AUNT RENE

Aunt Rene and Uncle Charles came to visit us every year or so when they lived near Harrisburg, and then they moved to Hallandale Florida. Much to her sister's dismay, they bought a house a few doors away from my grandmother, who thought that her sister Rene was crazy from the get go. My family always thought she was unusual, and even though she was my Dad's aunt...he always told people she was my mother's. Uncle Charles would often just stare at her or whisper softly "she drives me NUTS". Uncle Charles was kind and patient to the rest of the world...but I often thought that he'd like to strangle Aunt Rene.

My DAD'S aunt was pretty...beautiful white hair that always looked perfectly coiffed, and a good body her whole life. She dressed nicely, and took good care of herself. She was always hard of hearing as long as I can remember.

Although she spent a fortune for a top of the line hearing aid, she never wore it because she wanted to save the battery...hence communication with her was always difficult, frustrating, or totally impossible. When I introduced her to a friend from Kittaning, her response was " Oh I love Canada." Any time anyone would correct her....she'd become immediately angry and make her famous sound. The written word just can't quite describe her special sound...kind of a squawk like a parrot maybe, or a sound you might make when you take a spoonful of some awful medicine...like AHHH! Aunt Rene didn't actually speak much at all....while there was nothing at all wrong with her vocal abilities, she just chose to use sounds instead of words. If you showed her a nice photo for instance, she might give out a soft little squawk, but when her dog would sneak out the front door when she went to get the paper...she'd make the same sound magnified about a thousand times.

Her dog had an unpronounceable and un-spellable name. It sounded something like Kitzie...or Zitzie...but she said it didn't start with a K or a Z. Actually his name was Ruffie...but neither Aunt Rene or anyone else ever called him that. People were always saying " what's that dog's name?" and she'd say Ditzie...but no....that's not spelled with a D. The dog was constantly trying to run away...and Aunt Rene was constantly squawking his name. Uncle Charles told me once that he didn't blame the dog at all.

Her other pet was Peter the parakeet. He didn't last long in spite of Aunt Rene's CONSTANT attention. She sit by his cage and say " What's the matter Peter?"...like all day long. Over and over...and loud enough that I could hear her when I was on my way to her house from my grandmother's. When I asked if he was sick or something she said of course not....I'm just talking to him. I always wondered if Peter was just paralyzed with bird fear from her constant loud questioning. Alas and alack, one day the questions stopped, and Peter's cage was empty. When I inquired about his whereabouts, Aunt Rene just said "Poor Peter...he was a sweet little thing"...." But where is he? I asked. " Sat on him." Poor Peter indeed. Maybe that was what wrong with him all along...some sort of a parakeet premonition.   ( part 2 of Aunt Rene tomorrow.)