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Monday, December 31, 2012

Little Joe – Repost

Army Man
courtesy photobucket.com

When I was a kid in the early forties, I lived on “The Ave.” The Ave was a name for a district in Oakland California.  Everything you needed was available on “The Ave.”  All types of stores from clothing to a bakery, along with banking, grocery, and schools could be found. Most important of all, there was a movie theater!

The Ave was a district where people got along well, even though it was a mixture of many ethnic groups and varied ages. Parents allowed the kids to do pretty much as they wished. If the parents wanted their kids, they could easily find them hanging out on the main street of the Ave.

The bunch I hung-out with were good guys, but each had their own vices when it came to gambling and aggravating each other. Some of the boys got an allowance each week on a certain day. We, who didn't have an allowance, would try to get them in a card game or to shoot dice. It wouldn't take long for us to have their allowance. On one occasion, one of the boys spent part of his money before the game started, and it ticked us off because we felt that it was our money he had spent.

Certain boys were, more often, targets of our aggravation. From time to time, we would try to get a couple of the guys to fight.

One of them was usually a fellow we called Little Joe. That seemed like fun and was entertaining at the time. No one ever got terribly hurt, but just seeing the loser running home crying was very funny to us, and good for a laugh. A few minutes later, all was forgotten and we were back together again.

I want tell you about Little Joe. He was smallish but fat. We would try to get him into a fight at times. He would usually get whipped and we enjoyed seeing him crying and running home.

As time passed Joe began to grow and joined the army. After a tour of duty, he came home, and he had an attitude change.

Now he weighed about two hundred-fifty pounds. He was six feet tall, hard-muscled and wanted to find the guys that used to whip him. Needless to say, they weren't to be found, and Little Joe was feeling pretty good about himself.

Times change and people change. The past election theme was about change.

The appearing of Jesus was about change. The change Christ brings, starts within and is perfected by obedience to the Word of GOD, and then is manifested outwardly to the world.

Little Joe has been bullied and feeling sorry for himself long enough! Change is coming!

It is time for Little Joe (the church of Jesus) to grow up into the mature adult it can be and begin to look for those who have bullied it for these past years and send them packing by its presence.

This post is shared at:  “Tell Me a Story” http://letmetelluastory.blogspot.com/

Sunday, December 30, 2012

THE BEST OF THE WORST OF TIMES Chapter 6

Some of the 13 turned out alright!
courtesy photobucket.com

CONCLUSION;

There are a few more things to be said about this brief story about George.

As to his thirteen kids, some struggled against great odds and turned out well.  
 

Courtesy photobucket.com
Others just went with the flow and didn't improve their lot above welfare.  The last group was evil and would steal, rob and reportedly, kill.

The grandfather and grandmother had little to do with them after their arrival and ignored their need for help. It was somewhat understandable due to the actions of the undisciplined kids.

George's girl friend was very young to get involved as she did, but the chief motivator was the way the parents had treated her. After she met George she thought he felt about her as she did for him and after the first time they were intimate she felt bonded to him for life.

One cannot understand how traumatic it was for her being so young to rebel against her parents.  To take money she earned but was forbidden to touch for it was father's and to buy a ticket to go 2500 miles from her home; and hope that she would be accepted by people she didn't know, and they didn't know she even existed. 
 
It wasn't an easy trip and after she found the home where George was staying she had to march in and announce she was there to marry their son.

Think of the uncertainty she faced while waiting for George to appear and telling him she was ready to get married. Some think she was near to being obnoxious but there were some positives about her.

She loved her man and was faithful to him. She never stopped wanting to get married and after the tenth child they did finally get married after all those years.  

Her kids always thought they could rely on her whether they were right or wrong.

Did George ever love her? There may be different degrees of love and being with her over thirty years, being intimate with her and having his needs met and she having his children, and consenting to marry her after all those years indicate there was a love connection at some level. 

That’s just the way it was!      The end
 
This was a true story with names changed to protect the innocent. 

A new fictional story will begin in a few days. 
 
 

Saturday, December 29, 2012

THE BEST OF THE WORST OF TIMES Chapter 5


 
Grandpa's Solution !!

After mulling over how to see his daughter and grandkids he finally figured out what to do.

He sent word he was coming to get them - so pack up and be ready to leave.

A few days later he drove up in a pickup truck with a camper shell on it. He told them to just take their clothes, and leave the rest for he was going to set them in a house in California and would supply the furniture and everything else they needed. They didn't take too long to load up, and they were off.

Grandpa, daughter and George were in the front seat and seven kids in the back with the clothes.

They drove straight through and arrived in four days. When they reached the house he had prepared for them, it wasn't much better than the one they left with the exception it had electricity, water and an inside toilet.

He gathered up a few more necessities and they were moved in.  
 

Free Clip Art
After being penned up in the back of that truck for four days the kids were wild when let loose. These kids being raised in the country secluded from much interaction with other kids for the most part were not what the grandmother expected.

They were not the sweet cuddly kind and after the first meeting, Grandma wanted no more contact with them.

One of George's relatives came and filled their pantry and ice box with staples and two bags of fruit, and as they were leaving the kids were out in the yard throwing the apples and oranges at each other.

The bags of fruit were expensive to the relatives, but the kids just dumped it out and wasted it. The relatives who brought it over were short on money themselves and had to sacrifice to pay for the boxes of food given and, needless to say it was the last time they did that.
 
George had almost no money, and had to get a job but he had farmed most of his life and the only job he could get was at an auto dismantling yard where he was always having to lift unwieldy heavy objects. It was hard work but something he could do.

The grandfather made this statement to George while on the way to California “with all these kids if you are smart you can become a rich man."

He was thinking back on how he put his kids to work and took all their money. While one might disagree with his tactics the one good thing he did was to help his boys to get established with homes after they were married.

He felt the parents of his girl’s husbands should do likewise and he wasn't as generous with them.

As time went by more kids were born and finally they totaled thirteen.

George could no longer take care of them so the county supplemented his income. It was akin to Bedlam in the home with all the noise generated by the fussing and fighting among the kids.  
 
George finally took to drinking as an escape mechanism, but drink and the hard work finally took him down.

He went to the county hospital and his strength slowly ebbed away. Several of his relatives were Christians, and they had discussed becoming a Christian with him but under the circumstances he was in it didn't seem possible.

There was a black Christian man who worked in the hospital that ministered to him and after a lifetime of living in darkness the light of the gospel flooded his soul, and for the first time in his life he had real joy in his soul.  

He soon passed away peacefully to his reward.

 
To be Continued  

Friday, December 28, 2012

THE BEST OF THE WORST OF TIMES Chapter 4

Trapped in the Woods
courtesy photobucket.com
Moving In !!

Though still not married George and his girl friend moved in together. In those days people still retained enough moral values to look down upon such an act in contrast to today.

They were hid away in the cedars and didn't have to face any scrutiny from neighbors. Where George worked it was never mention although his situation was always in people's mind when they saw him.

He took a live and let live attitude, and went on about his business. No one could fault him for his work ethic and he could be trusted to give a full days work without supervision and for that they respected him.

While George was out and about to find work, the live-in girl friend was trapped, existing off of the main gravel road down in among the cedar trees in a two room shack.

She almost never saw anyone, and this was in contrast to having been raised in the San Francisco bay area where contact with hundreds of people each day was normal.

As nature took it's course children were coming along and that kept her busy but in the midst of this loneliness she developed the habit of lying and exaggeration.  Her life was so confined she created a fantasy land of her own.


A neighbor down the road was the target of her lies most often told, and finally George told her you are such a big liar I can't believe anything you say.  From that point on he didn't pay much attention to what she said except when it was obviously factual.

The one release from this drab existence he was living was night hunting. He loved his dogs and anytime he wasn't too tired, off he would go into the night for a few hours respite. 
Winners
courtesy photobucket.com
After years of breeding and raising dogs he finally had two young dogs that were very special and they were known throughout the area.

Two men who ran field trial races heard about them and came to see him.

They immediately wanted the dogs and since he wasn't used to fast talking wheeler dealers they conned him into selling them for fifteen dollars for Jack and twenty five dollars for Mac.  When you make three dollars a day and have kids it was hard to turn down.

A year later these men sold Jack for six hundred dollars and Mac for a thousand, and both dogs became national field trail champions.

George was really taken back by what he had done and never got over it for they were the best dogs he ever had. He raised several dogs after that but none of them came close to Jack and Mac.

After awhile he gave up on hunting and that important part of his life ceased to exist.

Skipping over small events and daily routines a few years passed, the family had grown to seven kids and her father had got over his mad and made contact with her.

After discovering that he and his wife had all these grandkids they had never seen they were trying to figure our how to work it out so they could see them.  

It would cost a lot of money to pay for round trip tickets for all of them to visit and the grandmother wasn't up to traveling to see them. After giving it a lot of thought the grandfather came up with a solution.

To be Continued   
 
 

Thursday, December 27, 2012

THE BEST OF THE WORST OF TIMES Chapter 3


Running young Man
courtesy free clip art
 Surprise, Surprise

So! George thought that his freedom was more important than his job on the west coast.  He had run from that girl, to the deep South, and was happy at his Dad’s place.  Perhaps a little background on his fiancée, (fiancée? that was her understanding but not his.)

As I mentioned she was from a Portuguese family with strong old world culture. There were four boys and three girls. The father saw to it that everyone was employed at a young age, and earning money which they gave every penny to the father.  

With all the kids working on paper routes, cleaning homes, whatever they or the father could find for them to do, the family’s fortune increased.  By the time the boys were grown, the family had a very large house in the good part of town.  

As the boys grew up the dad eventually started to give them some spending money so they could take a girl out.  When one got married they stayed in the family home until they could save enough to buy and pay for a house of their own.  

While the father was the big noise in the home, the kids paid attention to what the mother said and obeyed her. The girl George had more or less promised to marry was about sixteen, and her parents weren’t aware of their intimacy.

After George left her for his home in the south she was pretty upset but not discouraged, because she knew some of the rest of his family that had migrated to California and little by little she got all the information about where he was from them.  
 
She did this by asking indirect questions that led to what she wanted to know.

Her father never let her have the money she earned, and she was paid in cash and would always take her pay envelope home to her father.
 
One day she packed her bags and come payday which was every two weeks she went straight to the train depot and boarded a train to Chicago and then transferred to a bus to reach the south where George was.

When she arrived at George’s Dad’s house, she marched in and informed all present, that she and George were going to get married. Those in the house didn't know what to say so they sat her down and waited for George to come home.

When George arrived home he was speechless.

The girl acted as if everything was just following the natural steps to getting married, and never mentioned anything about him leaving her.  It was as if it had all been planned that way.

She moved into his room and overnight George accepted the fact he was going to be married to her.  After some time they still hadn't said their vows, but they were however on their honeymoon.

George's dad suggested that they move into their own place for he was feeling uneasy about their arrangement and he wanted them out of there.
Shack but it is Home
courtesy photobucket.com
George decided he would return to doing day labor for three dollars a day. They found a little shack with no water, electricity or a bath or toilet but it was home.

This was quite a contrast to her father's large house but she decided to make the best of it.

To be Continued    

Wednesday, December 26, 2012

THE BEST OF THE WORST OF TIMES Chapter 2


Four Brothers
courtesy photobucket.com
 
Eyeing the West!

Year after year passed, the only thing that changed was their ages. Hope was hanging by a slender thread and they feared that hoping one more time would cause the thread to break and hope would disappear forever.

So the days went by accepting what ever came, without any resistance necessary to make change.


A brother-in-law had migrated west to California and was prospering.  The knowledge of this caused George to think about doing likewise.  With scarcely enough funds to make it, he passed through the dust of Oklahoma and Texas, trekked across the arid land of New Mexico and Arizona and didn't stop until he was up to his neck in the Pacific Ocean, and could go no further.

He was rewarded for his effort by brother-in-law's vouching for him and getting him a job.  He went from a dollar a day to regular pay of six dollars a day for only eight hours a day.  As it so happened whether it was one dollar or six dollars George spent it all without saving any. He had never considered that you could save money; it was for spending and that was what he did.

During the next two years he enjoyed his prosperity with new friends both male and female.  And little by little other members of the clan migrated to the west and secured employment.  

George had several girls on the line and he rotated from one to another until he met this young Portuguese girl.  He soon let her know he wanted to have his way with her, but she refused to give in until he promised matrimony, soon.  

From that time he used her like a wife but she had the old country mentality she received from her parents and expected him to follow through on his promise.  The time came when she upped the pressured and wanted a date and place for the wedding. She had four big brothers and she let him know she would tell them what was going on and they would take it from there.
 
Well that was bad news for he knew he would be in big trouble if she did that. It wasn't that he was afraid to fight but he could see himself being held by two brothers while the other two stomped him.

As it so happened he had her regularly, and had begun to tire of her insistence they must get on with the wedding. 
Marriage was the main subject each time they met and it wasn't what he wanted to hear.  Besides that he was eyeing some other comely ladies that let him know that they were available.

For some reason out of the blue he got the hankering to go back to his country home down south and he secretly packed and caught the next train out of dodge so to speak.

His father was living in a house in town with some extra room and when he arrived he moved into one of the rooms and would be at the table when food was served.

So there he sat over two thousand miles from his former pesky girlfriend and he felt a great relief.

 To be Continued

MY SIDE OF THE STORY



Joseph and the Dream
courtesy free clip art
 
Here I was a man who was certainly older than this young girl but still I thought we could bridge the gap between our ages.

Being older I was able to act on my own behalf, and I made a marriage agreement with the maiden and her family. We went through the cultural process and were the same as being married. The only thing lacking was she hadn't moved her stuff in and we had not had sex.

The next thing I knew some friends said to me, "That gal is pregnant." I told them they were out of their mind but they insisted she was. I asked them how they knew and they answered its all over the market place, the women know everything - - except who the father is.

Then they asked me if I was the one who impregnated her and I said, “As a matter of fact NO I am not.”  At that point I began to get all kinds of advice.

One friend said you should take her out and beat the tar out of her, and then divorce her.  Another advised me to just act like it didn't happen and then quietly break it off. This went on and on till I was so embarrassed that I didn't want to face any of my friends.

Then the word went around that she said the Holy Ghost did it to me. This just compounded the issue and I was held up to ridicule to the point I wouldn't leave my house.

Finally I had enough of the torment and was going to quietly get rid of her. Then the same Holy Ghost came to me and said, "She is a special vessel unto me, and ignore what these fools are saying cause they don't know what I am doing." 

"Now this is the hard part you are going to have to live with this the rest of your days. They will talk about you behind your back and think you to be an ignorant man without principles, but you will know and more importantly - - GOD will know of your faithfulness to HIM."

The moral of this story is; when the Holy Ghost speaks it is best to listen to Him.

 

 

Tuesday, December 25, 2012

THE BEST OF THE WORST OF TIMES Chapter 1


Best of the Worst Times
courtesy photobucket.com
The Best of the Worst Times

The struggle to grow up!

The title of the writing is surely a misnomer for there was no best of the worst. One might say the worst of the best except there was no best. You might say that is without reason but the sad truth is there was scarcely reason.

Living within a void was the feeling the boys lived with.  Hopelessness would have been a welcome visitor and so begins the way it was. There have been other times of woe before but it is only the ones you experience that stand out to you.

Its like unto the man clinging to a tree in a flooded plain, who doesn't need more water, so also is one who is down and out need more bad news.

Depression is not something any one wants, nor the circumstances that brings it about. It is like an ill wind that blows where it wishes with evil intent.

This was what it was like for the three boys in 1934.  A few more facts must needs to be put into evidence so fair judgments that are inevitable can be made.

The family was large, the mother had died; three of the children didn't make it past their early years.  Several had already left the nest which remained three boys who were late teen-ers and two girls of tender age. The boys were demanding more freedoms that required responsibilities.

The father granted their demands by taking his new wife and the two young girls and moving with them to town, leaving the boys at the old home place.

The three boys reveled in their new freedom but couldn't comprehend the concept of being responsible, and they turned the power of attack on each other instead of attacking the problems before them.

The result of doing this was the only thing they had in common was the roof over their head.

There was seemingly no place to go, for to the West was the un-breathe-able dust for sustenance, and to the East the ocean that mocked you with unstoppable waves.

There was no South for state lines had disappeared and the North's message was we care not for you.

While our focus shall be on the eldest boy George; the other two boys have stories that would garner little interest, perhaps someday someone will tell them.

George could hardly earn a dollar a day for those who had land had little to share.  Not even a job was available for a share cropper who worked without wages, only a share of what he could raise.  

It was two dollars pay for a cord of wood.  It took two men long hours to complete that task in a day; but George was one of the lucky ones. 
 
hauling rocks
courtesy photobucket.com
He was hired for a dollar a day to carry rocks out of the creek. The reason for doing that was the creek was shallow with low banks and during hard rains the fields would flood and erosion would occur.

The farmer reasoned that if the creek could flow more freely the flooding would be lessened and the rocks carried up on the banks would protect the fields.
 
The footing was unstable and the rocks heavy but it was dollar a day that others wouldn't have.

The ten hour shift was long but not without interest. The water snakes that hid in the cracks of the stones would cause the adrenalin to flow and keep one on their toes; trip after trip, all day long carrying the rocks upon the banks.  

Periodically the farmer would come by and ask why it wasn't going faster. The answer he received wasn't civil but was convincing.  When on occasion he would catch a snake, he would snap it like a whip causing its head to fly off, what sport.

Five days, five dollars, he would try to budget it out for the next week but Saturday night was unpredictable and sometime the budget didn't work out.

What to do and where to go and what to do first was the issue of this day. 

The answer usually was first to Denham's for some food and then to the beer joints. Ten cent beer and a dollar a jug for moon, with the music being free and the rent- a girl for twenty five cents being the going rate.

The big question to be answered was who was going to do the fighting that was bound to happen before the night passed.  Most of the brawling was caused by the rent-a-girls trying to make their Saturday night man jealous.

Someone was bound to get cut over a girl that anyone could rent for twenty five cents but it was to be expected every Saturday night.

Hopefully George got home to rest on Sunday so as to be able to carry the rocks for another week.  It was miss a day, and lose a job time and few could afford that. 
 
George lived rent free and ate from the store shelves.  His eating habits were crackers and sardines alternating with Vienna sausage, and potted meat and cheese; the diet of the hard working man.

Those days were not all bad for some days were worse and the worse days made one look for the bad days again.  And so it was in 1934 for George.

 
To be Continued

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A CHRISTMAS TRADEGY

image courtesy photobucket.com
 
A CHRISTMAS TRADEGY
 
It was early Christmas morn I was up but not awake
The coffee helped a little for I had food to bake
The turkey was defrosted and the giblets I did take
For they belonged to the dogs for goodness sake
 
I washed them clean liver, gizzard, heart and neck
I even threw in the tail thinking what the heck
Besides we would never eat it, I ain't no redneck
 
All in the pot, heated to a boil soon it would be in a dog
At last I can sit and rest though I should go out and jog
The pot doth boil cooking the meat and it begins to swell
How long will it take to cook through and through I cannot tell'
 
Then a scratch at the door and a whine by one, no two no three
I had heard that sound before those dogs were warning me
- - to Come and open the door
 
Something was wrong but I was too tired to get up and see
What ever it was - - it couldn't concern me
 
but the whine was now a howl
I went to the door and three dogs rushed in and pointed to the pot
Their pitiful moans caused me to get up and walk to the stove
 
And behold the giblets were burned to a crisp not fit for a dog
Their heads hung down no wag in their tail only a forlorn wail
Each in turn looked sadly at me and left me alone scraping the pot
They being downcast, looking so sad, for DRY dog food was all they got.
 
 

Monday, December 24, 2012

A CHRISTMAS STORY


A Welcome Christmas Feast
courtesy Free Clip Art
 
I called this a Christmas story because it happened at Christmas and it is a story. Not that it makes any difference but this is a true story and it is pretty much as I remember it. The best I can recollect it was in 1937 or 38'.

Times weren't good for a young man with marrying on his mind but love over rules most obstacles.  Even in hard times, people were marrying and giving in marrying.

This story is primarily about a couple named Jay and Cyn. Jay wasn't like his brothers who were semi-rounder's. They were always on the prowl much like Tom cats. One might say they were a wee bit ribaldish and the people they hung around were about the same.

I recall one instance when I was about seven, I met up with several of those men I knew; and one of them was selling what looked like balloons for ten cents each.

Since I didn't have a dime I didn't buy one and besides I thought it was too much for a balloon so I left.

That being said, Jay was just the opposite from his brothers. The time came when Jay found a girl he liked, and she was as shy as he was. Her parents were very strict, and she was very obedient. Her parents didn't have much but were as frugal as one could be. Since she was used to having very little the fact Jay didn't have anything didn't bother her.

Jay got along with Cyn's folks and after a while they were wed. It had taken Jay awhile to save up the two dollars for the wedding. It was a dollar for the license and a dollar for the minister. He might have done it for less but the minister had to eat also. Cyn's folks lived in town and Jay moved in with her folks.

Jay managed to earn a little money to help the family, and then he had the opportunity to become a share cropper. He had been raised on a farm so it was a good fit for him. The problem was the farm he was going to work on was ready to be harvested, and he couldn't get a share of the crop so he had to work for low day wages.

The owner had to run off the previous fellow who had been working there because he wasn't doing his job and left everything in a mess leaving the farmer without funds.

This first year was going to be touch and go. The good part was there were some range chickens who fed themselves, a cow, and a couple of apple trees. There wasn't much food left except a little flour in the bin and some lard in a lard stand.  

Cyn's folks gave them some of the can goods they had put up during the summer and the farmer threw in a couple sides of fat belly. There was a tater patch that hadn't been cared for, but they managed to find quite a few taters which they put away in the cellar for use later.

With a cook stove, a fireplace, a couple of coal oil lamps and a bed they were pretty well ready for the long winter. Jay had cut enough wood for the fireplace and cook stove and stacked it on the porch where the snow wouldn’t cover it up. The cow was just about dry but she was going to calf in a month or two so they would share the milk with the calf.

It was the day before Christmas and they didn't have anything special for Christmas dinner. The sun had come out and Jay was looking through the chest of drawers the former tenant had left, and he found seven 22 cartridges. He decided to go hunting and see if he could get some food.
 
With the seven bullets he shot seven rabbits and took them to the general store and asked how much he could get for them. The store owner was actually his uncle but they weren't very close. He said he would give him 25 cents cash credit for each of them so he had a dollar and seventy five cents to spend.

Jay bought some oranges and nuts and everything to have a great Christmas.

Since they never had any children it may have been the best Christmas they ever had.

The facts are there and they will never change even though that was seventy five years ago.

 
This post is shared at:  “Tell Me a Story” http://letmetelluastory.blogspot.com/

Notice I begin a new fictional continued story after Christmas!
Please hurry back!



 

Saturday, December 22, 2012

THOSE WERE THE DAYS 5 - Papa Gone


Hattie treated Logan like a Son
courtesy free clip art
 
After Logan and his father moved into Hattie's boarding house things settled down and Logan missed his mama less each passing day.

Hattie had taken a liking to him and since she had no children of her own she began to have the feeling of a mother for him.
 

After school she always had a treat waiting for him, and would help him with his homework.  Logan began to relax in her presence.

Then she did something that he had longed for, she kissed him on the cheek as she sent him off to school.

He had never felt so loved in his life. After that he would hug her as he left for school, and when he returned.

One day Hattie told Logan's father it was time for Logan to have his own room, his father started to protest saying I can't afford two rooms.

Hattie said, “Sure you can as you make plenty of money, and are saving it up for something; you can pay for half and I will pay for the other half so the deal is done.”
 
The father didn't want to rile Hattie for he knew he was living very cheaply and they had everything they needed so he agreed.  Afterwards he thought about it he decided it would be nice to have a room to himself.

About two weeks later the room next to Hattie became vacant and Logan moved in.

Later he found out that Hattie had encouraged the man who had the room to leave.

Days turned into months and one morning Hattie found a letter under her door from Logan's father.
Dad leaving Town
courtesy photobucket.com
It said that he needed to get on with his life, and he couldn't do that with Logan hanging on to him.  

He said he was sorry about this, but he never wanted a kid anyhow; even though Logan was a fine boy.

He said he went to a lawyer and has signed all of his parental rights over to her, and if she didn't want the boy to turn him over to the county.

Enclosed in the letter was a few dollars and a thank you.  Hattie had mixed emotions about what had just happened. She hated him for what he was doing to Logan - - tossing him away like trash, but wanted to thank him for giving the boy to her.

She didn't know how to tell Logan about his father leaving him in a way that would ease his pain, so she gave him the letter to read for himself.

He started to read the letter and then while still reading it he abruptly went to his room.

Hattie wanted to go in and hug him but felt it would be better to let him have a few minutes to himself.

There was much to do, so she went about the business of preparing the evening meal for she would soon have a bunch of starving people wanting to be fed.  She knocked on Logan's door and said, “Come to dinner before it gets cold.

He came out and got a hug and a kiss on his cheek and went in to eat his dinner. Afterward he asked her if that meant that he belonged to her, she was now his mom?  Now she was the one who was overwhelmed.

The realty of this was more than she could fathom, and was disturbing to her. The idea that she had a child of her own was an idea far beyond anything she ever expected or imagined.

She gathered herself together, reached out and pulled him to her and said, “That was exactly what it meant.”

From this day forward it will be him and her forever, and they wouldn't be parted. 

She was now "Mom" to him, and both couldn’t have been more pleased.  

 The End

 

THOSE WERE THE DAYS Chapter 4 - Mom gone

Mama Leaving
courtesy photobucket.com

Being in close contact with other people affected Logan's parents as well as him. 
 
Innuendo was the common language due to familiarity with one another.

Then one day Logan came home and his mama was gone.  Her closet was empty and the savings was missing.  She was never seen or heard from again.
 
The one person he thought he could depend on had left the premises.

Until that moment he never realized how important she was to him. She was always there, something that was for his benefit, and her world depended upon him.

Without him her world didn't exist. He never considered her as a person apart from himself, and discovering this deflated his ego to the point where his self worth would take years to recover.

Shortly after his father arrived home, and when he realized what she had done he went through his full range of emotions enhancing each of them with language Logan had never heard his father say.

Under his father's breath Logan heard his father say, “I was going to be the one who left and now she takes my money and leaves me with this kid, damn, damn, damn.”

Logan managed to withdraw enough to keep out of harms way while his father vented his anger upon the furniture and one window.  After all that outrage, the landlord rather forcefully requested that we leave and not come back.

His father had met a young widow named Hattie whose older husband had died and left her a big house with many rooms but little else. She decided to rent out some of the rooms, and would supply meals if they so desired.

Because of so many single people around she quickly filled her rooms and had a nice income. Because of all the additional work she hired some help to do the extra chores.  

Several of the rooms were empty part of the time because the occupants would travel because of business.  They wanted a place they could call home and enjoy the “comforts of home” atmosphere she provided for them.

Of course on occasion some lothario would want to pay for his room by wooing her, to which she would reply, “A room with wooing will be double the price.”  Needless to say that was the last she heard from them.

Since we had to move quickly, his father approached Hattie saying I would like to rent a room with board for me and my son. She looked at Logan and said, “I don't rent to people with kids for they are too much trouble and destroy things.”

It took his father over a half an hour to convince her that Logan was well behaved, polite and would not damage anything or upset the other guests.

Finally she gave in and said, “There is a cot in the basement you can set up for the lad on a trial basis.  If there is any trouble out of you or him, out you go.”

Logan was motionless and didn't look up all the while this conversation went on, and it wasn't until she came over and raised his chin and said. “Let me look at you.” 

 He lifted his head and stared into her face.  As she looked him over, a chill went through him, and then and it was then he decided that he would never cross her.

 To be Continued  

Friday, December 21, 2012

THOSE WERE THE DAYS Chapter 3 - Socialization

Learning to Play Nice
courtesy photobucket.com

It was now stage three in Logan's life.

He went through each stage starting with the "Helpless" stage where he was dependant on others for everything.


Then in stage two he had to learn words and how to put them together so as to express himself without as much body language.

His personality was apparent before, but was now begging to assert itself and was to a great extent emotionally driven.

He had very little contact with other children, and when he did he displayed the "mine, me, my" syndrome.  He wouldn't share his toys with other children while they visited, and when he went to be with other kids he felt their things were his and he had to be separated from them upon leaving.

This attitude continued until he enrolled into pre-school. There he encountered children who felt the same way as he did and they wouldn't share with him.

This was something he had never experienced before. When he tried to forcefully take something from the other children they would strike him giving him pain. He would go home and cry and say I never want to go back to school again.

While his mother would console him his father after all these years spoke up and said, “Logan you are going to have to learn to fight for this is a dog eat dog world.”

The images of a dog eating a dog was quite disturbing to Logan but from that time on his father took interest in him, and taught him to stand up for himself. Logan liked his father taking interest in him and wondered where he had been all these years.

He finally made it to the first grade where he had to modify his behavior so as to be socially accepted.

Courtesy free clip art
Another thing of interest was there was a girl living next door whom he played with and he learned that boys and girls were different.
 
Then when he discovered why, it was confusing to him but he just accepted it as a "That's just the way it is,” thing."

After the first grade his father moved them closer to where he worked.

Instead of living in a big house they lived in an apartment in a self contained neighborhood where everything was in walking distance. This new environment changed the way he had lived before.

Men, women and children were all crammed together, and he knew all of his schoolmates by name. This close association with people caused him to modify his attitudes even farther to the point you could scarcely tell him from all the others.

This loss of character was grinding against his basic nature and a certain uneasiness permeated his whole being.  Upon visiting a doctor the decision was made on how to control his agitation, and the doctor prescribed Logan some pills.

He now had to deal with his agitation and with the side effects of the drug.

An event that was shortly to happen caused another big change in his life.

One he had no warning that it was on his horizon.

 
To be Continued 
 
  

Thursday, December 20, 2012

THOSE WERE THE DAYS Chapter 2 - Starting to grow


Mother and Child
courtesy free clip art
 
Having arrived at the age of one and mastering much of the language needed at that stage, he laid out the process and his methodology for the future life ahead.

It was a little early for plans to be made, but his process was to consider every step as a battle to be won.  He was determined to always make the best use of the tools at hand. Those were tiresome days while waiting for his mind and body to develop.


Learning to talk
courtesy free clip art
Mama was trying to teach him new words, one of which was papa and she tried to associate that word with a person who Logan felt he had no need of.

He didn't need papa for he had mama.

After another tedious year Logan was two years old and realized that sometimes more than one word could refer to the same thing. For instance da da and pa pa was the same in some instances. But he still had no need for either word because of who it referred to.

He discovered something that he later learned was called pain, and should be avoided in most cases. It was one thing to be taken out of the comfort zone but pain was in a class of its own.  He acquired all this useful knowledge in response to his stubborn willfulness.

Slowly days passed, and he arrived to the age of three. The uphill battle to become this person he now was had been taxing, but had been worth the struggle for he was now prepared to rule his domain.

As far as he was concerned the world revolved around him and was subject to him and his wishes.

While the dolly had lost it's strong influence, it still occupied its place on mama’s bed and each day it bothered Logan more and more. The very presence was an irritation till one day his mother was taking him shopping.  

While she was getting ready, he climbed on the bed and ripped the arms and legs from dolly and hid it in his jacket. 

While traveling to the store he tossed the dolly out the window. When mother discovered what he had done she took him to papa and woefully described what his actions had been.

As it turned out papa felt the same way as Logan about dolly and wasn't concerned about what Logan had done.

It wasn't pleasant for Logan for several days but he thought it was worth it.  Mama had taken dolly to the doll hospital and one day she proudly returned with it all healed and well.

When she saw Logan looking at the doll in her arms she threatened him with great violence.  With that mama placed dolly in the great trunk and locked it securely. Although dolly returned home, she never was laid on the bed with her head on the pillow again.

Logan observed that as each year passed, mama would change a little so he had to change with her in order to always get his way.  

With him and papa things were different, for most of the time neither one acknowledged the other's presence and both liked it that way.

Visiting the kin folks was nigh unto torture for he had to sit quietly and act like it was a special treat when given a stale cookie.

To be continued