That was Anna with two of her girlfriends. I think one was named Heather Amell. There was another girl she was friends with whose name was Frannie. There was another I encountered on that Classmates site, but she didn't seem to care about what I said about Anna. It was OK with me cause I didn't remember that girl at all.
The Division Street house was what they would call a Shotgun house, I think. It was a long ranch style home divided up into two apartments. The old lady who owned it lived out back. She idolized Nancy and would cook her pork chops and other goodies. Ma didn't like it at all but she let her go there until the woman went batso and didn't want to let Nancy out of her sight. Then Mom got scared. Mom was sick here a lot. She was overweight and it may have been the start of her time with the gall stones. I don't remember this all exactly.
She used to send me with whatever cash she had to spare over to the Grand Union that was at that time in that plaza where the sporting goods store moved to. I don't know what's there now but it was not too far away and I would walk it all the time. I'd get her whatever fruits or produce I could. She would tell me to look at the mark down stuff first. The doctor told her she needed to eat better foods to build her up and still lose weight. I'd never seen broccoli before that. She made me taste of it once and I thought it was yucky but I told her it tasted good. She wasn't crazy about it but she ate it. Sometimes she would share the food with Nancy. The rest of us ate whatever the main meal was and didn't seem to mind. I don't remember now if I felt funny about it all. I did envy Nancy eating cookies and candy and pork chops though.
This could have been where Mom had the gallstone problems or the beginning of them.
Anna and Millie were in High School Anna was a senior. Maybe she was a Junior and Millie was a sophomore? I was in eighth grade I think.
I had art class with a boy who was a friend of Anna's. His name was Paul Chapman and I thought he was cute at the time. I didn't have a crush on him. He was just nice looking but that didn't stop people from heckling me about him. I don't think we ever exchanged more than three words the whole year.
I loved the art class. I think the teachers name was Miss Staley. She was going to get married when the school year was over. I remember she asked me if I could help her find the Kansas sunflower stamps. She wanted them to go on her invitations because she was from Kansas. I don't know if I helped her or not but ever afterwards if I saw that stamp, I'd think of her. She was young and slim with jet black hair and she helped me to learn a lot about art and design.
One of our class projects was to build a model of a house like we were going to build the house. She said to make it one we would like to live in. I think I'd been watching too much TV because I was the only one in class who didn't make a house. I made a house boat. Maybe I could have enjoyed living on one back then but I don't really think I could. I sure wouldn't want to now. I got a good mark on it and that was important to me.
Anna and Millie got fancy dresses and went to school dances. I think Millie went with Allen then but I might be wrong about that. Maybe they just went together, Anna and Millie. I, of course never went to any school function until much much later in life.
At first I didn't think we lived here long and maybe we didn't. Maybe the school memories are mixed up for me because I would still be going to this school the following year. I quit school in the tenth grade I think.
*I really thought somewhere I'd written some of this down but maybe not.
Anna and Millie were both in Future Homemakers of America. I didn't stay in school long enough to join anything. Glee club was bad enough and I didn't want to join anything anyway.
Anna was different. She wanted it all. She wanted the glory and maybe the power. She had fancy friends and they always dressed like fancy ladies. Not what you think of as "fancy ladies" in these times. They thought they were "Ladies" and maybe they were but I don't think any of them were rich in that sense. They dressed and talked and acted like they were better than anyone else.
Anna was chosen to be the district leader in this area for FHOA. They sent her to Elmira for a convention. Of course this meant she had to have new clothes and she got them. Meanwhile us lesser beings were wearing second - hand or home made clothes. She came back with an even bigger head than she had left with.
She didn't graduate till we moved to Kingsbury.
There was a girl they all went to school with that they didn't like. I don't know if they ever called her this to her face or not or even who came up with the name but at home they called that girl "Rita rotten-crotch." I never knew the girl so I don't know why. I thought she had some STD type thing but Sue tells me now she thought that meant she just smelled bad like she hadn't washed in a long time.
I remember a lot of sand around this area. It seems like fields of it.
I remember the school. I heard that at one time, and it couldn't have been long before we came there because it was almost new then, that someone, more than likely a male, had put a cows head up in the ceiling behind the panels. Supposedly it caused a great stink but I don't really know if this story is true or not.
While I was going here I did hear the BIG scandal at school. Some girl had been caught smoking in the ladies room. She wasn't even smoking pot just regular cigarettes. There was the occasional rumor of someone being pregnant. It was usually aimed at someone who missed school a lot, or gained weight, or just some one the big shots didn't like. Yes, there were bullies even then.
I spent a lot of time in the toilet. I didn't have a bathroom problem. I had the sleep problem. When I couldn't hold my head up in class I'd get a pass for the girl's room and sleep in a stall.
I remember a laboratory class here. It was the first time we were allowed to use a microscope. The teacher was telling us how to use them. We were all trying to see something, anything at all, in them. The teacher said, "Be careful when you are turning the knob to bring it in closer because if you go too far the glass will break." Before he got the sentence said I heard a grinding noise near me and a loud crack. I was so thankful it wasn't me. It was a chunky boy that was sometimes nice to me and sometimes not. I think his name was Mike but I'm not entirely sure of that.
I loved Mr. Peachman's history class. I'm not sure that was the label it had. He subscribed to different newspapers including the Wall Street Journal. He not only let us read the papers in class, he encouraged it. It would be the first time that a teacher tried to teach us to think for ourselves and not just memorize the words in the book. He let us cut things out of the old papers and I loved that.
I was sort of friends with some boys there in his class and we did fool around in class and get into minor trouble. It was rare for me to really enjoy a class but I did this one. Who's to say if it was the boys or the teacher and the way he taught? I missed this after I quit.
I think that both Annie and Millie went to at least one school dance here.
This next one of Anna in the Kingsbury section but I somehow think its connected to this house. She is standing in the High School "yard".
