Mother

I think that for a while after Mother left our father she kind of forgot that she had children.  She was free to do things that she had never been able to do and did not have to answer to anyone.  She was young, very pretty and excited to be able to breathe. 

One problem she faced was that she had no education and was not able to get any other jobs but as a waitress, of cocktail waitress.  Both took her away for long hours and introduced her to different men.  Some of them were nice but others were like our father or worse.  She did her best in those early years to make sure she had someone staying with us, but most of the time they were young girls like her that needed to get away from someone or something and just needed a place to stay. We all learned early on to take care of ourselves and for the most part each other.

I know that she had left our father twice but the first time she had gone back.  I don't remember that first time.  But I remember her telling about taking us all on a bus all the way from Calif. back to Texas.  That must have been something having a small baby and three other kids five and under.  But she managed to do it.  Only thing was that she got no support for leaving her husband.  She told me once that her Mother told her that she needed to go back and remember that as a wife she was to put up with what ever her husband did.  I loved my Mama but I think she forgot that she had left her first husband because of he drinking and violent ways.  Anyway she went back but the time I remember she did not go back and we had to learn a whole different way of life.

I don't know how long the had been separated but one time our father showed up at our house on a night he was not expected.  My older sister went to the door, she was going to let him in even though he told her he had a gun and was going to shoot our Mother.  I only know that I stopped her and yelled for Mother.  I don't remember what happened after that but I remember being very scared, I know that if he had shot Mother he would have shot at least me.  It never made since to me, our father had been seeing Maxine for a long time before Mother left him and was even living with her when he came over that night.  But I guess it was one of those things we see so ofter in this old world, if he couldn't have her no one could.

After that I think is when we moved to the asparagus farm.  Mother was working in the fields there and we got a house to live in as a part of her pay.  We didn't have a fridge so we kept our milk and cold things in the window sill.  I was the  tester to see if the milk had gone bad because no one else would.
Then we got chicken pox and I remember having to have socks on my hands to keep from itching.  We had to stay in a dark room while we were broke out.  Our little brother got one blister on his cheek, while the rest of us had them all over.

I really don't have a lot of memories of those early years, I guess there was so much going on that I blocked most of them out.  Mother never stayed in one place very long.  But we stayed in Sacramento until after their divorce was final.  By then our little brother had gone to live with our father and the three of us girls stayed with Mother.  We went to visit our father sometimes and were to spend the summer with him.  Mother continued to move around and we went with her. 

We moved back to Texas for a while.  But Mother left us with Mema on the farm while she went off to work and play.  I loved the farm, but I think that being there made me more aware that everyone believed I was not my fathers.

Well I guess I have to go now as the cat will not let me type.