We had settled in to our new apartment, with a flurry of commotion. My mother needed to have us inoculated and fitted for uniforms, from beanies, to oxfords. On my first morning's ride in the school bus, the driver set my hair on end. He was scary, like a Halloween monster. I was a painfully shy child and was so frightened of him, this driver, that I took to hiding deep in my seat. This way I could avoid his beady eyes that would scan us though his rear view mirror. One morning, my sister, Geri, was too sick for school, so, I had to ride the bus without her. Petrified, I filed off in line well enough, using the other kids as shields from the driver’s stare. However, on the trip home in the afternoon, I had to pass him alone, in order to get off the bus. Thus, I missed my stop. One by one, the rest of the kids got off at their designations . . . places I had never even seen. I knew that I was in deep trouble, but didn't know what to do about it. Soon, I was the only child left on the bus. Instinctively, I hid on the floor. The driver, thinking his job, was finished, lit a cigarette, pulled the bus into the terminal and locked it up for the night. Left alone, I whimpered quietly, as the afternoon turned to darkness and the fiends in my mind, tried to break into the bus.
Unbeknownst to me, a frantic search party, had been looking for hours and finally found me huddled, down in the fifth row. My panicked stricken mother, relieved though she was, gave me a sound spanking . . . so much so that, in spite of my horror, I stoically faced the bus driver, four times a day for the rest the school year. This became such a stressful period of the day for me, that I subsequently developed nervous tics. My mother’s scolding over the tics, only compounded the problem. I was a little mess. My eyelids would rapidly blink while I scrunched my nose, stretched my neck, and munched on my upper lip; unless, I was sucking my thumb.
Then came the night, when my parents presumed that I was tucked away safely in bed. Of course they did, for I was there every night, picking little balls off of my flannel sheets, and rolling them between my fingers, dropping them on the carpet, picking more; roll, drop, pick, roll, drop, pick, until I fell asleep. But, that night, dressed in my pajamas, I crept out of our apartment and took the elevator up to the seventh floor where my friend, Gail Ferber stood, waiting. Together, we took the elevator down to street level and raced for the swings on the dark lake shore. I planned it well, and we were in ecstasy, swinging away with not a care. I loved the swings, above all else. My plan went off without a hitch, until lights from automobiles and flashlights, flashed across the beach with people yelling "We found them! They're over there!"
I received many spanks from that little escapade, but a fine game resulted. We called it Gail's. It was a hide and go seek game, my dad would play with us until we were almost in our teens, saying in a gruff voice, “Have they gone to Gail’s again? They are they going to get it.” We’d all giggle with delight. It seemed odd that, even though I was extremely shy, I was always busy trying to escape . . . or busy, getting lost.
One of the most frantic searches of all, in my parent’s memory, took place, late on a very cold and brisk afternoon in November. The sky was gloriously ablaze in pinks and gold, from Santa Claus making cookies. I needed to be free, I felt like playing forever. So, my girlfriend and I raced around for a while and then decided to bunker down under a blanket in the back seat of her parent's sedan; where no one could find us. There, we could play "Doctor." As it grew dark, my parents and those of my partner in crime, presumed that we were together and set out to find us. They were desperately worried, as we weren't in any of the usual play spots and it was just luck on their part that they finally found us ‘in flagrante,” . . . caught with our pants down, so to speak. I knew that "doctor" wasn't an acceptable game, but it didn't warrant such resulting hysterics from the adults. I thought they had lost their minds and didn’t understand at all why they were running about and crying, throwing us into cars, racing us to the hospital. I didn't understand that my friend who had slipped out of her house to play with me was deathly ill and in quarantine, from a contagious disease, called Polio. At that point, Jonas Salk's vaccine, was new, and was in still in experimental stages. People stricken with polio, became crippled, deformed, severely fatigued muscularly, or paralyzed, many needing an iron lung to help them breathe. Though my parents rushed me to the hospital, where I drank some pink liquid, I was still kept isolated in my bedroom for three weeks until the doctors deemed me safe, for me to take up my life, as it once had been..
I am glad you think so. I was just wailing to my sister-in-law about how boring childhood stories are, and I forced her to listen, before I posted this, (although, it is important to the over all picture). she said, I never realized you were such a rebel even then. I personally would like to hear your tale my dear. hint hint.
This brought back to mind crazy stuff I did when I was a kid too I once get the crap beat outta me for hiding up a tall pine tree. I didn't want my mom's scissorhands friend to cut my hair. They always made me look like a boy!
Your story is going to resonate with all kinds of people & remind them of stuff. I always say people's base personalities don't change. Most people don't believe me.
I only played doctor with boys, not that there's anything wrong with girls playing doctor. I'm sure that girls have just as much of a right to play doctor as anyone does with anyone else
EASY TO BE HARD
Often, there was the question of how, when or where. What matters most is why...
They say there is but five degrees of separation between all of us.
This is my story and observations about growing up under the infamous Hollywood Sign, in the 50's 60' and 70's. This is also a story of my entering the fast lane, and finding that if I wanted to survive, I had to get off it, but... it wasn't that easy.
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