The schoolchildren were let out of the Holy Ghost school one crisp November afternoon in 1902 as the school day was over. Children started pouring out of the little building so they could get to their warm homes, as it was starting to get cooler now.
"Fran, Snooky….Helen and I will walk you home, all right?" A 16 year old Freddy told his cousins, who just were the cute ages of 7 and 5.
"Thanks Freddy."
"You're welcome!" Freddy smiled and grabbed Snooky's hand. "I wouldn't let any little 2nd grader and kindergartener walk home all by themselves….By the way Snooky, do you like kindergarten now?"
"Yeah." Snooky, who's name was Leonona, said quietly.
"I remember when I started kindergarten." Freddy said as the four of them set out down the road to the Gruber's place. "I wasn't scared a bit…I guess it's different since I'm a boy. But you had quite the guts to come back even though you were scared."
"Guts?...Yuck!" The 5 year old exclaimed, wrinkling her nose and making a disgusted face.
"It's just an expression." Helen said, who was now 14 years old. Her hair had turned a light brown, and was no longer the golden blond color when she was a toddler . "Why anyone would use one like that, I don't know…." She said, while Freddy was chuckling away. "But that's Freddy for you." Helen rolled her brown eyes. "He's just a silly boy, isn't he Fran?" She giggled a little.
"Yeah!" Fran grinned, her eyes squinting. "Joey's silly too." She said, referring to her and Snooky's 3 year old little brother.
"I can't wait till Joey and Pudge are older….then I can teach them all I know." Fred grinned.
"Oh boy…" Helen rolled her eyes again. "I'm guessing you don't have just hunting in mind."
"Maybe and maybe not." Freddy chuckled.
"Oh hush up!" Helen laughed and pushed him a little. "Isn't Pudge so cute?" She said, changing the subject to their 4 month old baby cousin, who's name was actually George Thomas Gruber. "Those cute chubby cheeks of his!"
"He's ALL chubby, Helen!" Fran giggled. "That's why we call him Pudge!"
"He's still cute." Helen smiled.
"Mama got him to sit up on his own the other day."
"Really?"
"Uh huh!" Fran said excitedly. "And he rolled over too."
"Neat."
"Snooky, are you cold?" Freddy asked the 5 year old. Her little body was already shivering in this cool weather. "Want my jacket?"
"Yes…please." She chattered.
"Here you go…" Freddy said, taking off his fall brown leather jacket and placing it around the little girl's shoulders.
"Thank you….Its furry!" She giggled, and ran her little fingers over the collar.
"It's mink…..You know I trap them, right?"
"Yeah." She said, and they all walked up to the girls' house and went inside.
"Thank you so much for walking the girls home, kids."
"You're welcome, Aunt Nona. We like doing it." Helen smiled. "Hi Joey!" She grinned as the little 3 year old wrapped his little arms around her legs, tugging on the skirt of her dark blue dress. She bent down and picked up her little cousin.
"Kiss?" She asked and he gave her a smooch on the cheek. "Thanks Joey boy." Helen giggled, kissed him on the cheek in return and set him back down.
"Well, we better get on home….Mama's waiting for us and I wanna go hunting." Freddy smiled.
"We'll be over tomorrow to pick the girls up for school, Aunt Nona."
"Alright, thanks kids." She smiled.
"Say hi to Uncle Joe for us and give baby Pudge a kiss from me!" Helen smiled.
"Alright, I will." Nona chuckled. "Bye-bye, you two."
"Bye, Aunt Nona!" Freddy waved and the two teens walked off down the road to go home. They came about half-way down the road when someone caught their attention. "Freddy!"
"Freddy!" They heard a cute little voice call to them and turned around and saw it was Snooky running up to them. "I forgot to give your jacket back to you!"
"Thanks Snooky." Fred grinned a little at his 5 year old cousin, as she gave him his mink jacket and also a hug. "Bye now."
"Bye Freddy!...Bye Helen!" Snooky waved and ran back to the house.
"Bye-bye!" Helen called after her and then she and her older brother walked on home. "She's got the cutest nickname." She smiled.
"Better than….Moanie!" Freddy laughed, and moaned out his sister's nickname their grandfather, George Gruber Sr. called her.
"Shut your mouth!" Helen shoved him. "Sure I don't really like it, but I let Grandpa call me it."
"Why?" He laughed.
"To make him happy." Helen smiled a little.
"You know, Papa says that in Germany, Snooky is actually spelled Schnucky. I think I'll call Leonona that from now on. It still sounds the same."
"Of course it does!" Helen said. "it's the same name, but spelled differently, Freddy." She giggled.
"Was thinking of calling her Schnuck….but that doesn't sound too good."
"No….it doesn't!" Helen laughed and it even got a chuckle out of Freddy. "Anyway, it's better than Leonona Agnes!" She said, making a face. "What in the world was Aunt Nona thinking?"
"Well, a combonation of Uncle Joe's middle name Leo, and her name Nona." Freddy said.
"I know that!" Helen rolled her eyes and gave him a look. "But…Agnes?"
"Agnes is one of Aunt Nona's middle names." Freddy said. "Why are you carrying on about it, Helen? You don't need to name your kid that!" He laughed.
"I always think I'll have a boy first. Mama did."
"Now that don't mean nothing."
"How do you know? You're a boy!" Helen said.
"Well, how do you know?"
"I don't." She said quietly.
"See?" Freddy grinned slyly. "Besides, you're only 14….You got plenty of years before you have a kid. And I'll marry off first anyway."
"Who says?" Helen spat.
"I'm older than you are."
"Now that don't mean nothin'!" Helen said, her hand on her hip, staring at her brother.
Freddy laughed at his younger sister. "C'mon! Let's get inside…its chilly!" He said, and ran across the little bridge on Peru Road, and down the road and turned at their little sidewalk leading to the summer kitchen steps. They walked through the kitchen door into the house.
"Hey Mama...Sorry we're a little late getting home. We walked Fran and Snooky home from school, and the walk back home was long too." Freddy grinned and gave his mother a hug and a kiss on the cheek. He was a few inches taller than she.
"Have you gotten taller?" Frances laughed.
"Guess so." Freddy shrugged, and grabbed a fresh slice of homemade bread Frances had set out to cool. "That's hot!" He exclaimed, after spreading some butter on it, and it was already beginning to melt.
"That's why you let it cool down, honey!" Frances laughed at her 16 year old boy.
"Nah! It's good that way!" He said, pouring himself a TALL glass of milk. "Mama…."
"Yes, Freddy..." Frances asked….paying attention to cooking supper at the moment.
"We're almost outta milk."
"Nonsense! I just…." Frances turned around and then looked at her son. "Honey!" She laughed, placing her hands on her hips. "You're not supposed to take half the pitcher!"
"But, I'm thirsty!" He said, taking another hunk of the bread. "Hungry too."
"You won't be hungry for supper."
"Sure I will." Freddy said, biting into the bread, slathered with melted butter.
"Well, we'll see, huh?" Frances muttered.
"Can I have some too?" Helen asked, grabbing a slice of the bread. "I'm real hungry!"
"Helen!"
"But, I'm hungry Mama!"
"Fine….but you better eat your supper."
"I will." Helen insisted and went into the other room, as did Freddy.
Frances went back to preparing supper, when her husband walked through the door. He came up behind her and put his hands on her shoulders, and let them trail down her upper body to her waist. "Good evening…Frisky." He grinned, kissing her cheek. "Wait a minute, maybe that's just me." He chuckled and started kissing all over her neck and face. "Yeah….It is." He laughed and went back to kissing her again.
"Fred…stop it." Frances laughed at him and tried to get out of his grasp, but he playfully grabbed her around the waist.
"You stop it." He grinned.
"I'm not doing anything." She chuckled.
"And that's….the problem." Fred grinned and gave her a kiss on the lips, a tad rough but it was sweet.
"Okay, now let me go." Frances laughed. "Or supper will overcook." She chuckled again as her husband still had his grasp around her. "Fred…" She whispered at him as he kissed her cheek and jawline. "You're 42 years old and you're acting like you're…."
"24?" Fred grinned. "I'll take that…."
"Well, you're only as young as you feel."
"If that's the case…I'll take younger than 24!" He laughed, and leaned in and kept kissing and nibbling on the crook of her neck.
Frances laughed at her husband and turned around to start dishing up supper, a nice rabbit stew.
"On second thought maybe I won't….24's good." Fred smiled.
"How's that?" Frances smiled. Placing a bowl of stew on the table.
"I was 24…when I met the most strikingly beautiful young lady I ever laid eyes on….and she's still as beautiful now that's she's…34." He smiled, standing next to her and wrapped an arm around her waist.
"Thank you." She laughed and kissed him. "Sometimes,…I don't feel I look as beautiful anymore. I let this weight thing go a little out of hand…..after having two kids. I'd do it again though." She smiled.
"You are beautiful…to me." Fred smiled. "Preferably, I like how you've filled out." He laughed a little and gave her a light slap on the backside.
"Don't ever do that again, Fred John!" She exclaimed, but chuckled a little as he kept laughing.
"Go and get your kids for supper!" Frances laughed, doing the same thing he had done, as he walked off. Which sent a laugh from Fred. Frances rolled her eyes and continued setting the rest of the kitchen table.
(
"Where in the world do you two put it all?" Frances asked her two teenagers as they were eating supper. Freddy was already on his third large bowl of stew and Helen kept eating the bread. It was like they couldn't get enough! "You said you'd be hungry for supper. You are I'd say!" She chuckled. "It's a little ridiculous!"
"I think somebody's finally hitting their growth spurt!" Fred laughed and looked at his 16 year old son.
"Yes….but both of them at the same time?" She said. "There won't be enough food left for the two of us." Frances laughed.
"I don't think it's much of a problem!" Fred chuckled, putting an arm around his wife. "Let them be…..They're both growing up….Physically anyway, but I'm sure it won't be too long before they're both married off and out of the house."
"Oh, don't get me crying…." She said, laying her head on his shoulder. "But you're right, they're both growing up."
"No, Helen's just growing out." Freddy chuckled, but Helen shot him a mean look.
"Has your voice changed, son?" Fred asked. "Seems lower to me."
"Guess so." Freddy muttered.
"I remember when it kept squeaking!" Helen said. "So you better shut up about how much weight I've put on….."
"They're curves, Helen." Frances told her daughter.
"Yeah, in the wrong places!" Helen said.
"It's all that food you eat!"
"You eat way more than I do, Freddy."
"Speaking of eating, why don't both of you quit arguing and eat!" Frances laughed.
"Yes, Mama." Helen obeyed.
"Freddy…" Frances looked at her son.
"I couldn't eat another bite, Mama." He insisted. "I'm gonna go to my room and take a little nap or something….Too late to hunt now."
"Put your bowl in the wash tub."
"Sure thing, Mama." Freddy said, doing so, and passed through the kitchen, his mother's sewing room, and into the parlor, and into his little room. On the walls of his room were mounts of the game he shot. A deer mainly….but he also had a few skins of a raccoon, a fox, and a mink he trapped and saved instead of selling them like he usually did. There were a few of his guns hanging on the wall too…..His bed was sitting up against the wall by his closet, which was a walk-in closet, joining his room to his sister's. Freddy flopped on his bed, on top of his red quilt and soon closed his eyes for a nice nap after supper.
(
"How about we take a walk?...Spend some time alone together? Hmmm?" Fred whispered.
"I can do the dishes, Mama." Helen said. "Go enjoy yourselves."
Frances looked at Fred and grinned . "Well, husband….lead the way." And so they walked out the back door and down the little sidewalk and they started walking and came to a field, with a patch of woods just to the left of them, and they walked down what seemed like a path had been cleared out.
"I remember the day I met you here." Fred smiled, with his arm around her as they walked down the little 'path' in the field.
Frances chuckled. "I think it was more to the right of us, honey." She said, looking out into the little Iowa field full of prairie grass.
"Still in the same field." He laughed, gazing down at her a moment.
"I remember it was a warm summer day…." Frances smiled.
"When you got one look at this old boy who stole your heart." He grinned, kissing her forehead. "…forever."
Frances started laughing. "I don't think it went so much like that!" She smiled as she remembered that day, just about 18 years before. "I remember…feeling a little scared, seeing you…..and I was glad when you went up by the trees over there and the creek was in between us." Frances chuckled a little.
"Scared seeing me?" He chuckled. "Now I see why you snubbed me." Fred teased her.
Frances chuckled at him, sending him a look.
"Didn't say hello….didn't write me either." He laughed, shaking his head.
"Honey…" She laughed, rolling her brown eyes.
"I remember I proposed to you over by the creek…." He smiled down at her.
"No you didn't…." She laughed.
"What?" Fred looked at her and laughed.
"You proposed to me over by the house. It wasn't built yet though."
"Oh, that's right." Fred grinned.
"Somebody is getting older, I think." She laughed, laying her head against his chest. "It was our first kiss we had over by the creek." She smiled up at him.
"That's right….Guess I was just too lost in the moment, both times."
They started walking down to the creek together.
"I remember I was so nervous, but excited when you leaned in and kissed me."
"I thought you leaned in first…." Fred mumbled, looking down at her.
"Oh I don't know. " She laughed. "It was quite awhile ago…Maybe we both did. I think it was the sweetest I ever had…."
"Except for the longer one after that…" Fred said. "…and the one after that."
Frances look up at him and chuckled.
"I love ya."
"I love you too, honey." Frances smiled up at him.
"Are you gonna stand there grinning, or are you gonna kiss me or not?" He grinned at her.
"I don't think that needs to be answered…through words." Frances chuckled and kissed him, standing in the very spot just as they had years before.
"Why so much talk about this?" She laughed, sitting down on her "Story Rock" as she called it. "It's not even the anniversary of when we met….or our first kiss. If that even deserves an anniversary!" Frances laughed.
"I'm glad to remember." Fred smiled and kissed her cheek. "It's good to remember the little things….like a first kiss. Taking the walk here just made me remember, I guess." He smiled.
"I'm glad to remember it too." Frances smiled at him and accepted his lips again as he kissed her. "Well!….Now that we've both walked off some supper….Let's go see what our children are up to. Hopefully they haven't killed each other from fighting, yet." Frances laughed.
"Let's hope not." Fred chuckled.
A/N: In real life, the year would actually have been 1928.
Joey and Pudge Gruber were added in this chapter! :) Joseph Leo Gruber Jr. "Joey" was born on July 30th, 1925. George Thomas Gruber "Pudge" was born on July 15th, 1928. Joe and Nona had nicknames for all of their children, as you'll see as I mention them throughout the story. Some of them are strange and you wonder why they called them that! Lol. Like, Snooky. I found out it's just a term of endearment in Germany, spelled Schnucky. And then there's Pudge. I thought that was cute! Of course, they called him that because he was always big! Through childhood and adulthood. He sure took after the Gruber side! :) I also thought it was interesting how the names kept getting passed down. Joey was named after his father. Pudge's first name was George. So he was named after his Grandpa George, and his Uncle George, except he had a different middle name than they did.
There were quite a few schools in Dubuque back then. Two of which I've mentioned in my story. The East Stone Hill School, and the Holy Ghost School. The Holy Ghost School, was a Catholic school, was where Frances went to school when she was a girl, and where Freddy and Helen went to school also, I believe. My Grandpa attended the East Stone Hill School half of the year so he could finish the 6th grade. He also attended the Holy Ghost School, and also the Fulton School, as he called it, also known as Fulton Elementary School.
The field where Fred and Frances took the little walk is still there, now part of the neighbor's property. The creek is still there too, but it's changed a bit since the city redid the little wooden bridge, and made it into this double-wide concrete bridge.
As far as I know, Frances' "Story Rock" might be still there. Grandpa was looking for it when the men were re-doing the bridge and re-forming the creek, but he couldn't find it. It was a perfectly oblong rock, about 3 feet long and 12 inches tall. Some of the old Dubuque settlers had said it seemed like the rock had always been there, but how it got there, no one knew for sure.
