Intoxication

When we four were growing up Mom kept her extra money in an "Intoxication" powder box in the closet in her room. "Intoxication" was the perfume she wore at that time. Before there had been Elizabeth Arden's"Blue Grass" and "Flattery," by a now-forgotten maker.

There was very little extra money in the powder box. If you asked Mom for money, she would

say, "See what's in the powder box." Sometimes you would get lucky and on other occasions

you'd come empty.

Dad put all the cash in various envelopes: Groceries, Utilities, Church, etc. The money in the Entertainment envelope was to cover cigarettes, Dad's lunches, and chewing gum. Of course,

cigarettes only cost 25 cents pack.

The grocery envelope was the most magical. Somehow, Mom fed six people, two of them

teenage boys, on $25.00 a week. Mom used to refer to the boys as "eating machines" and

once made the statement, "I buy soda every week and all you ever do is drink it."

Even though it was some what of a gamble to get spending money from the powder box,

I wish I had one now, of course, with cost of living adjustments.