44 Sarah Oba
Underneath It All The second instalment from Sarah’s heart-warming childhood memoir.
As soon as school was dismissed at York Elementary, I exited the front entrance with its massive white columns, descended the stairs, and walked on the sidewalk in the direction of Divine Savior Hospital. The jingle ‘Step on a crack, break your mother’s back’ danced through my mind, and I did my level best not to step on one. There were times I must confess that I stepped on every crack for those two blocks if I was upset with her. I waited for my mother in the nursing home lobby where minors under the age of twelve were allowed. One of the residents, Mr. Epps, would kindly greet me with a special-order red-andwhite-swirled peppermint stick. Even in the afternoon, all the residents at Divine Savior were dressed in their pajamas, and Mr. Epps was no exception. A war veteran, he wore a homemade striped flannel nightshirt over his two stumps. My father was also an amputee and so the absence of legs was nothing unusual to me. And Mr. Epps made sure the ‘crazy lady in the wheelchair’ who collected dolls – and wanted to add me to her collection – was steered towards another part of the building. Mr. Epps would chat with me until my mother appeared from the hospital wing. Gliding with grace down the corridor, my mother, Opal, was an angelic vision – dressing in white being a strict requirement of her twenty-five-year-long nursing career spanning a period from 1950 until her death from a terminal illness in 1975. Her chosen profession necessitated a uniform of pure white from head to foot. Her linen nursing caps reminded me of the crisp starched dinner napkins used in the formal family dining room. A regular regimen of ironing was required, until the early seventies brought a few modernizations with polyester wash-and-wear as well as the advent of comfortable pantsuits and orthopedic walking shoes. White nylons were replaced with white knee-high stockings, a welcome wardrobe addition. Her nursing shoes, white, of course, were polished again and again to help extend their lifespan. Underneath was an array of white undergarments that supported her angelic image – a white brazier, white girdle, white slip and white satin panties, as well as translucent or white
