The Red Flannel Rag

to help her steal a can and we would share it on the way home. I hesitated because I

knew if Mary caught me she would tell Rob, and I would get a helluva beating. Bonnie

assured me we wouldn’t get caught, as my mouth began to water for Vienna sausages. I

had a paper bag to carry my groceries home. She told me to watch and when Mary

turned her back to put up the mail, I was to hold my bag open. When Mary turned her

back, I opened the bag, and Bonnie threw in a can of sausages. We casually left the store

and hurried up the road to a grove of pine trees where we sat down to share the stolen

goods.

This is Mary Kirkpatrick standing in front of the building that was once the post office and her general store where Mom helped to steal the Vienna sausages. Circa 1958

The can had to be opened with a metal key that hooked onto a little metal tab. As

soon as we started to turn the key to open the can, the metal tab broke. There was no

way we could open the can. We both cried and finally threw the can down and walked

home.

Every day we went back to the pine grove and watched the ants crawl in and out

of the can as they ate the sausages. I swore never to steal another thing as long as I

lived, and I never have.”

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