"Cores"

Grandma Hilda had strong feelings about Alice, the daughter of old Gussie Busch. First, as

usual, a little background is needed. Evidently, there was a custom in her neighborhood, if

you had an apple, and were eating among friends, one of them could call "cores" and that person would be entitled to have what was left on the core. Talk about hard times.

It was the custom to leave a nice chunk on the apple for whoever called "cores." Grandma complained about one girl who ate the apple right down to core and it was common

knowledge not to call "cores" on this girl.

This is where Alice Busch, comes into the picture. Every time Hilda saw one of us eating an apple, she would tell this story. "That Busch girl never came to play with us. She would stay in her front yard, all dressed up, and swing back and forth on the gate. She would stick her tongue out at us tell us how rich she was and how poor we were. One day she was eating an apple when we walked by. She said, 'doesn't anyone want to call cores?' One girl said okay, I'll call cores. So we waited for Alice to give it to this gal. Instead of saving her a little, that Busch girl stood there and ate that whole apple, the entire core and the seeds."

Personally, I can't tell the difference between Busch and Cores.