Tape 2: A Christmas letter
Agnes tells of her fall at Rose's house
Tap any word below to hear it from there.
That is the end.
Now alone with the microphone, Agnes tells the whole story herself: she went to get a glass of milk, tripped over the little hump and slid face-first into the rug, and got a swollen face and a black eye. The little boy said he'd be her doctor and tried to wipe the blood. She ended up with Tylenol from the nurses and slept until 5 o'clock, and her only worry was how upset Rose would be.
This story is part of Tape 2. You can hear it there at 15:32, along with everything around it.
What Agnes says
Words in light grey italics were hard to hear, so they may not be exact.
Is it, you kid? Oh, yeah, he's talking. Can I say a nice holiday to you, sweetheart? We are all done with the kids. And they had the biggest time of their life saying it in there. But they were saying into the box, with their mouths right next to the thing, the littlest one.
He didn't see you, but he thought that you would be there. And so he was saying, and he was saying, he says, my wristwatch, he told me and everything. And I made a mistake. Oh, I hope you can hear it.
I made a mistake, and she showed me her new linoleum. And then she went to Brill. At the time she went to Brill, he was milking cows. He was going to go and play ball in Rice Lake. And just then I went over to get a glass of milk.
And I cannot tell you what happened to the milk because it must have splattered and went someplace. And I fell down over that little hump and right on the rug. you know how the rug is and so I slid down the rug with my face and my my thing is kind of swollen and stuff and I got a very green green eyes and blue eyes and everything after all this she didn't know it she didn't see it Chris didn't or I meant a Rosa didn't so she's coming over today to see I hope she don't get upset too much because when it happened to me,
it was just a few minutes and the boy says he's going to be my doctor and everything and he was getting the blood from my face and everything and she come just in from Brill and so she, you know, she got upset a little too much.
But I told her, I said, I tell you what, I'll pick up my junk and I'll go with your husband and I'll have all the nurses she's got to come right away you know so he was all dressed ready to go play ball and the oldest boy he went with him and I says how the heck you're going to play ball and think of your child on the bleachers and he says I got lots of friends they'll take care of him nice and so So we went right off the bed, and I got to the heritage, and the nurse got a hold of me, and
she gave me some Tylenol and stopped the blood and put something on it and everything. I went to bed, and I slept until 5 o 'clock. So I was okay. I didn't have no headache from the fall or nothing.
So today I'm going to find out where did that glass of milk? went when i tripped and i fell like a shot into the rug or into the rug well lucky it was a right because otherwise i would have been banged up bad but uh the rug was quite quite high and i just slid down my face in the rug until i got up and so my my leg is a little bit sore not too much but my head was the worst and everybody calls me chipmunk and everything else because I look terrible but it'll be all right I just hope that she don't get
too too upset and and she was telling me that Joey you know Joey he he made something bad at home and his father caught him at it and stuff and with some other guys that at two o 'clock come with the stuff that they hound up or swiped or something with another guy so your father chased him out and all that and so he is father and mother are going to the judge to to the place and see what the judge will say and he thinks that the judge will put him in a good place for a couple of months or two, three months, or
four months or something.