My memories were wonderful of our little house, I had friends on the block and loved to play in the backyard. The church was next door and I could go see my mom at any time. I loved "helping" her in the office. One time I was in her office and her window was open. I was a very curious little girl, so I went out the window. It seemed harmless so I went for a walk when her back was turned. But she was on the second floor of the church the ledge of the church was four feet wide and ran the length of the church building. My mom knew that if she called me I would run the other way, and right off the roof to my death or at least severe injury. Fortunately she had a Hershey's chocolate bar in her desk, my favorite. Instead of calling me she got the chocolate out, and started talking about how good it would taste, but how she wished she had someone to share it with. Now she had my attention! I slowly walked back to the window and climbed back into the office. She was more than willing to share the chocolate with me now that I was safe and sound inside her office.
As I said before my mother loved nice things. Since our rental house was barely 900 sq ft she had a difficult time living in such a small space. Granny would point out the water damage, and the problems with the living space on a regular basis. Together they came up with a plan to buy a house. So after less than two years in our little home we were on the move again.
The new house was bigger, and backed-up to an alley. We had a big backyard that split into two. The coolest part was we each had our own room! We had a washer/dryer inside the house which meant I would learn to do the laundry. It was a big house and we were very excited, it was a new adventure. Since I wasn't in school yet, my mom registered me in a pre-school that was across the street from the church. My brother who was "way" older at the age of 8 was a latch key kid. The alley behind the house led to our school so it was nice and close. My mom made friends with the crossing guard and she kept an extra key to the house in case he lost his.
I started kindergarten at the school the following year, and my mom hired one of the teens to watch us for awhile. I don't know if the teen couldn't do it for long, or my mom couldn't afford to pay her, but it wasn't long before my brother and I were on our own. My mom was very strict and we had chores that we had to complete before she got home as well as our homework. My brother took care of the trash, the outside and his bedroom. I did the laundry, dusting and vacuuming as well as basic cooking. Yes your math is right I was only six and my brother was nine, but we were able to manage the household well together, but we did get into trouble.
When the crossing guard went home for the day, I felt it was my duty to take over for her. Now mind you I didn't have a bright colored vest or a big stop sign, but I did have a loud mouth and a fear of nothing! I would stand in the middle of the busy street and hold up my hand and scream stop at the top of my voice, and the cars would oblige. I had a Sunday School teacher who was one of the older teens and I remember he stopped by one day and saw my new "job" in action. He immediately pulled over and asked me to go inside and stop what I was doing because it wasn't safe. Being the respectful young lady I was I told him that he was not my boss and I didn't have to listen to him! After several attempts to get me to stop, he left and went directly to the church and let my mother know what I was doing. When I saw her car come home early from work, I ran inside but that didn't stop her from tanning my hide! My brother, being a boy, played with matches. He was not as good at lying as I was and didn't clean up the evidence, I remember crying each time the belt hit him.
Fortunately for all of us my brother and I didn't kill ourselves or each other while my mother was at work. The only major event happened on a weekend when she was home during the summer. My brother and I were playing in our pool, it was a blow-up pool in our backyard. I decided that it needed more water, and my brother disagreed. Figuring he was following me to stop me from turning the water back on I ran to the spicket. The sidewalk was lined with brick and as I was running I slipped in the water and hit my head on the corner of brick. My brother said that he could see all the way to my brain, and was running in circles around me screaming "she's gonna die!" But I didn't die that day. After my mom calmed my brother down and called my Granny she took me to the doctor for my first stitches 18 in all. The worse part was not the stitches. While they were examining me they found a pearl in my ear. Apparently as a baby I had stuck a pearl in my ear and because it was foreign my body attacked it and it was deeply imbedded in my ear. They used a vacuum thing to pull it out, and my brother had to step outside the doctor's office and could still hear my screaming. I still remember that pain, and will never put another thing in my ear for as long as I live!
My mother continued to work with the teens at our church. We had bible study at our house every week, and there was always a teenager over the house for dinner. They also loved to play tricks on us. They tee-peed our house on a regular basis. They would find a for sale sign, and put our house up for sale. My all time favorite was when we woke up one Saturday to an "out-house" on our front lawn. They had found a refrigerator box and cut a door in it with a little moon cutout. Inside the box was a small hibachi (bbq grill) and a doll sitting on it with her pants pulled down and a surprised look on her face. Since baseball games happened at the school next door traffic was high on Saturday's. We sat at the window and watched people's reactions as they would sneak up to the box open it up and walk away laughing!
There were many good memories in this house, but it was not a safe place to live. We were robbed, probably by neighborhood kids, on a regular basis. They would steal everything small including my brother's BB guns and my piggy bank. We knew when we came home and the dog was in the house that we had been robbed again. The police would come and take a report, but they never found them or our stuff. It's weird that I was never scared, it was just something I expected to happen, and I was amazed when it didn't happen to everyone.
By this time in our lives our uncles had moved away, and Sunday dinners were reduced to eating out with Granny paying. Granny loved Knott's Berry Farm Chicken Dinner restaurant, and so every week we would go there and eat really good food. Then we would walk the park, which consisted of stores, candlemakers, a couple of gun shows and a really big train. It was free back then so it was a nice Sunday afternoon, but I missed the big family.
Bills of course began to pile up again, and being a church secretary was not a high paying job. My mom got behind on the house payment and Granny couldn't help her out. I was in the middle of second grade and it was time to sell the house, or maybe it was foreclosed on, I'm not sure. What I did know was that we had to move again, and I was sad to leave, but excited for our next new adventure...
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