CREEK ROAD GANG
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The Old Lady Who Walks
Jo Christian Babichcopyright 2010
We kids used to wave to her when she walked down the sidewalk in her sensible shoes, her stockings with seams up the back, and her mid-calf-length dress with the Peter Pan collar.
We wondered where she lived.
Somewhere around here, I guess, Mother said. Thought I knew everybody in the neighborhood.
We never found out her name. To us, she was the Old Lady Who Walks.
I haven't thought about her for seven decades, but she popped into my head this morning, as I was walking down the street. There are no sidewalks here, in this Philadelphia suburb. I've never gotten used to that, though I've lived here since I was a young wife.
Everything was young then. Even the houses were new. There were swing sets in backyards, basketball hoops in driveways. Shirtless dads mowed lawns, mothers in shorts pushed strollers, kids tooled around on bikes. I knew all of them back in those days. I watched the kids grow up and the parents grow old.
Then everything became young again.
Each morning, when I head down the street in my running shoes, my tee shirt and blue jeans, and my billed cap with the Environmental Law Clinic logo, people smile and wave at me. I don't know any of them -- these fathers with mowers, mothers with strollers, kids on bikes. Don't know one from the other. But they all know me.
I'm the Old Lady Who Walks.
Biographical Note: Jo Christian Babich grew up in Texas but has lived her adult life in New York and Pennsylvania. She is the author of the young adult novel Journey to Welcome (1995, Zinka Press), the story of a young girl from New York City during World War II, who must abruptly adjust to a small town in Texas hill country, living with relatives she has never met. Jo is currently putting finishing touches on the sequel, January at the Gate . For more information on her work, visit Zinka Press online. See Author Index A-K for more of her work.
We wondered where she lived.
Somewhere around here, I guess, Mother said. Thought I knew everybody in the neighborhood.
We never found out her name. To us, she was the Old Lady Who Walks.
I haven't thought about her for seven decades, but she popped into my head this morning, as I was walking down the street. There are no sidewalks here, in this Philadelphia suburb. I've never gotten used to that, though I've lived here since I was a young wife.
Everything was young then. Even the houses were new. There were swing sets in backyards, basketball hoops in driveways. Shirtless dads mowed lawns, mothers in shorts pushed strollers, kids tooled around on bikes. I knew all of them back in those days. I watched the kids grow up and the parents grow old.
Then everything became young again.
Each morning, when I head down the street in my running shoes, my tee shirt and blue jeans, and my billed cap with the Environmental Law Clinic logo, people smile and wave at me. I don't know any of them -- these fathers with mowers, mothers with strollers, kids on bikes. Don't know one from the other. But they all know me.
I'm the Old Lady Who Walks.
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Biographical Note: Jo Christian Babich grew up in Texas but has lived her adult life in New York and Pennsylvania. She is the author of the young adult novel Journey to Welcome (1995, Zinka Press), the story of a young girl from New York City during World War II, who must abruptly adjust to a small town in Texas hill country, living with relatives she has never met. Jo is currently putting finishing touches on the sequel, January at the Gate . For more information on her work, visit Zinka Press online. See Author Index A-K for more of her work.
