10. LUCKY MOVE: LIVING WITH GEORGE AND DOTTIE

Dottie, baby Lane, Dottie's mother, and George

 THE HOUSE SLAVES

I became a neurotic bitch living in the same house with Lela May and being forced to share a bed with her.  Grandma shoved two twin beds together and put Lela May on one side, me on the other side, and Dodie wedged in the middle.

Dodie and I were working to pay for our keep.  Lela May had divorced Major by then.  When he died in 1950, she did not receive any of his Army pension money.  Instead, it was allocated to whoever was acting as guardian for Dodie and me.  Grandma pocketed all the money and put us to work.  Somewhere in a trunk, probably, I have a picture I took of Dodie at the age of 6, standing on a chair next to the kitchen sink washing dishes.  She was doing all the furniture dusting and waxing because her tiny fingers could reach the deep carvings in the ornate antiques Grandma valued so much.

I held out for pay for my work and she gave me a 'commission' every time I rented an apartment for her and then started paying me by the hour for the work I put in on cleaning the hallways, waxing the floors, and preparing vacated rentals for new tenants.  In short, I had no life other than school, work, and avoiding Lela May.  She told me I could use my pay if I wanted money for school materials, clothes, and shoes.

One afternoon, when I was 14, I was sent to clean up a large apartment vacated that morning.  I dragged Lela May with me to help with the vacuuming while I scrubbed the bathroom.  While I was busy cleaning the bathtub,  I heard the vacuum stop.  I went to the living room and Lela May was standing there staring blankly at the wall with the vacuum cleaner on its side on the floor.   I shook her and told her to get to work.  She refused to move and I slapped her hard, across the face.

Grandma came in to see what all the screaming was about and found Lela May doing her 'pitiful' act, sobbing hysterically.

I was told to 'pack your bags, get out, and go find another boarding house that will take you in.'   I called Dottie on the phone and told her what happened and offered to "work for a place to sleep'.  She was horrified and called Grandma to ask her why. Then she called George and asked him to swing by their on his way home from work and get me.

SPOILED ROTTEN

I was completely amazed at the welcome I got.  Not only did I not have to sleep with Lela May anymore, I had a room of my own!  And I was not there as a house slave - we all pitched in equally to take care of the house.  Dottie was smart - she got half the Army pension money away from Grandma and put it to good use.

First, she took me to a dentist, which was a totally new experience for me!  I couldn't remember ever going to a dentist or a doctor before.  The dentist pulled 4 impacted teeth, filled a few more, and said to bring me in for teeth cleaning every 6 months.

Then to a doctor for a complete physical who discovered what he referred to as a 'mitral valve murmur' which meant no more active sports for me.  All required P.E. courses in school, instead of field hockey, I took rifle training,  bowling, and golf.  I can't say I missed the opportunity to play field hockey, LOL.

Then she want to every big sale she could find at Joske's and other stores to build a wardrobe of  'normal' clothes to wear to school.  She choked when she saw I was wearing hand-me-downs for elderly women in the family who had died.

And the food!  Wow, could that lady cook.  Plus it was fun especially on weekends when George would get out the charcoal and the backyard grill to make barbeque.

To top it all off, when I was 14, Grandma had gotten the State of Texas to give me a driver's license to use for 'family matters'.  You can imagine how I reacted the first time George handed me the keys to his Oldsmobile convertible to drive myself to school at Jefferson High School.   I got very popular very fast because I could load the car with my girl friends and we would go to the Frontier Drive In for onion rings.

THE LITTLE BROTHERS

I wish I could say I was close to Lane and Pat, but I was so busy with school and my new social life, plus earning my own money doing babysitting in the neighborhood, that I never really spent much time with them.

What got to me, however, was watching how those parents treated those little boys.  They paid attention to them.  They hugged them.  Those children always knew they were loved.  It made me look back on my own childhood years and wonder why in the hell my parents ever had children when they were not wanted.

BOUNCING BACK AND FORTH

Unfortunately, for one reason or another, Grandma would decide that I must come back and live with them again, first back at the big apartment house, then on her 'experimental farm' out on Blue Ridge Road in the country.  4 acres, small farm house, one cow, 12 chickens and 2 hogs.  She had the idea that being out in the country, living a simple farm life, would help to cure Lela May.  At least this time, we had three bedrooms so Lela May and Dodie were in one, Grandma and Great Grandma were in another, and I had my own.

Once again, we were slave labor.  Dodie and I had to get up at 5 AM, mix the slops for the hogs and drag Dodie's red wagon out to the hog wallow to feed the hogs.  Then back to the chicken yard to rake up all the chicken shit, feed the chickens, and collect the eggs.  Once that was done, we had to go shovel up the cow manure and stack it in the cow lot.  Then back to the house to shower, put on school clothes, eat breakfast, and get on the school bus at 7:15.

As soon as that idea turned out to be a disaster (the cow went dry, the hogs dug out of their pen and ran away, and the chickens tried to peck each other to death), Grandma gave up and moved back into town.  And I made my escape, back to George and Dottie's.

COLLEGE BOUND

As soon as I turned 18, I was on my own if I wanted to be.  I could have stayed with them, taken a job in the city like most of the other girls in my graduating class, or married the first boy who asked me.

But, I wanted to go to college.  And I knew enough about making money, that I was sure I could work my way through, paying all my own expenses.  Now I got the Army pension money ($56. a month) that I used to pay for room and board in a co-op.  But those adventures are a whole other chapter.