Fridays

Fridays were always an exciting day of the week for me. Daddy got paid on Friday and we went shopping. During the school year, I couldn't go shopping with them because I was in school while Daddy was home and he was at work when I was home.
Every night at 8 p.m. Daddy would call home. Mom sat at the desk with her knitting or crocheting waiting for the phone call. They would talk for 10 minutes or so. On Fridays, I talked to Daddy. He would ask me how my day was then he would send me on a treasure hunt. I would have to run up the stairs twice or do three somersaults or spin around and count to ten then when completed I was sent to the bookshelf or mantle to search for a prize. It was usually candy and comic books. Then I would come back to the phone and report.
If I had gotten 5 'A's' that week from school, I would get a special prize. I had to bring the 'A' papers home to show my work. That meant extra hunts around the house.
I loved getting the prizes, but it was more important to me to have that extra connection with my dad. I knew he was smiling. I was certainly smiling.
The treasure hunts ended when I was about 14. I had gotten a bad mark on my report card. Daddy was so disappointed in my lack of effort at school. He wanted to impress upon me the importance of hard work. No one gets a free lunch. The hunts stopped.
My grades improved, but Daddy felt I was too old for the game anymore. Sometimes growing up isn't so fun.