Cindy's Christmas Party
Cindy went off to live with Albert Fournier. Her three kids went with her. He bought a house on Delaware Avenue but they never got married. This was when Carol and Ronnie got treated so badly.
I don't know why he seemed to love Timmy but the rest were just there to be treated like leftovers.
Cindy gave a party and invited us. It was Christmas time. There were no other guests just us and them. Nancy wanted to play with Carol but she wasn't around. Mom asked where she was and Al spoke up and said they were in bed where they were supposed to be.
Timmy, however was allowed up. I think he fell asleep after a bit but we just thought it was so odd.
Dad
There was a lot of beer but not by todays standards. Al even let Timmy have a taste. I doubt the kid was more than five if he was that.
Nancy
Either Cindy got her these or they were Carol's. If they were Carol's, Cindy would have gotten them for her because its for sure this Al guy wouldn't have wanted money spent on the two older ones at all.
None of the rest of us got presents but we weren't expecting any in the first place.
Cindy
Mom and Sue
Me and Enid and Sue. We all felt and looked bulky in winter clothes. I think I refused to wear the darn snow pants.
I never saw a photo of Al Fournier. I heard years later that while he was living here with Cindy that he was married to another woman. That would explain why they never got married. He didn't live long and Cindy had to move out when he died. I think he had throat cancer.
Cindy moved to an upper apartment halfway between Hudson Falls and Kingsbury. Mom had tropical fish at the time. She had some beautiful fat blue fish called Gourami. Cindy loved them and Mom let her "take" them for awhile.
Cindy went out one day and when she returned the heat in the house was so bad that even though it was winter she had to open windows to let the heat out. The people in the downstairs apartment controlled the heat. They had turned it up real high.
Cindy found the fish floating in the tank. She was distraught but Mom told her not to worry about it. They were only fish but still Mom felt bad about it.
This was the same apartment where Dad and Mom had gone to visit her and she'd given them drinks, alcoholic ones. I think they were drinking Tom Collins. Mom loved them.
I was out in Kingsbury at home when I think Sue called me. I think she was with them. She told me I had to come and drive them home because something was wrong. I was terrified. I didn't know about the drinking until I got there and found them both drunk.
I had driven down the Vaughn Road at an over the limit speed thinking they were ill and needed to go to the hospital only to find them drunk on their butts.
I hauled them home and the next day I drove Dad back to get the car. I was pretty ticked off at both of them. They didn't normally drink a lot. Once Dad did go to a company party where he drank too much.
I'd never known them to over do with alcohol. I knew Dad drank a lot in his younger years but that was before I was born I think. Sue says maybe not from reading Mom's journals. I just never saw that side of either of them.
I knew when Mom went to work at Troy Shirt Guild, sometimes those women would get her over to a bar there after work which was still daylight and she'd have a Tom Collins but I don't think she ever over did it that I know of then.
In later years, the doctor told Dad he would sleep better if he had a small glass of wine every night. Dad went out and bought of gallon of the most God Awful tasting wine. We all took a sip one day. Most of us spit it back out. It was Gallo wine.
Mom thought he was drinking too much of it so when he wasn't looking she'd add water to the bottle so he'd think he was drinking more than he was.