Page 195 - Always Virginia

Always Virginia 183

walnut, a single one. A little dresser, a little wash stand, Jack, with
a little curtain around the bottom of it, with a cistern with a bowl,
and big pitcher, where I could wash my face in the morning.

Jack: Did you have electricity?

Mary Pearl: Yes. First we had gas, for a long time, but the
systems were together. Gas was on top and the electric was around
it. I think that’s the way it was. And so we got the electricity, ’cause
everybody wanted electricity rather than gas.

Jack: When did you make your first telephone call?
Mary Pearl: Oh, I don’t know. I couldn’t begin to tell you.

Jack: Do you remember your first automobile ride?

Mary Pearl: No. I don’t even know who I went with. Boy, I
can remember standing out in the front yard, and out walking,
and I’d say to mom, “Come on, quick! Here comes an automobile
down the street.” Everybody called ’em automobiles. Nobody called
them cars yet. The first ones were electric. And my mother would
come out and say, “Well, isn’t that nice. Maybe we’ll have one
someday,” she’d say. I can still see an old woman...she used to sit
in one like this [sits up very stiff and proper] and then she’d have
that thing—what do you call it?—and they pull in and pull it out,
and go rrrrrrr! She lived in our neighborhood and she looked like
a paste doll. [Laughs] She looked terrible. Mmmmmm.

Jack: What did you and your friends think of sex when you
were teenagers. You don’t mind my asking, do you?

Mary Pearl: No. I...I guess just about like they do now, Jack.
There wasn’t a whole lot of difference. That’s what I often say. The
only thing that I can see that’s different: people or kids or youngsters
are all more open with things than they used to be. You used to be
almost afraid to ask or say it. In those days, you weren’t supposed