STORIES: All that Meat and No Potatoes

All that meat and no potatoes

(the song All that meat and no potatoes was recorded by Fats Waller -  but I wrote this piece about my grandfather as it may have been recounted by my mother - C Haynes)

Pa was a simple man of few words.  Despite the machismo shown by virtually every other member of his gender in our small part of the world (the immigrant Cape Verdean community) he let Ma make all of the decisions around the house.  His role was simply to wake up, put on his clothes, and go to work.  At night he would return, eat his supper, and go to sleep.  On Wednesdays and Saturdays he would change his routine slightly in that he would fill up the tub with water and bathe.  And it is true that on Sundays he would go to early mass and then sit in the yard in his Adirondack rocker for the remainder of the day.

Pa appeared in the yard as a stately vision.  His high cheekbones and hat tipped just so surely let people know that though he was a man of little education he had come from a regal line.  When he saw me, of course, his bright smile would appear on his dark face and he would give me a nickel for an ice cream cone or some penny candies.  I would thank him and he would nod.

It must have been 1938 when on a Saturday Pa abandoned his usual routine.  He got up from a chair in the kitchen and told me and Antonia to "nos bai" which means to "come on".  The he quickly left out of the back door.  Antonia and I were so surprised at his sudden command that he had gotten down the stairs and out of the door before we had left our seats.  We eventually caught up with him on the street but he continued to walk so fast that Antonia and I were reduced to pleading "Pa, wait up" and "Wait up Pa!!!!". 

Pa finally did wait up when he stopped at the theatre in downtown Purchase Street.  He bought tickets for himself, Antonia, and me and we all went inside to see a matinee.

Antonia and I couldn't figure out why Pa would want to see an American movie since he didn't understand English all that well, if at all.  We girls enjoyed the movie though.

No sooner than the feature had ended Pa got up and left the theatre. We again ran after him but managed to keep up with him this time. 

Next, Pa stopped at the mercantile store where he bought, of all things, a Victrola and two phonograph records.

We more slowly walked the eight blocks home with Pa carrying a big box containing this precious load. 

I can't tell you how many times we played those two records on that Victrola, especially the one I liked best - All That Meat And No Potatoes.

After that day Pa pretty much spent the rest of his life in his familiar routine; first going to work and sitting in the yard and eventually just sitting in the yard. 

I don't suppose that I will ever hear the song "All that meat and no potatoes" again but if I ever do I will surely think of Pa. 

  Pa and granddaughter - me

                        in front of 323 Purchase Street, New Bedford.