How Pa Met Ma In the City

The story goes Pa met Ma in the city when he drove a truckload of pigs to market. She was the young waitress who served him cup after cup of coffee and gave him three eggs instead of just two along with four slices of bacon. Pa liked Ma as soon as he saw her so he told her he’d go back to the hotel and clean up and come back and take her to a movie if she’d like. Ma said yes and one thing led to a marriage and Ma moved with Pa down to his farm, a strange place for a city girl who had spent all 18 years of her short life in the city. Ma had a lot to learn on the farm and she did it slowly. The first time she took laundry out the basement door to hang on the line she met a skunk not bothering anyone, first skunk she had ever seen, and like most skunks no one had ever tried to pet him before. Ma had already petted some of Pa’s cows and sheep and even a reclining sow with piglets so she put her laundry down to give this pretty critter a nice petting. The skunk, however, had other ideas and raised quite a stink. It was hours before Ma could go back in the house because Pa had to wait until dark to clean her up in back of the barn with very strong soap and buckets and buckets of water. Eventually most of the stench subsided but Ma’s clothes were a total loss. They couldn’t even be used for rags and had to be burned way out in a field not planted that year. All through the scrubbing and buckets of water Pa and Ma kept laughing and squealing. Like always, they had a very good time. Donal Mahoney