Whether exiled to the household gulag or set free in the fields, we wore blue jeans, never shorts. “Well,” my Dad said slowly while searching for a child-appropriate explanation, “in the summer, Buff wears only four pieces of clothing: overalls, two shoes, and a belt.”And what about underwear? “That’s where the ‘buff’ thing comes in,” he said with a firmness that made clear he was finished explaining the details of Buff ’s summer couture. Our Sunday church clothes weren’t jeans but standard issue Lutheran wear: baggy cotton trousers, oversized short-sleeved shirts, a too-long or too-short clip-on tie, and worn but well-polished shoes. Every Monday, though, all were back in our denim blue uniforms under the blue, summer southern Illinois sky.
