Life Saver Angels

Aunt Tabby, and Uncle Roger lived in a house in town, in Armadillo Creek, when Johnny Miller was very young. They had a couple of acres, fronting Elm Street, and had built two houses, one that they lived in, and the other that they rented out for extra income. Back behind the rent house was a garden area, edging up to the woods at the base of the mountain. Come spring and summer, they'd spend quite a lot of time growing - just not on the scale that they used to when they lived out on the farm.

Johnny Miller would go with his family over to their house frequently. There were little things about the house, different from the old farmhouse that Johnny lived in. Like, no matter the time of year, there was always the faint, acrid smell that accompanied the pilot light on the propane heater. The walls were covered in wood paneling. There were three bedrooms, and a small bathroom. Johnny was not allowed to flush the toilet, there, unless it was really needed, because it "wasted water". Back on the farm, they had a well, but here in town, water had to be paid for. On the back part of the house was an "add-on" room, with lots of windows, where Aunt Tabby would do all sorts of crafts.

One of Johnny's earliest memories was of coming over to their house, and Tommy and he were allowed to try out Uncle Roger's gun. It was a Daisy BB Gun, and they'd sit on the porch, and shoot at an old Prince Albert can tacked onto the young sycamore tree in the front yard, after first ensuring that no cars were coming by. Another time, he and Tommy were allowed to go along with Uncle Roger to Hap's Grocery store, over along the main highway through town. Uncle Roger gave them each a half a piece of gum, but young Johnny quickly chewed his up and swallowed it, and there was no more given.

The food at their Aunt and Uncle's house was always good, and there was always plenty there for them. One favorite was the fried pies, with a thin layer of dough on the outside, and a fruity filling in the middle. There was nothing quite like a homemade fried pie. On one occasion, in the evening following one of the annual family reunions, there was a pineapple served, and even though he had eaten like a pig of both real food and desert, Johnny just had to have a rather large share of the pineapple. It didn't last too long - that night, all the food together created an explosive situation!

One of his favorite things was to go along with his Dad to cut down Aunt Tabby's Christmas tree. At home, Johnny's family had an artificial tree, and that worked, too. There was tradition there, pulling that old tree out of the box, and putting the various limbs into the holes in the wooden stem of the tree, until the tree was put together, and then stringing the tensil and lights around and around till the whole thing was as pretty as a real one.

But Uncle Roger and Aunt Tabby would have the fresh one. Tommy and Johnny's Dad would go and cut a fresh tree, somewhere, and by the time Christmas day rolled around, Aunt Tabby would have it decorated with lots of goodies. From strands of popcorn or something similar, to the traditional decorations, and something Little Johnny never found elsewhere. Something special for the kids. Life Saver Angels.

She would take the little tubes of life savers, 5 or 6 life savers in length, and make decorations. She'd glue felt around the outside, either red, or green. Then, using pipe cleaners or popsicle sticks, or similar items, create arms, legs, wings, whatever was appropriate, for both the Life Saver Angels, and Life Saver Reindeer.

Looking back, Johnny Miller would one day regret that he didn't keep some of them, but in that simple day and time, it sure was a treat to finally pull them apart on Christmas morning, and eat a red, or orange, or his personal favorite, a green lifesaver.