Short Stories That Rhyme (eBook)

“CHILDHOOD MEMORIES”

One of my first memories of the Nursery is the bathroom. It had four or five very small toilets along the right wall as you walked in and a regular toilet at the end wall, facing out! There was a regular size bath tub along the wall to the left.

We called our guardian Mama Showauter. Her assistant was Mama Plack. The regular routine was for them to have us sit on the small toilets to do our business. After a short time, they would lift us to check our results. If there were no signs of number two, they would set us back down and remind us we would be sitting there until number two showed up. Often, Mama Showauter would join us, sitting on the large toilet. She was a very large woman and was not shy about relieving herself. We were not allowed to react to her noises nor odor, both being very loud and smelly. I think our punishment was extended time on the potty. The only bath partner I can remember, or maybe want to remember, was Eileen. I don’t know why that was, but it surly did not comply with the girl/boy relationships we were to learn of later. I guess Eileen and I were thought to be cute together. I was a toe head blond and Eileen had coal black and curly hair!

Another memory I did not understand in the Nursery, was the boys were not allowed to sleep with their hands under the covers. The punishment for this was to have their thumbs tied to the beds head post. The string that was used was just long enough to keep their hands above the covers. One night, while being punished, for the undercover thing, I heard some knocking on the door. I yelled out for Mama Showauter but she just told me to go to sleep. The knocking did not stop, so I stayed persistent with my calling out, and probably ended up crying, which I did a lot of. I always had trouble getting to sleep, and would sometimes get in trouble for bothering the children around me. This may have been an issue with my calling out not being answered, like the boy who called wolf! I am not sure if Mama Showauter answered my call or if it was Mama Plack. Whoever it was found out from a passerby, the roof of our house was on fire.

Now, I did not know what a hero was, at that early age, but my persistence probably made me one. I do not remember what happened after that, but I doubt that it made the daily news. Then the headlines would read, Extra, Extra, Extra. read all about it. A five-year-old boy, his thumbs tied to the head post of his bed, saved the day for his companions when the house caught on fire, at the Nursery of the Children’s Home on South “D” Street.

Maybe some inserts from the weekly reports that were kept about me, from 1940 to 1948 will give some insight into my character. The first one is my favorite.

“Eddie has encircled our hearts.”

“He is very spoiled and this will, without a doubt, cause him hard times.”

“Eddie has a difficult time getting to sleep.”

“Eddie is in the process of being “de-spoiled.”

“He has been very naughty this week. He tries to act just as Evangeline, all of the time.”

“Eddie is competitive with the older kids but is threatened by the younger ones, like Eileen and her beautiful curls. He likes to have the limelight.”

“Eddie has a flair for acting; he is quite a mimic and a cut up”

“Eddie runs to Evangeline when kids tease him or hurt him. She babies him. He depends too much on her.”

“Eddie prefers to play alone.”

“Eddie is much more an individual since Evangeline is out of the Nursery”.

“Eddie likes to stay awake and talk. A spanking is the best way to deal with this. “

“Eddie is quite a singer and the children seem to like when he entertains them.”

“Eddie is such a willing worker and likes to do his work well.”

“Eddie has been very good this week and has not caused any disturbance or trouble,”

“Eddie can almost be as stubborn as his sister. It is surprising how stubborn he can be.”

I noticed while I was browsing through my records, I was in the hospital for a couple of weeks shortly after I got to the Nursery. I checked into my medical information and found I had my tonsils taken out. What I could not find is any information about being circumcised at the same time. It is said, that one cannot hurt in two places at the same time. Not so! My throat was very sore, and I had little needles sticking out of my pee pee. There was a similar situation you will read about in the “Life after the Home” chapter of this book.

My last story of my time in the Nursery is a very sad one that happened the last Christmas I was there. It was 1942. They did not pass our presents out from under the tree. Instead we would each get a box with our presents in it. I had asked Santa for a drum among other things, and although it was wrapped, it was easy to tell, Santa had come through and there it was on the top of my box. I quickly tore the paper off and I sat the drum on the floor to search for the sticks. All of a sudden I heard this loud BANG and turned to see a boy, standing in the middle of my drum. I have always thought it was Donnie who did it, but his name has not occurred in any part of my report documents. Ralph and Bobby’s names have occurred often, so I am now thinking it was Bobby. I was very sad and probably cried for a long time. I have often wondered if Mama Showauter set that up. I had an uneasy up bringing with Bobby over the time we grew up. That could have caused it. Also, Mama Showauter would not have wanted to listen to me banging on that drum! She could have put Bobby up to it. Who knows?

At the age of six, I was transferred to the “Little Boys’ department. This housed the boys who were in grade school. It was a three story building that also housed the “Big Boys, “ grades eight through high school. It was a long, three story building. The second story was used for the little boy’s bedroom. It had two rows of beds facing each other. At the end of the room was an apartment used by the house parents of that group of boys. On the other side of a divided wall was the bathroom. It had a large shower, a long two-sided sink, several closed in toilets and two rows of lockers and benches for the boys. I think this area was used by the older boys also, as my locker number was seventy-two! I never made it to the third floor except for the times I cleaned the steps that led up there as one of my chores! It was off limits for the younger boys. The first floor had a large play room with an open floor area and tables used for crafts and jig saw puzzles. The floor area was mainly used for listening to radio programs like, Sky King, The Lone Ranger, Roy Rodgers, Tom Mix, Hop Along Cassidy etc., We would listen to some sports including big time boxing and horse racing events.

I showed a special interest for the horses. So much so, that Mr. Plaster wrote a letter to a horse stable owner in Kentucky, inquiring about my training to be a jockey. A return letter said I would have to be sixteen years old for something like that. Those letters were in my performance file. I kept a scrap book of horses as one of my hobbies. My favorite song was “Beetle Bomb.” In ended “and there goes the winner, it’s Beetle Bomb!”

During that time of my life, I became very competitive. There were many contests for the boys to compete in. Making and flying kites and the same with bow and arrows. All, handmade items from materials found around the property. I wasn’t good at finding Easter eggs or physical things like sled riding in the winters or swimming during the summer, I could shoot a basketball pretty well, but stayed away from playing the game. Too small! Those were good years for me! I think the other boys respected my competitive spirit and ignored my size. I won my share of those events over the years.

The first Christmas with the little boys, I asked Santa for a floor model xylophone like I had seen in a Sears catalog. Santa really messed up on that one! I got this little thing with some metal bars attached to two pieces of wood. I gave it to Ralph. He enjoyed it!

It was this time of our lives that girl boy relationships were out of the question. We all attended schools off the Home property. First to six graders went to Adams Grade School, about a half mile away. Seven through nine went to Wilson Junior High and ten through twelve went to Hamilton High School, each around three miles away. The kids walked to all of these schools. The girls and boys that went to the grade school walked on different sides of the street. The girls walked on the right side, to and from the Home and the boys on the left. Vangie probably broke that rule more than anyone. She walked in line with me and would cross over any time I got picked on or needed help of any kind. She would give me her coat in some of those, bitter cold, Ohio winter days. She spoiled me and I let her.

Vangie wasn’t the only girl who passed over. One day a fiery little red head named Gerri, crossed over with the intention of throwing one of the boys, (who was giving her flack) off the railroad bridge. Had not three or four of her girlfriends crossed over and pulled her off, she may have done it. I think it was the same boy and a friend of his that went down to the tracks and placed a metal bar that was lying close by, across the tracks. My...