The real Man Mountain Dean was a professional wrestler and actor from the first half of the 20^th century who weighed over 300 pounds. Grandma’s Man Mountain was a special pillow that allowed her to read in bed. It looked like the back and arms of a very soft overstuffed chair. When I slept overnight at Grandma’s in one of the twin beds in her bedroom, I always wanted to sit in Man Mountain Dean’s “lap” when I went to bed.

At bedtime Grandma often told me stories that she made up as she went along. Even though I don’t remember any of the stories, I do remember that they were fascinating!

For her stories Grandma could draw on a vast amount of information that she had acquired thought reading. She was a real expert on the royal houses of Europe, for example. I have to admit that I didn’t pay a lot of attention when she began to explain who was related to whom. The only thing that stuck in my mind was that Prince Philip Mountbatten’s “real” name was Battenberg and that the British royal family was originally German.

Sleeping over was something that I usually did alone. Once, when others also stayed overnight, I had to sleep with Grandpa in his double bed. I have a vivid memory of that night. Grandpa slept on his back and never moved. His nose sticking up in the air appeared to be particularly big. And, of course, he smelled of pipe tobacco. Lying there in the dark I thought about the bottle of “booze” that he kept on the floor of his closet.

Rarely did the grandkids spend the night together at Grandma’s. When we did, we were supposed to sleep in the big old double bed in the basement. We never slept and Grandma kept coming down to tell us to be quiet. Once, in order to have more room, the three of four of us decided to sleep “sideways” with our heads on one side and our feet on the other instead of from head to foot. We thought it was a clever idea. Grandma – for some reason – didn’t. Looking back I can’t help thinking about how Dad spoke about having to sleep in the same bed with brother Joel and sister Frances.