Well, one morning my papaw hadn’t washed his face.  Miss Wallace saw this and said, ‘Why, Douglas!  Why haven’t you washed your face and ears?  Your mama wouldn’t like that!’

And Papaw looked her straight in the eye and said, ‘Well, Miss Wallace, roosters roosted in my ears last night and I haven’t gotten around to cleaning it up!’

Everyone laughed and it became a story that was passed down.

A few weeks ago Mother was trying to wash MM’s face one morning and MM was having none of that.  {She hates having her face washed.}  So Mother said, ‘Ohhhhhh, Mary Margaret, look!  You have roosters in your ears–let me get in there with this wash cloth and get them out!’

And MM sat as still as she could and let my mother clean both her ears, her neck, and her whole face.

Mom knew she was on to something.  Though MM has never seen a rooster except on TV or in her books {after all, we have only hens} she knew she didn’t want them–whatever they were!–in her ears.

So now every time we need MM to sit still all we have to do is tell her there are roosters in her ears.  Cruel?  Perhaps, I guess.  But you can tell she’s not scared…she just doesn’t want them on her or inside her ears.  Who would?!

And lately after you clean her up or put her shoes on her or give her medicine, she’ll immediately stick her fingers in her ears like, ‘I’m not going to let those silly roosters back in here!  No way!’