The seven never knew when to take Max seriously. One time after dinner he asked, “Who wants to go to the blanket show?” Thinking he was talking about going to the drive-in theater, they all exclaimed, “I do! I do!”
“Anyone who wants to go to the blanket show has five minutes to get their pajamas on.” Without hesitation, all seven raced to their bedrooms, slipped into their pajamas, grabbed their pillows, and dashed to the living room where Max was waiting.
Max chortled, “That was quick. Now go to bed.”
Millie complained, “What?! You said we were going to the blanket show. You mean we’re not going to see a movie?”
“Only the movie rolling on the back of your eyelids while you sleep, now go to bed.” Halfheartedly, each child departed to his
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Unless you knew how to do things, there was a lot of waiting in this family of seven children. Millie waited impatiently as her father tightened her sibling’s skates. She was perfectly capable of tightening her own skates; she just wasn’t able to pull the laces tight enough to support her ankles. Loose laces meant wobbly ankles and a painful skating experience.
The process of getting ready to ice skate took great thought. A forgotten glove in a downstairs bedroom meant skates had to be removed, as Hanna did not allow any of them to venture beyond the small hallway with sharp blades cutting into the linoleum, wooden floors, or carpet. At any given time, one of the seven was seen on their hands and knees, skates high off the floor, searching for a lost glove or worse yet, making a trip to the bathroom.
Finally getting her turn, Millie sat in the entryway lifting her left foot high in the air to Max’s waiting hands. He pulled the laces so tight the slow circulating blood in her feet tingled after a few moments of skating, but she didn’t care. With aspirations of becoming the next Dorothy Hamill, she was willing to endure any amount of pain in her