Dinnnnnn errrrrr
They had a dinner bell.
A big, black dinner bell.
They clanked it in the evening
& every child who belonged in that house scurried on home for dinner.
I was jealous.
What a cool bell.
Wish we had one.
Clank. Clank.
No dinner bell at our house.
Nope.
We would get a good ol holler out the door.
“Call (fill in name) home for dinner” Mom or Dad would say
& whichever kid was available to stick a head out the door would give the yell.
A sing songy “Time for dinnnnnn errrrrr !!” accompanied the name.
Usually had to sing it a time or two before a faint “I’m coming ….!” responded.
Quite often, there were multiple names echoing throughout the neighborhood.
Other families with just as many children would be hollering out their roll call too.
We would all hurry home
& after dinner, we would all hurry back to pick up where we left off.
When the street lights came on, we knew it wouldn’t be long before those names would be called again.
“Time to come home !!” would serenade the streets
& we’d tread back to our houses.
Exhausted from a hard day of doing whatever we were doing that day.
I don’t remember if the dinner bell was clanked during the nightly call home.
Hmmmm.
I’ll bet it was …
Looking back now though, with older, wiser, sincere and appreciative eyeballs I can happily say, I am no longer envious of the big ol, black bell.
That sing songy voice calling out my name was an infinitely more priceless possession.
For. Sure.
Dinnnnnn errrrrr ! !
🙂