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friend and in sorrow for his passing. Relations with our other grandfather were more difficult. He was even a little older than Grandfather Brooks and he too was always found sitting in his rocking chair. But he was very hard of hearing and, in addition to his ivory- headed cane, he crossed out: also kept an ear-trumpet within reach. Being told to go and say how-do- you-do to Grandfather, I would approach shyly & murmur the formula, foreseeing the embarrassing "Eh?" and the black throat of the trumpet thrust toward me, but unable to do anything about it. Bewildering also crossed out: was were Grandmother and her two sisters, a series of little old ladies no taller than I who wore black dresses and false fronts of fuzzy blonde hair. One after the other, these would come slowly down the long flight of creaking heavily carpeted stairs, Grandmother in the lead.

I stood at the bottom and curtsied to each crossed out: one as she got to the last step.