Taking Care of Alice
© 1999 Don Rogers
That's not her real name. Alice was amazingly incapable of doing anything except play the piano. She had been conservatory trained as a piano player, and could teach piano. But the latter with not much success.
Everything was still okay while she was living with her parents but they died. She could cook potatoes and make jello. She would come across the way to my house and just walk in and announce, "I need some potatoes." Which we gave her.
We knew she needed help and we all helped her. She also needed money. Four of us got together and agreed that each would take turns giving the church treasurer $5.00. That was a significant sum in those days. The treasurer could then pay Alice $5.00 a month for playing the piano and she didn't need to have to think of it as charity.