his face was so close to mine

Growing up in Chilliwack.....1945

My Grandmother....on Dads side...her name was Lydia....but I called her Grama....She lived in a town called La Raviere...I guess that means something in French...anyway that is in the general area in Manitoba that she raised 7 kids and a cousin...or maybe 8 kids and a cousin...my dad...Roy...was a twin...and he predeceased his sister (Beatrice) by hmm 6 years ?....Dad passed away in 1981 (born 1900 -July 12)...his name Roy Nelson Scales....I am not sure but I think that the twins were the youngest....my dad was a likable guy...he had the nickname of the "big scaler"...I guess this is going to be more about dad...I will do Grama later...He moved mum and my sister Faye to B.C. in 1936.....In 1934 or 35 he lost his family legacy in a garage venture that went bad...the Province decided to bypass the city of Carbury throwing a wrench into his Dodge dealership plans..... he then decided to move to B.C.in the Fall 1936, following relatives and friends that had immigrated earlier...They were in Vancouver for a short while...I was born there (1937)...then they moved to Chilliwack where he worked at Empress Service...it was located across from the Empress hotel on Princess Ave...... yes ...a likable, non violent guy...a little smaller than me ...we have the same hairdo...he loved his work....a mechanic with leanings toward the Dodge-Chrysler line...........When I was 4-7 years old we lived on Fletcher St. south...... In the summer a few times a week I would asked him for six cents for a popsicle...I would walk up a block from our house to Johnson Palmer Motors (where the Post Office is now )...... in through the big doors on the side and look for my dad...he was usually draped over a fender searching out a problem, a trouble light glowing (a light on the end of a cord..with a metal cage around it...)..there would be a cigarette sticking out of the centre of his mouth..with an ash on it that defied gravity....always long to the point of finally dropping off and then creating one more before the smoke was done....hello.. what do you want...( he had to jive me a bit before he gave in...) can I have six cents for a popsicle...?...hmmm looking me in the eye...wadda ya think I'm made of money?.....I can remember he bent down and stuck his face close to mine with a scowl on it...the other mechanics were watching...they always did..."why do you think I should give you six cents today"....he had me stumped...then for some reason...maybe because his face was so close to mine..I said..."because... you have a special nose"...well for some reason the place broke up...but I got my six cents..dad told mum..and she told everybody with a pulse...........Dad had some chickens in a pen at the back of the sawdust garage...they were called Speckled Hamburgs...kinda different..black with white spots..maybe white with black spots...the roosters were very regal..and had a big rose comb and long arcing tail feathers...they were very special to him...I can remember driving near Bellingham to buy the eggs. He borrowed a "setter".... a big brown chicken.......she set on the eggs until they hatched.....these cute little yellow chicks pecked there way out.....I waited and watched the whole procedure ....hey that was also pretty special.