Watching The Astronaut’s Wives the other night on TV, I was
reminded of a tangled web that happened in our lives in the 1950s. When my parents married they bought a new
house on 18th Street. They were only 4 houses from the seawall and
only 6 feet above sea level. That meant
major concern whenever a hurricane was heading our way.
Five years later they decided to move. They moved seven blocks further from the bay,
just a block off of the downtown area, on 13th Street. The house was
a bit bigger and higher above sea level.
My mother Faye had always worked.
She and Dad decided that this would be a good time for her to stay home
with me. I was two when we moved.
It only took a few days to meet the neighbors. One of Mom’s good friends, Louise, lived only
blocks away and could walk down to our house….which she began to do on an almost
a daily basis. Opening the door without knocking and calling in, “Coffee ready
yet?” Mentioning the coffee with Mom to
others, several more ladies began to show up.
Louise had a four
year old boy, who was an absolute terror.
She allowed no one to correct him under any
circumstances. When Eddie was around
nothing was safe…even me. Louise had an appointment, stopping by our house she
told Mom,” It will only take about 30 minutes and I am absolutely
desperate…could you please keep him?” Then, there he was, with us. Anything I
played with he snatched it away and either broke it or threw it. Mom was so frustrated she took us to play in
the back yard. While we were pulling out
the trike and wagon to ride, Eddie disappeared.
Mom was frantic, until she heard him laughing. He had climbed up on the roof and was running
back and forth, taunting Mom. She got
the ladder, but by the time she got it set in one place, he took off running to
the other side. Standing there looking up at him I could see her frustration
mounting. I was glad she was upset with
him and not me. Finally seeing her
anger, he climbed down. Mom got ahold of
his arm and proceeded to spank him. She
told him he would never taunt her and do something that dangerous again. In the midst of the whole scene, Louise drove
up in time to see Eddie getting spanked.
She marched up to him took his arm and left without a word. It was several days before she showed up at
the house again.
But….the morning coffee continued. Mom and I would be on our way out the back
door to run errands when we would hear the front door open and people coming in
for coffee. Mom would reluctantly turn
around, going inside to meet our coffee guests.
By now there were four ladies showing up every morning. Pauline lived across the street, she was
older than the rest of the group. I
loved her, she treated me like I was her grandchild. She would color with me and talk to me. She had worries far beyond my understanding. Her husband was an alcoholic. She never knew where he was at night and
sometimes he would come home in a terrible rage. It wasn’t uncommon for her to show up with a
black eye or bruises on her arms.
In the middle of the night I woke up to loud banging on our
door. I could hear Mom and Dad moving
through the house, the door opening, and crying…not just crying, but the crying
of someone who was hurt. I peeked around
the door to see Pauline with blood all over her face…..I ran into the room
asking, “What is wrong with Aunt Pene?” Mother shuffled me off to bed and told
me not to worry.
The next morning when I
got up Pauline was folding up bed sheets from the sofa. Mom was telling her to call the police and
not go home. She was more concerned with
getting out of our house before the coffee ladies showed up. She told Mom, “Can you imagine the stories
about me they would spread all over town?”
Then she hurried out the door.
When Dad got home Mom was very upset. She told him, “I just realized that these
people showing up at our house for coffee have become the gossip center of
town. I don’t want our house to have
that reputation. What can I do?” She burst into tears. He asked her,
“What do you want to do about it?”
“What do you want to do about it?”
“I want to go back to work, I want to find a teaching job.”
“Do it then.”
“But what about Jan? I have to find someone who is willing
to keep her.”
“Just give it time, Faye, doors will open.”
The next day, Dad was working the evening shift. We all got up early and went downtown to the little
café for breakfast. We ate leisurely and
then drove out on the dike to see the birds, not getting home until all the
coffee ladies would have long been gone.
From then on the front door stayed locked every morning.
A few weeks later a lady came up to mother at church. Her name was Mrs. Hudnall. She told mom that she kept children for
mothers that worked. She told mom if she
ever decided to go back to work she would love to keep me. The next week a principal from Hitchcock
called Mom. He told her that a teacher
had quit suddenly mid-year, “Would you be interested in the job?” Of course she was.
When I was six, we bought a brick house, outside of town
with, as my mother described it “wall to wall” carpet. It was closer to Mom’s school and I was
starting to school in the fall. There
was never another morning coffee group.
Louise and Pauline continued to be Mom’s friends. Louise’s kids (and me)
grew up. Pauline’s husband Ralph quit drinking and became a very kind
thoughtful man.
Not quite The Astronaut’s Wives, but…….
