Chapter Eleven
When Richie was sixteen, Margaret put him to work on weekends at her mother’s Sunshine laundry. Margaret didn’t go in on Saturdays. Richie’s grandmother came by and picked up Richie. She tied him into an over-sized striped ticking apron, which he proudly wore because it made him look and feel as if he was one of his grandmother’s employees. She taught him how to use a Maytag and run the wash through the wringer without breaking buttons.
The fact that Richie’s mother and grandmother still spanked him amused the women who worked for his grandmother. At the same time, they approved of and supported their employer’s philosophy of maternal discipline. Had Richie’s grandmother allowed them, they would have spanked Richie, too. When he grew too big for his britches, they would th
