TexasEscapes.com 
HOME : : NEW : : TEXAS TOWNS : : GHOST TOWNS : : TEXAS HOTELS : : FEATURES : : COLUMNS : : BUILDINGS : : IMAGES : : ARCHIVE : : SITE MAP
PEOPLE : : PLACES : : THINGS : : HOTELS : : VACATION PACKAGES
Texas Escapes
Online Magazine
Texas Towns by Region
  • Texas Hill Country
  • Central Texas North
  • Central Texas South
  • South Texas
  • East Texas
  • West Texas
  • Texas Panhandle
  • Texas Gulf Coast
    Texas Towns A - Z
    Over 2800 Towns

    Texas Ghost Towns
    Over 800 Ghost Towns

    Book Hotels
  • Beaumont Hotels
    Find Hotel Deals in Beaumont, Texas
    Book Here
    Texas | Columns | "True Confessions and Mild Obsessions"

    HONOR AMONG THIEVES
    or
    Stealing Mrs. Nita's Pears

    by Frances Giles
    Everyday life on Emile Street in Beaumont in the 1950's was pretty ordinary for a child, mainly consisting of playing outside with the neighborhood kids when school was out, but it had the occasional high point, notably the appearance of pears, specifically, our next door neighbor's pears. Few among our juvenile set could resist the hypnotic pull of those huge, bright green, tough skinned, crunchy, juice running in rivulets down the chin pendulums of pleasure. These weren't the soft, juicy Bosc pears from Weingarten's, Evans' or the Henke & Pillot grocery stores. This was fruit of heroic proportions.
    Pears
    Photo courtesy Julie Clark
    Our neighbor, Mrs. Juanita Tomlinson, lived in a very neat white frame house with maroon trim and kept a very tidy yard, lots of thick, succulent, deep green, carpet-like San Augustine grass that she mowed herself, some dark, dense evergreen shrubs in front and, running alongside our driveway leading to the detached garage, several sturdy pear trees, the object of greedy little eyes when the pears put in their annual appearance. I don't remember that those trees were ever very tall, but they were hardy. My brother Butch and I had been taught to treat her and other adults politely and we were allowed to call her Mrs. Nita. She and my mother and aunt shared occasional cups of coffee and a chat. Sometimes she shared watermelon with us or other treats by calling out her back door for one or the other of us to come get whatever it was, and when Mama's figs ripened or she had baked a cake, she shared those with Mrs. Nita.

    Mrs. Nita used to tell our mother how much she liked Butch and me because we were such sweet and polite children. Now lest you have the mistaken idea that we were paragons of virtue, I'll readily confess to the usual kid's antics, running in the front door through to the kitchen followed by 1-7 peers clomping along behind, with a stop for water at the fridge, every pair of lips to the same bottle, then out the (slammed) back door, only to return in an hour or two to repeat the performance. We could be loud, too, really loud. We fell out of the chinaberry tree that we'd been told not to climb, well, Butch did, poked tiny holes in the front screen until the hole got big enough to poke a finger through, whereupon said digit was stung by a yellow jacket (me), and when it was jerked back through the hole, the wire prongs shredded that poor little finger, doubling the agony. I got a good bit of sympathy for that. (“I told you not to poke a hole in the screen. That's what you get for not minding.”) But one thing we did NOT do was climb those pear trees. No, sirree. Mrs. Nita had told our mother often enough how much she disliked it when neighborhood kids sneaked into her yard, climbed the trees and broke the branches. She really didn't mind if we picked up the pears that fell to the ground and there were always plenty of those to go around. The snag was our mother told us we couldn't even pick up the pears on the ground without asking first because anything else was considered stealing and “I'd better not catch you doing that, do you hear me?” I'll say this for her, she was pretty consistent. If you were told a couple of times not to do something because you were going to “get it” and you still flew in the face of all good reason, then you got it.

    We loved those pears, did Butch and I. They played an irresistible siren song through all of the weeks they were ripe. Even before they were fully ripe they called out “Sissy! Over here!!” and “Butch! Hey, Butch, it's us, the pears! “ and “Step right up! Getcher big juicy pears right here.”

    Oh, what to do? What to do? We were pretty bashful kids outside of our own yard when dealing one on one with grown ups, but we did want access to those pears. We settled between us that we would go knock on Mrs. Nita's back door together. As for which of us came up with our snappy verbal approach, I really don't remember, but thereafter we showed up at her door regularly with “Mrs. Nita, can we steal some of your pears?” I don't think she ever refused us and I figure she must have had a good laugh once the door was shut. For us, I think it was worth the bellyaches we endured from eating too many pears at a time, clearly a case of being delighted with, rather than to, the very fiber of our beings.


    © Frances Giles
    "True Confessions and Mild Obsessions" October 5, 2012 Column
    Related Topics: Beaumont
    People | Columns | Texas Town List | Texas
    Texas Escapes, in its purpose to preserve historic, endangered and vanishing Texas, asks that anyone wishing to share their local history, stories, and vintage/historic photos, please contact us.
    Custom Search
    Beaumont Hotels
    Find Hotel Deals in Beaumont, Texas
    Book Here
    TEXAS ESCAPES CONTENTS
    HOME | TEXAS ESCAPES ONLINE MAGAZINE | HOTELS | SEARCH SITE
    TEXAS TOWN LIST | TEXAS GHOST TOWNS | TEXAS COUNTIES

    Texas Hill Country | East Texas | Central Texas North | Central Texas South | West Texas | Texas Panhandle | South Texas | Texas Gulf Coast
    TRIPS | STATES PARKS | RIVERS | LAKES | DRIVES | FORTS | MAPS

    Texas Attractions
    TEXAS FEATURES
    People | Ghosts | Historic Trees | Cemeteries | Small Town Sagas | WWII | History | Texas Centennial | Black History | Art | Music | Animals | Books | Food
    COLUMNS : History, Humor, Topical and Opinion

    TEXAS ARCHITECTURE | IMAGES
    Courthouses | Jails | Churches | Gas Stations | Schoolhouses | Bridges | Theaters | Monuments/Statues | Depots | Water Towers | Post Offices | Grain Elevators | Lodges | Museums | Rooms with a Past | Gargoyles | Cornerstones | Pitted Dates | Stores | Banks | Drive-by Architecture | Signs | Ghost Signs | Old Neon | Murals | Then & Now
    Vintage Photos

    TRAVEL RESERVATIONS | USA | MEXICO

    Privacy Statement | Disclaimer | Contributors | Staff | Contact TE
    Website Content Copyright ©1998-2013. Texas Escapes - Blueprints For Travel, LLC. All Rights Reserved