Zippy - Karen Buxton

I didn't spent much time looking for hidden meanings, or "this is why
I'm the way I am" pronouncements. I think it's because I spent my
early childhood in a small town (population 500). The dogs and the
kids roamed the streets, there were nice homes, abandoned homes, as
well as many that should have been abandoned. My dad had a beer
every night, and didn't say a whole lot to my mother who spent the
first half of every day on the couch sick with asthma and back pain.
Sounds dreary, but I didn't see it that way. There was a lady (Mrs.
Robinson), that my friend and I liked to go and visit, who had at
least 15 dogs and more cats than could be counted. Of course the
thing that is engrained on my memory of my visits to her house is the
smell. Horrid! I've often wondered what eventually happened to her
and all of her animals. Speaking of smells...There was a family that
lived in town that had three daughters. The girls were always very
stinky. Occasionally they would come to primary, and during class
one day the girl my age took off her shoes, and stunk up the whole
room. I remember being pleasantly surprized, on another occasion,
when my mother and I went to their trailor, and the girls were taking
baths. My older sister, who is the same age as Kimmel, remembers
going to a friend's house for a sleepover. When it came time to go
to bed, the bed was covered with a huge pile of questionable laundry
(dirty? clean?). The two girls simply crawled under the pile of
laundry and went to sleep.

Anyway, enough reminiscing. I was interested in Danielle's comments
about the "car repair" episode. My impression of the event was that
he was not only getting frustrated with the project, but that Zippy
was driving him crazy with her questions etc. Her presence was not
helping the situation. I just figured that he was inviting her to
leave for her own well being. I didn't believe that he was going to
physically harm her, just throw a tantrum. Again, my impressions
might be coming from my own experiences. My dad was always fixing
the cars. It's always interesting how differently we all view the
same event. I appreciated Danielle's more positive take on the
episode.

I also very much enjoyed the pig story even though it was somewhat
troubling to me. I also got a kick out of the story about her
parents fighting and her mother riding away on Zippy's bike. There
were many humerous events as well as many tragedies. As a child she
wasn't necessarily aware of the humor or the tragedy, but as adults,
I'm sure that we more clearly see the absurdities, and the sorrows.

I've written much more than intended, and I hope I haven't bored any
of you with my own life history. Thanks for indulging me.