I always wanted to be like Sara

Sara's confirmation photo from 1936

"I remember how growing up, I always wanted to be like Sara. I always looked up to her. I never could quite get there. No matter how I tried, Sara was always a step ahead of me.

One time, Sara and I were sent on an errand to Mostugan. I was happy to be sent on an errand with Sara. Midi said Sara could borrow her bicycle but I could not ride it. I rode the old Fram. Maybe I should take a side trip and explain about that old bike. It was the one that we all learned to ride on including Folke i Sör and maybe even Göta. It was a Fram. I’ve never seen anybody with that make of bicycle before or after. The word Fram can also mean front and we used to make jokes that people didn’t used to know which was front or back on a bicycle so they had to label the fram on this one.

Well, as Sara and I were riding on this errand, when we came down a little ways below Björndal, there was loose gravel at the side of the road and I got in there, of course, and crashed. The bicycle handles got so crooked that Sara, and I couldn’t get them straightened out. I wasn’t so skilled yet, so I couldn’t ride it, so Sara took Fram, and I took Midi’s, and we promised not to tell.

Well, Mama had sent a bouquet of lilacs to Clara, the housekeeper in Mostugan. And oh, she was so excited to have company. She was going to treat us to homemade saft (juice) and cookies. The juice was in a bottle on the table. Well, I couldn’t read yet, but Sara could see that the bottle said Absolut brännvin.  We knew this was a drink that was Bad. Papa wouldn’t even have it in his house. That was a strong drink like whiskey. When they had bottles like that, they didn’t wash the bottles before putting the juice in because it acted like a preservative. But we had to be polite,

Sara, 1935

so we tasted the juice we were given and it tasted horrible. We tried to drink as little as possible, but we ate some cookies. Then Clara went into the kitchen to get something and Sara said, “Quick! Let’s pour the juice on a plant.” She had an indoor plant there and we poured our juice on it. Then Clara came back and saw our glasses were empty and said, “Oh you drank up all your saft. Won’t you have more?” We said, “Nej tack. Nej tack. No thank you . No thank you. We can’t drink any more.” When we came home to Mama, Sara said that Clara had given us brännvin. Of course Mama knew better and didn’t believe it. She asked what color it was and we said it was dark red. So Mama said that couldn’t have been brännvin then because brännvin looks like water. She said maybe the juice was too old and that’s why it tasted so bad. I guess the two old people didn’t drink juice so often.

I remember one time when trying to keep up with Sara didn’t work out so well for me. Faster Midi had three names; her names were Midi Sofia Otilia. My middle name was also Sofia. We thought Otilia was an awful old-fashioned name. Well, one time Sara started to tease me. She would run by and call, “Gunborg Sofia Otilia!” I got mad and I was trying to get the best of her. She had run up over Berget and down to Källebacken, and I was running after. I couldn’t think of anything else to holler but, “Sara Matilda Skitkäring” which would be like “Sara Matilda Shit-old-woman.”  Of course, that was a word we were not supposed to say. When we came down by Källebacken and I was screaming on top of my lungs, here came Tant Anna i Mellangården. She didn’t hardly ever go to the store herself because she had Henning and Lydia and Tant Maria to send, but that time she was going herself and came by our house right then. She said, “Gun come here. I wouldn’t scream like that if I was you. It doesn’t sound nice at all.” Oh how embarrassed I was. Sara was nice about it then and didn’t tease me about getting caught."

I found this photo labeled Kjettestorp Skola 1935 with no names on it. I've tried to identify some of the students. If anyone can add more names, please let me 

know :) I believe the teacher is Gunnar Brolin.