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Watchin’ Banana

In last week’s Friday Flashback, Linda asked about our bedtime rituals, and I was too tired to conjure up any really good memories.  I just wrote a ho-hum post and made do.  Since then I have resurrected a memory I’d like to share.  I may have shared this in the past, but if so, I couldn’t find it.  I know this story not from my own memory, but because my grandmother told it to me:

When I was very small — I had to be about 3 since we still lived in the big red house in Spokane — I was always sent to bed when Bonanza came on TV.  Apparently I really liked the show, which I called, Banana, and I would cry and pitch a fit.

My brother liked the show, too.  He would sneak out of his bed and sit at the top of the stairs where he could peek around the corner at the TV set.  Apparently I joined him at least once in this illicit TV watching and managed to fall asleep and roll down the stairs. In so doing I put an end to any and all late night TV watching by my siblings or myself, because my dad got a huge mirror and hung it over the TV set so he could watch the staircase and the TV at the same time.

20 Comments

    1. Kay — when I got older, Gram used to let me stay up one hour past my bedtime to watch Bonanza. I loved it until, probably, the 6th or 7th year of re-runs!

  2. Those smaller siblings have a knack for blowing the deal! Your brother must have been totally absorbed in the show to not grab you before the thumping started!

    What a great story, Q~

    1. Linda — actually, I was! My grandmother said that my brother — 8 years my senior — let me follow him anywhere and everywhere and he took very good care of me.

      1. Well, I didn’t smile (much) about your bounce down the stairs 😉 but your dad’s smarts in putting a mirror up to catch you guys was perfect!

        Okay, I admit it. I am now snickering about the thought of you falling asleep and bouncing down the stairs. (And hoping that you didn’t get hurt!)

  6. LOL! Clever Dad! Though I am sure your brother was not happy about it. I had sat out this Flashback because I couldn’t remember any bedtime rituals, but one bedtime incident I did remember was similar to yours, only it involved an Elvis Presley movie. I don’t remember having stairs, but I must’ve sat by the door. I wondered years later if they knew I was there but let me stay — my mother would have, but I don’t think my dad would! Glad you survived your fall with no further injury than the end of secret stairway TV viewing!

    1. Barbara — I believe my tumble was upsetting to all of my siblings, even the ones not on the stairs that particular evening. That mirror was very clever and it put an end to many clandestine activities.

    1. Mar — you do realize that you just called a memory of a baby falling down a set of stairs “cute”? 😉 I’ll take that as a tribute to my writing.

  9. That’s such a wonderful childhood story! I’m glad you were okay.

    Now every time my kids fall down the stairs I’ll have the theme song in my head —

    My aunt had a pair of toy poodles and when they had puppies, the family named them after the Bonanza characters. You don’t meet a toy poodle named “Hoss” every day.

  10. What a hoot! 🙂 I remember being sent to bed right when the “good stuff” came on too! My room was over the living room so I would frequently listen even though I couldn’t watch!

  11. Well Quilly, my story is not so much a bedtime ritual, but you did mention bedtime and stairs and the story that came to mind was…
    My brother and I taking a mattress off of my bunkbed and using it to slide down our stairs. It was great fun until mom and dad returned home as we made our approach at the bottom of the landing. After that one of us would ride, while the other watched for mom and dad driving up the drive way. Wow, I haven’t thought about that in a long time. Thanks 🙂

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