Aunt Steffie Part 1

When I ran up to see my Aunt Steffie, my grandmother called it running through the 'woods,' even though it was only a few trees at the bottom of the hill where the two yards met.

My yard had woods. Our small backyard sloped down into what most would call forest. I could see the neighbors house and lights on the next street over, more clearly in the winter months, but the space in between crawled with vegetation, bugs, and poison ivy.

Other times they called it 'running up the hill,' which made more sense to me. Every once in a while I ran up the hill with a mission; they went a little something like this:

1) During conversation, but only 'in passing,' mention the new toy that I want.

"I have three out of the four power rangers now," I would say, referring the my action figures. "I think that Toy Works has the blue ranger now, Mom didn't get it for me though."

1 1/2) If she didn't get it at that point, another couple of hints always did the trick. I couldn't just come out and ask, that would be rude...

2) Soon, my Aunt Steffie offered to take me out for dinner with Grandma, then to Toy Works afterward. After her offer, I would give some shocked reaction to her gracious offer.

We usually went to Saints in the next town over for their famous hot dogs or Tony's for greasy delicious pizza.
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