The turning point I remember is coming downstairs to y stepfather holding my mother down. He had her pinned to the ground. I don't know if either of them saw me there on the stairs, they were so consumed in their argument and physical battle. After that, the divorce came. On moving day, the police sat in the house while the belongings were boxed up. I remember my stepfather telling the cop that he "gave her everything she wanted and they had sex all the time", how could things go wrong? I didn't know at the time that a big cause of the problem was infidelity. His confusion is something that I later saw in my own marriage, but that is for a later story.
After the dust settled, we moved into a shabby teeny little apartment in a shady neighborhood. We also had a new frequent house guest, Ryan. Ryan was a bit younger than my mother, and had no children of his own, he worked with my mother and lived in an apartment a few blocks away below his aunt. I don't remember much from this apartment. I remember that there was a girl named Clarissa down the street that played some weird games with me, and a little girl named Ariel whose mother gave her lingerie as dress up clothes. There was also a woman, who would have been college aged that would sometimes take my brother and I down the street to get an ice cream cone. Looking back at the location of that apartment, I can't imagine why on earth we were allowed to roam alone. It was at this "house" that my mother became a part of Ryan's family and started hanging out with his sister. His sister had a daughter that was my sisters age, and she did pageants, and here starts a whole new world of opportunities! As if there were any more reasons needed to dote on the youngest child, she was now a little beauty queen. The little blonde haired, blue eyed, pig tailed princess.
At some point while in this house, my mother had surgery on her leg to remove cancerous melanoma, I recall her being in crutches and trying to walk up the stairs to our front door. I saw my first scary movie- Tommy Knockers, and then had a nightmare about things coming out of the walls to get me, and my mother yelled at me when I cried about sleeping in the top bunk. We got government assistance and King Vitamin cereal that got delivered in an orange crate was my favorite! I also acquired a dislike for milk after several bouts with drinking sour (and clumpy) milk from the fridge.
Our time spent in this house was brief, we moved in with Ryan pretty quick, that was the way of my mother- on to the next. She wouldn't have been divorced if there wasn't a new one lined up. This may sound like a rash, mean or harsh judgement- but before you start jumping to conclusions, let the history tell its story and then see if it is a judgement or simply an observation.
Ryan's place was less than ideal. Single guy living below his aunt that raised him. My brother and I found his stockpile of adult magazines... everywhere. I had a mattress below a big picture window in what would have been a dining room. My little sister had a crib in the same room and my brother had his own batman decorated room with a door.
I remember my "bed" very vividly because at one of my mothers Halloween parties I was jumping on my bed with another girl and I fell and caught the edge of the window. I ripped my nose open. I went to tell my mom that I fell, she had her back to me and was ignoring me, Ryan told her to turn around and the second she freaked out, so did I. I got eight stitches- most of which were UP my nose.
Somepoint after that my bedroom was moved to the front porch- very little insulation and un-heated. So a kerosene heater was out there with me as well. My sister and brother were both in pagents frequently at this time, as they were much cuter than I was with their blue eyes and blonde hair. We got kittens around easter time, one of them ate my goldfish. This house also had my first memorable birthday party. There is a video somewhere of my friends and I discussing kissing our pillows pretending that it is the "famous" Carl Cistone from our class. Those little Catholic girls, scandelous even at a young age!
Like most of the houses my mother lived, I don't recall how long we were here, but soon we moved to another house.
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