The Red Bucket

When Mom took down the blue bucket we knew what it meant. We were getting close to the end of the month. Inside were the canned goods we can use to stretch our food. Creamed corn, peas, beans- lima and kidney. Meatless chili, my brother said. A mistake. Our mother looked sad. One time in the winter when the blue button was empty, Mom said, “Time to get out the red bucket.” We did not know what that was. None of us had ever heard of it. We did not find out for over thirty years it is when she swallowed her pride And went to her parent’s house to ask for money. We only heard her speak of the red bucket one time. But it was in such a sad tone, that although we were six and seven, both of us remembered it thirty years later when she finally told us what it meant.