Whistle You to Work

Father-In Law was an amazingly patient man.

Kind. Loving.

He was always so.

These qualities were especially apparent during one experience shortly after he and Mother-in-Law were married. . .

The two of them had settled in a former granary on FIL’s Mother’s farm.

Now Great-Grandma was an ‘in-charge’ sort of person.

And she happily took charge of this new little family.

Very early every morning, she would appear at the side door of her house, walking in the direction of her son’s little home.

Did she softly call to make sure the young couple was ‘up-and-at-em’?

Nope.

She blew a whistle.

A loud whistle.

Now I’ve heard of some annoying alarm clocks in my time.

Certainly I’ve chucked a few because they were too . . . erm . . . efficient.

But how do you stop a mother/mother-in-law? Okay, yes, there are probably times when you wouldn’t mind a more forceful resolution, but let’s be practical.

People would notice a M/MIL (see above) if they’d been set out with the trash for pick-up.

Am I right?

So back to the whistle . . .

FIL found a unique solution.

He swiped that whistle in an unguarded moment.

And tossed it into the flour bin.

The one that was full of flour.

That flour bin.

For weeks, Great Grandma searched for that whistle.

But came up whistle-less. So to speak.

Then one morning, fairly early, the shrill single tone was again heard.

“Oops,” FIL said. “Looks like Mother needs her flour bin filled.”

Yeah. That probably wouldn’t have been my reaction.