Strong images are in my mind
A little girl with ringlets
Sleeping with each thread of hair curled and twisted into a coil
Held together by strips of white linen
An image of my mother holding tightly onto them
So they wouldn't sway
In the morning
All the work and trouble
To reveal a Ringlet
Not one Not two but a whole head of hair with ringlets round my face and a fringe and Ribbon to keep them framed around my face
I suppose it was a fashion round that time
When I was only 6 or 7 staying at the Grand Hotel
Another image fills my mind in the Grand Hotel
A beautiful winding stair case that went very high as I walked the steps each day up and down
To reach the bedroom
Or the entrance
depending where I was going
To School
To Bed
It didn't really worry me
As long as the ringlets stayed in place.
Such a change from life on a farm
And I nearly forgot Jimmy the Head Waiter who greeted me with his shiny white teeth, to show me the way into the huge Dining Room of the Grand Hotel and took me to my seat.
I loved the white starched serviettes which stood up straight and must have been folded with great care.
My favorite was the soft boiled eggs
Which I cracked with a knife to get a straight edge
And sprinkled from the silver salt cellar fine drops of salt into the egg before I used the silver spoon to dig inside and mop it up quickly into my mouth before it drizzled just a little way onto the corner of my mouth and caught it just in time!
Jimmy unfolded the serviette onto my lap
What a waste I thought
They looked much prettier standing up!!
The toast was brought and set upon the table in a silver toast holder.
I always felt like I was a Queen
When I spread the curled butter to melt onto the toast.
It made me feel so tall and strong
As if I could rule the world with all my strength and power
after eating such a lavish meal served with silver dishes and white starched serviettes standing stiffly and so tall
What a treat it was to eat at the Grand Hotel.
I wiped my mouth full of eggy bits ,
Folded the serviette
And laid it down across my plate.
What a waste I thought to do that to a Serviette!!
Yes, there was bright red jam too that I sometimes ate.
And then I was off to School.
Feeling like a Regal Queen.
It was I thought
So very strange to sit on Chamber pots which were such pretty things
To sit on them and pee in them
While I slept on the high bed above them
To find the next morning they'd been whisked away
To find a clean chamber pot under my bed.
I never asked
I never knew where they were taken too.
My last image is of men's shoes that were in pairs outside the bedroom doors.
Black and Brown colors stacked pair by pair outside the bedroom doors.
They were taken away before breakfast
And returned all shinning bright.
I never asked who cleaned the shoes but they were always bright.
It was a long time ago and yet
They remain intact inside my brain
And makes me think
There must be a big large box to keep these memories so tidily intact thinking back to images of when I lived
As a little girl
At a special time
At a special place
Called
The Grand Hotel