Blueberry Tea with Lorelei Stroble Welcoming us into the lovely dune-level condominium in Santa Rosa Beach, Mrs. Lorelei Stroble was wearing white slacks to match her soft hair, and a blueberry and white blouse, to match her blue eyes. She offered my friend and me a tall glass of freshly brewed blueberry iced tea and relaxed in her reading chair to reminisce. "It was after Emma went to the Carter Inauguration, she began, that Emma helped me. She was at my home every day for about three years. She didn't room with us, but we carried her to Ms. Kelly's house in the evening. Emma stayed in a greenhouse-like cottage which was once a carport, apart from the main house." "My former husband was in the liquors business. We had a large cabinet of bottles. Emma used to say, "Mr. Bill, I be'n ironing all day, and the chillun have been terrible. I need a drink!" My husband marked a bottle, because we once had a maid that would pour for herself. So, he'd say," if you'll wait to the end of the day, I'll pour you one." The next story she told reminded me of my favorite Peter Sellers movie from 1968, called "The Party." It starred a very sober, but inept, Indian actor played by Peter Sellers, who for religious reasons never touched alcohol, and a tipsy waiter serving glamorous starlets and studio wives at a ritzy party given by a big time Hollywood producer. The movie was was a madcap comedy of errors, set in a serious, dignified setting among people trying terribly to remain cool, calm and collected. While the waiter was mute as he drunkenly navigates a maze of obstacles and causes others to have embarrassing accidents, Emma was not playing a silent part. "One night Emma served for me at a dinner party I was giving. I made roast duck, and vegetables, and for dessert, homemade peach icecream. We were having two doctors over, a psychiatrist and a pediatrician, with their wives. One of the wives was about 20 years younger than the other one. Emma told one, "Is dat your daughter? She looks JUST LIKE Yoo." But that wasn't all. "Emma was in the kitchen, finishing what was in the glasses, and was feeling no pain. While she served the second course, one of the doctors fished out a twenty dollar bill and tried to discreetly pass it to her behind his chair. Noticing, she announced in a loud voice: "Oh, Thank Yoo! Dat's so nice of yoo. None of these other S.O.B.s would've give me dat! " "After we had finished eating and were talking, it was time for the dessert." "There were two brick steps leading up from the dining room into the kitchen. Emma was supposed to serve the tea tray with pretty little crystal bowls filled with the peach icecream. As she walked down the stairs, she must have tripped and the whole tray went one way, and all the icecream and cups went everywhere, all over the carpeting." My husband said, "That's it. Get finished up, get your purse, I'm taking you home." "He didn't even wait to let her stay to clean up the icecream. I had to do that." Are you sure we are talking about the same Emma? I wondered aloud. She told me that she never drank. "Well maybe she doesn't now, but she sure did back then!" Thinking about it later, I did seem to remember Emma talking about a party like this one. So I hope she doesn't mind my telling the story, which everyone thought was humorous, even Emma. Emma loved being different, and she liked to laugh at her own antics. She certainly could be a lot of fun. I asked where Lorelei was from. Churchhill, Louisianna, she told me. I asked her since she had seen "The Help" movie, and whether there was the same type of prejudice there. Oh no, she said. We had them help us all the time. My grandmother was raised on a Plantation with 14 children. They ironed, and cleaned and a teacher came to school them. As I left, the soft spoken Lorelei (whose Germanic name means the Mermaid of the Rhine), had another thought. "I once had on a dress that Emma really liked." She said, admiringly, "I'll race you for that dress." We laughed because she'd said that to me once, too. That meant high praise. It was nice to know that Emma never changed. She was the same Emma from the very beginning. (c) 2012. Athena Marler Creamer. All Rights Reserved.
