Saturday, January 26, 2008

Millie and Tillie Debut

Well - my friend Heather, who has a two year old and eight month old twins, wanted to see one of my stories about Millie and Tillie. Now let me tell you - my sister Jane has great stories too and she should post some for you. My Mom used to tell us these stories (Daffy and Dandy show up for boy stories when needed.) Whenever we were going anywhere - the doctor's office, shopping, to the Aunts, a Millie and Tillie story would be told on the way - there was never any doubt as to the outcome of good or bad behavior. Millie and Tillie stories have been told in the courthouse waiting for a traffic ticket hearing - in the delivery room - waiting for Sheala to be born - and several have been told to Robbie and Sheala - any time at all is a good time for a Millie and Tillie story! Enjoy! YOU CAN HEAR NANA TELL THIS STORY BY CLICKING ON THE SIDEBAR!
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Once upon a time there were two sisters named Millie and Tillie. Millie usually acted quite good even in difficult situations and Tillie acted very bad most of the time even when there weren’t any “situations.”

Millie smiled every time someone came into the room. Millie was very careful playing with her toys and when friends came to play with Millie they also were very gentle with her toys; as a result of that she was very happy to share her toys with her friends.

Tillie NEVER wanted to share anything and she usually frowned when someone came to visit because she was afraid someone would break her toys. Tillie was very rough with her toys. The doll she received from her aunt last Christmas had a broken arm and the wig was pulled off so Tillie could perform an operation on it on New Years Day. Usually, when friends came over to visit with Tillie they were just as rough with the toys.

One day, Mother told Millie and Tillie that her friend from long ago was coming to visit and she was bringing her three boys with her for a few days. Millie would have to move into Tillie’s room and give up her bedroom because she had the extra bed in her room. Millie was a little upset that she had to give her room to the boys and she went into the kitchen to talk with her Mom. She told her Mom that she was worried the boys might be tempted to play with her doll collection and they may not be very careful with the dolls. Mom looked at Tillie running through the living room swinging her doll by the one arm she had left, and agreed with Millie. So they carefully packed Millie’s doll collection in a big box and put it in the attic.

When the boys came to visit they had a very nice time. When they played with Millie they sat at the kitchen table and played store. Mother would let them use the cans of food in the pantry and they would have a wonderful time. They would scan the food across a box and then pack the groceries into a big brown sack. Then one of the boys would take the food home and put it back on the pantry shelf. It was great fun. Mother looked in on them once and was pleased to see how happy they were and how well they all played together.

Tillie never wanted to play store, she said that was for babies. When Tillie played with the boys they usually played tag. They would all run around the living room until someone would run into the lamp or a table and either hurt their head or break the lamp. Today, it was the lamp. Mother came into the room and stopped the game of tag and told all the kids it was time for a much needed rest until dinnertime. Tillie hated rest time and she cried all the way to the bedroom, where she found Millie reading a book. She was not very happy to be in the bedroom with Millie and she cried and cried and cried until she finally fell asleep.

After the family went home, Millie moved back into her room and put her beautiful doll collection back on the window seat. That night at the dinner table Mother said it had been a wonderful visit with her friend and they would all go to visit at their house next year. Tillie thought of all the toys she would have a chance to play with and Millie thought about how nice it would be to visit with her friends again.

4 comments:

Sarah said...

Millie and Tillie!!! I remember those so well. They are such a fond memory of growing up. I loved mom's book, in fact maybe we should encourage her to try to publish it again, or maybe you all could try another one together???

Jane said...

Hurray Millie and Tillie!! Sarah - it made me think of my book too. I really need to get that out and send it to publishers.

Love it, mesc!

Heather said...

I was so excited to read your story! Hopefully my girls will love it as much as you did as a child:-) I can't wait to tell Olivia her first Millie and Tille story -although I may have to add a third - maybe Billie or Nillie! Thanks for sharing:-)

Mary Andrews said...

Does anyone remember Brenda and Cobena? They were the aunts Millie and Tillie.