Sights and Scents

Sights and Scents


When I was a child my grandmother was my whole world. She was the only one I allowed to call me by my middle name. Later in life, when I thought about it, I realized she must have called me that because my mom and I had the same first name. Less confusing, I guess. No one else has ever called me that since.

She would always take me to Sanders for a hot beef sandwich or a hot fudge sundae. Even today, the taste of fudge allows me to remember those wonderful childhood afternoons. You might say I was spoiled by Alice May Sheets-Kroger. Nearly each night she would give me a Hershey candy bar. We lived in Detroit, Michigan then and I would sit on her cedar chest in front of our bedroom window in the upstairs of our house. Since my family lived with Grandma, she shared her room with me because of space. I didn’t mind, for I loved her so much. So, on that cedar chest, I would break my candy bar into ten little rectangular shapes, eating them slowly, letting the sweet chocolate melt in my mouth, one by one. While sitting there, dreaming a child’s dream, I would look out at the lighted city, always focusing on the red flashing light atop the Fisher Building. It was a nightly ritual, candy bar or not, to sit there and look at the city while she would tell me stories. What a grand way for a little girl to end her day. Even tho those days are long gone, I think of those nights whenever I see a Hershey candy bar, whether standing in a check-out line, or watching a commercial on TV.

It wasn’t until years later and I was a mom myself, that I received Chanel Number 5 perfume for a gift. As soon as I smelled it, I remembered the body powder she used, and I thought of Grandma. The memory took me back to our bedroom. I loved that room, and everything in it. I remember the brass brush and comb set that sat on her dresser, the one she would use to brush my long hair. The lace doilies that her mother had made were very special to her. Nearly each night we fell asleep listening to WJR on the radio. I remember all that as if it were yesterday.

To this day, I keep a near empty body of Chanel Number 5, just so I can smell it and see her in the scent. The hot fudge? I still love it, and it’s too bad Sanders had to close years ago, because I never got the chance to take my own children there. Then there’s the Hershey bars. Well, I don’t eat them before I go to bed anymore. What about that old cedar chest, you may ask? I still have it, and every once in a while I look at the mars and scratches, and I can remember tracing them with my fingers as a child. Once in awhile, I even think about what was in it all those years ago, and the dressing up I would do with the mink
wraps, and the silk scarves. It’s not hard to think of those things because I look at that chest every day of my life. It sits in my bedroom right now, right beside me as I write this piece, and I silently say thanks to that wonderful lady who gave me so many pleasant memories.