Back in the mid 1960's we had a Sears repairman come to our house late in the afternoon to repair our TV. I sat in the corner of our large living room some of the time with a baby in my arms while two of our other children were running around and in and out of the house.

The repairman was seemingly very shy and was working diligently on the TV with his back toward me. From time to time I noticed him glance around at the children. I could tell they were not bothering him and wondered why he kept looking at them. After a short time, the school bus arrived at our house and the other seven of our children entered the house. Again, he turned to look at them with a sort of puzzled look on his face and went back to work.

The children all went to their rooms to change their clothes and to do their after school homework. After a few minutes, when all was fairly quiet, the repairman turned to look at me and said "maam", could I ask you a question?" Because he looked so serious, I thought he was going to ask me something about our TV. I replied "well yes, if I can answer." In a soft spoken voice, he asked "Are you Catholic?" Without one bit of forethought, I burst out laughing and blurted "nope, we're just careless."

The poor guy turned beet red, then went back to working on the TV without looking at me or saying another word the rest of the time he was here. I just sat there in utter disbelief at the reply that I made to this perfect stranger.

I would safely bet that repairman is still telling the story about the callous lady from Byron with all the kids….. That is, if he ever got over his shyness.