All It Needed Was A Little Freon

Once dad came into some money and we got us a great big old used upright deep freezer. We put it in Ralphie’s “room” just off the kitchen. And we started fillin’ it up. We didn’t can so many vegetables that year ’cause dad said they’d come outta the freezer so fresh we’d think it was June in January. We were so inspired by the freezer. Dad even got little special bags and boxes ’cause he’d heard about freezer burn and didn’t want to risk it.

It was fun bringin’ in vegetables from our garden at gramma’s and packaging everything up properly. Dad would start the ball rollin’ and then head out for a beer. We loved snappin’ the green beans, huskin’ the corn, slicin’ the carrots. Dad even brought home extra meat when he could. A pork shoulder, then a chuck roast, hamburger that we shaped into patties, chicken legs and sausage. And we even bagged up all the surplus bass and blue gill that we caught. I would be at school thinkin’ . . . we got it made . . . we have food at home and our supper will taste so good.

But that stupid freezer didn’t even run 6 months. I came in one afternoon and mom was in tears. She was moppin’ and cussin’. All our food was on the table, spoiled and stinkin’ . . . water runnin’ everywhere. The only stuff we could eat was the peaches and strawberries. Everything else we had to throw out. Couldn’t even give the meat to the dog . . . it was so green and rotten. Dad just said, “I’ll be god damned.” He stood there with a cigarette lookin’ at the mess . . . shakin’ his head. That freezer sat there unplugged for years. We went back to cannin’ . . . it was safer in the long run.