There were two especially great things about going to Grandma Louise’s house on Saturday mornings. One was that she allowed the curtains to remain closed until the Saturday morning cartoons were over. The second was the Dutch Oven Man.
The little girl would spend Friday nights at her parents’ cabin close to the nearby lake. Then she would awaken early enough on Saturday morning to run down the dirt path to arrive at Grandma’s before 8 A.M. For at 8 A.M., the magic of Saturday morning truly began!
There’d be one 30-minute cartoon after another until “Sky King” came on at noon. Then depending on the weather, she’d stay the hour to watch good triumph over evil in the persons of Sky King and his niece Penny flying their plane, the Songbird, over the Arizona
These shows coupled with co-colas for the little girl (because she hated milk), and Dutch Oven treats started every weekend off perfectly. On Friday afternoons, the Dutch Oven man would pull up in his step van, parking at the edge of the great oak tree near the grandmother’s back porch. Although Louise Craine didn’t have much money, it was no secret that she spent every dime of it on her grandchildren and friends. Therefore, she felt it dutiful to stock up on as many cakes and pies as she could afford before Saturday.
Thus, it had become a tradition that before the Saturday morning shows, the granddaughter would enthusiastically search the shelves of the pie safe and the refrigerator. It was guaranteed that Grandma Louise would have bought at least four delicious items each and every week!
The grandmother’s favorite was the coconut cake, but it was too hard to say which one the child preferred. There was an amazing dark chocolate cake with lighter chocolate frosting that tasted best if kept really cold. And… the meringues were simply put, “To die for!” Almost too pretty to eat, with lemon leading the list.
The fruit pies were baked to a perfect golden color, and had those little breathing holes made with a fork on top. The fact that they came in every berry imaginable plus apple meant that no two Saturdays need ever be the same.
Whether or not the Dutch Oven Man made it all the way to Haddock, the little girl could not be certain. What she did know was that every Saturday afternoon she and her Grandmother would pack up one pie and one cake, then head to Haddock. Every week was a visit to a different friend.
For a while the little girl aspired to driving a Dutch Oven van through the Jones County
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