they
have now and I consider myself lucky to have survived this dreadful
illness.
Boating on the River Lynn in Port Dover
I used to love going on a boating excursion up the River Lynn with
my Father. We would rent a rowboat and row down the river, it was
beautiful. There were always lots of seagulls and lots of red-winged
blackbirds. These were happy times.
Pete McNabb
Of course, my boyfriends from St. Thomas used to come down to visit
me at Port Dover. There was Pete McNabb, a Catholic fellow I was very
fond of. He had two brothers who were Priests. One was a school-teacher
in Toronto and the other was a missionary in China. He had two sisters
who were nuns. Pete did his best to convert me to Catholicism but
never succeeded.
Saturday Night Dance
There were always
Saturday night dances at the dance hall down at the lake. Edna and
I used to go down together. This one Saturday night we went and there
were not very many present. We sat like wallflowers for a while and
then this farmer-looking fellow came up to Edna and asked her for
a dance. They got out on the floor and he said to her, "There
ain't very many here tonight," and she said "Nope, there
ain't." and that was the sum total of their conversation for
the rest of the dance. Needless to say, we went home in disgust. This
is not the end of the episode, however. We sneaked into the side door
and quietly went to bed at 9:30. The next morning after breakfast
Mother and I were washing dishes and I said that we were going to
go to the movie theatre. That night. Mother said, "You are not
going anywhere tonight. You didn't come home until three o'clock this
morning and I'm grounding you." I was so mad that I took a dish
I was wiping and smashed it against the wall and flounced out of the
kitchen.
Running Away
In the afternoon Mother went shopping with Grandma. I packed a suitcase
and ran away. I was picked up by two young fellows in a sports car,
and they took me to St. Thomas. When I arrived there I went to stay
with a special girl-friend of mine, Elma Strickland.
The Chase
Mother and Dad were sure I had run away to Pete McNabb, the chap I
had been going steady within St. Thomas. They were afraid I was going
to get married to Pete. Dad high-tailed it to St. Thomas. I was not
with Aunt Clara, where he thought I would be, so he went to see Pete.
Pete didn't even know I was in St. Thomas. However, as fate would
have it, my cousin Frank saw me on Talbot Street, talked to me and
found out that I was staying with Thelma. The cat was out of the bag.
So Dad took me back to Port Dover. Edna upheld my story that we were
in early from the dance and peace was restored. Relations were strained
between Mother and myself for some time.
© Sonia Brock 2005
Feed: https://www.soniabrock.com/Podcasts/chatham1.xml
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