Holidays, that’s all I could think of. My elderly neighbor Ciss, was a feisty 85 year old Irishwoman. She invited me to accompany her to Clearwater, Florida where she had bought a trailer and she wanted to drive down sometime in September for a visit. I accepted her invitation and we settled on a date. I agreed that I would do the driving. Ciss owned an old Nash Rambler. Her late husband had been an auto car mechanic and had made modifications to it. It was in first class shape but it was a heavy model built like a tank.

As I had only earned my Driver’s License the month before I was not too eager to test the old antique.

Finally the day of departure arrived. I hurried home to pack my swim suit along with a few other articles in the duffel bag reserved for such occasions.

Ciss and I lived side by side in a semidetached house in Toronto and had become close friends. I was pleased when she told me that she had been to Florida and bought a trailer. She was very excited. This was a first for her. Her husband, Tommy had been the breadwinner making any and all important decisions such as this. Unfortunately Tommy had passed away and she found she didn’t have a clue regarding business transactions including writing a simple cheque.

I was packed and ready on the Friday afternoon; waiting for Ciss to let me know when she was ready for me. Finally I walked over to find out what the delay was all about, and as I approached the car parked in her driveway I could see that it was loaded and sat very low, so low I thought perhaps the tires had blown. Then I peered through the windows and saw that it was piled high with all sorts of items. I was a little alarmed as it appeared there was no room for our baggage.

I called Ciss and asked her to explain what this was all about. She in turn told me all about her good friend Peggy who also owned a trailer in Florida. She had asked her as a favor to transport all the articles in the back seat.

“Well then,” I asked, “what about the trunk?” Ciss looked at me ruefully and again, pointing to a very packed and full trunk explained that Peggy, her friend had asked as a favor to cart her “family silver” with us in order to meet with her son, coming to Florida from England, who in turn would be taking the suitcase full of heavy silver consisting of a full set of silverware, tray, teapot, coffee pot, urn, etc. etc., to England when he returned there.