| Fannie talks about herself
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[Q = Len]
A: Let me see. I remember...you know what a n’dova [?] is. So they leave in the store; there was no business or anything, just to stay in the store, and if somebody came in, I'd holler “Baba” [Grandmother] so she should come out.
Well, here I was. A man came in, and I took out too big a coin, and I asked him to change it for me, and he says, "I'll need it," and he took it. I didn't tell my grandmother. I just let him have it. [Laughs] I was afraid of these people. I was afraid...you know, a man comes in, and he takes the money, and he says...he thanked me. He used to say “Ihr” instead of “Du.” He'd say “Ihr,” you know. So I felt like a big person. I must have been six years old. It didn't hurt me, and it didn't hurt my grandmother. It was okay.
When my mother died, my grandmother raised us, and I was 15 months older than Bessie. She was just born. So they gave her away to a woman...a nurse, you know. It's easy to get a nurse...the nurse that breast fed. She came home one time. She says she wants feathers...a pillow with feathers, so Baba went and gave her, you know, it was a big house. We had a lot of pillows. But she went and gave her a big pillow. I don't know how she carried it. She says, "Here's some feathers for you."
One time she...Bessie picked up a pot...some schmaltz [chicken fat]...she threw it out of window. So there was a complaint, (tape not clear) so my grandmother There schmaltz is something because you can only make it...you don't use lard, you don't use anything, of course. Now, I bet you they use oil. But at that time, they had to have schmaltz for fleischig, you know. So Bessie picked up the pot and threw it out the window.
My grandparents kept us all. They raised us. I remember at night she was very tired, and her feet would get swollen I think too. So she'd come in from the store. I don't remember my grandfather in the store, but he was, you know, old and sickly. He wasn't so very young. He was 82 when he died. I don't feel so old...so sick. I am old, but I don't feel so old.
So we'd come running into the house, and we'd bring the little footstool to my grandmother. And it was about this long, and it had two—it was supposed to be legs. Each leg had a V cut upside down in it. And then that's all there was to it. But Bessie and I used to run and get it for her. She'd sit down and put her feet up. And we'd each stand on each side of it, and she'd hold me by one hand and Bessie by the other cause we could fall off too. It wasn't so tall, but you know when a child falls down, she might fall down that clumsy way.
I remember...I was about seven years old. When I say “Riba” [phonetic] you should know it's a heating [eating?] place. There's a wall that goes into the bedroom and the other wall went into the living room. It was a living room and dining room together. And we'd stand on it [the footstool]. Let me see. Bessie would stand on one side, and I would stand on the other. And my grandmother would hold us by the hands. Did I tell you that?
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