A couple years later we moved to Prince George. Our lives were rich and full. Uncle Orville got dad a job at the sawmill where he was able to earn his fourth class engineering ticket. Now we could afford our own four-room house with a build out for a future bathroom.
There was a pump in the kitchen and a gas cooker that mom used to heat up the bath water. Saturday night was bath night, whether we needed it or not. Because I was the cutest and the youngest, I got to bathe first. Being first meant I got the clean water. By the time it was dad’s turn the water was so muddy that he some times went without. Saturday night, that was the night when all of the preparations for Sunday happened. As I just mentioned, we all got baths, then our shoes were shined and our clothes mended. Sunday was church day, the highlight of the week!
In the early summer dad would buy a large block of ice and we would dig a deep hole in the back yard and bury the ice with wood shavings from the sawmill and on hot summer days we would dig up large chunks and use it in our new ice cream maker. It was the best of times.
One-day dad took us all down to the Frazer River for a swim. Byron made me a tin can with holes in one end so when you filled it up, the water would come out of the bottom like a shower. The current in the river was running pretty fast and all of a sudden the can was swept away from me into the deeper water. When Byron saw me crying, he decided to go out after it and before he knew it he was in over his head fighting for his life against the current. Ruth saw him struggling and dove in after him. Now both of them were in over their heads and loosing their struggle against the current. Thankfully two older experienced swimmers saw what was happening from the shore line and went in after them and pulled them to safety.
But nobody rescued my tin can. It was overall a very sad summer day.
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