Page 65 - Reason To Sing by Kelita Haverland

Chapter Ten

was a good perch too. At least there I had a live audience, if
you can count the cows chewing their cud. They may not have
been the liveliest bunch but they were flesh and blood with a
heartbeat.
My head was overflowing with the hits of the day. Petula
Clark’s “Downtown,” “Don’t Sleep in the Subway Darlin,”
and Herman’s Hermit’s “Mrs. Brown You’ve Got a Lovely
Daughter.” Those were standouts. The very first popular song I
learned every word to was “Please Don’t Talk to the Lifeguard”
by Diana Ray. It was recorded in 1963. I was 5 and I can still
remember every single word to that song! Talk about an impact.
I started creating my comedic characters by observing and
mimicking real people. At the age of 5, my first was inspired by
Mrs. Thomas. My mother and I would often visit this elderly,
petite Englishwoman. She had, at one time, babysat my three
older brothers, when my mother was teaching school on the
Hutterite Colony. That was before I was born. Mrs. Thomas
lived in a large Victorian-style rooming house in Lethbridge,
with all her worldly possessions overflowing into two rooms.
She didn’t have a phone so when we arrived at her door it
was always unexpected. We would have to knock very loudly
and when she finally heard us, she would shuffle to the door.
Sometimes we’d have to leave because she just didn’t hear us.
But those times when she did, we’d be greeted happily, while
she put her hearing aid on and her teeth in!
“Oh, my goodness, it’s so good to see you, my dear. Do
come in. It’s been a long while and I’ve missed seeing you.”
She was always excited and she always let us know in her
delightful British accent.
“Did I tell you the paper boy’s been stealing money from
my wallet? Right from under me nose. Twenty dollars right
from under me nose. I know where he took it from. What a

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