Chapter 4 Changes
We
drove back to Aunt Ida and Uncle George’s house after we went to the park. The
mood in the car was quiet and subdued… I was the only one that was talking. “Uncle
George” I said; “Do you think we can go back later with some bread and feed the
ducks?”. Uncle George said; “Not today John.” “We can go later this
week.” I was a bit disappointed. It was the most fun I had in quite a while,
but I was content for now to just relax and look out the window at the
different homes that we passed. I loved all the old trees that lines the
streets and how their branches reached out over the road and how the branches
moved with the slight breeze and created different patterns in the shade. Like
the shadows were dancing and I imagined myself dancing in the shadows… Spinning
and twirling round and round…
We approached the house which was
situated in an old section of Browne’s Addition a very old part of Spokane. My
Grandpa’s house was one of the old Mansion’s situated there. A large stately old white
house with big columns in the front. It sat on a hill surrounded by the garden
and wonderful trees. There was this really big tree in the front with large
branches sticking out from its sides that I had been admiring since I had gotten there. “Boy would I love to climb that tree.” I
said to myself. We went inside and Ida went to the kitchen to fix us a snack
and Uncle George went to go relax in his favorite chair with his book. I was not sure what to do with myself. I didn’t
have any friends around this neighborhood and my aunt and uncle did not have
any children. They always wanted children they said, but they could not get
pregnant. I guess that is why Aunt Ida decided to be a school teacher so she
could have children in her life. The rest of the afternoon was pretty quiet,
but I tried to keep myself occupied by going to the library. They didn’t have a
television so it was my only recourse. Aunt Ida had collected quite a few
childrens books and classics over the years so I thought I would find something
interesting. Mom had always encouraged me to ready and we went to the library
off and on. I was always dragging books home from school and mom was having to
remind me to turn them back in when they were late.
The rest of the next couple of days
were pretty uneventful. I was getting pretty bored. So one day after lunch I sneaked out the back door and ran down the street. I started wandering around a
little in the neighborhood. Down the next couple of blocks I found some homes
that were not quite as fancy and seemed to have families living in them. I saw
some kids around my age or maybe a little older. I was too shy to go up and
talk to them so I just stood across the street and watched them playing
outside. They were playing kick ball. It seemed there was two teams of kids
battling it out and the goalies were trying their best to keep the ball from
crossing the goal line. Back and forth, back and forth. I wanted to join them,
but was afraid to speak. They were all boys except for one girl. I thought it
was odd that this one girl could be playing against these boys that were
clearly bigger than her. But she was full of spitfire and she was determined to
get control of the ball and score a goal. I could see her pig tails bouncing
along as she ran. She wore glasses and had blond hair. I kept watching for a
little bit then I continued on. There were people outside mowing the lawn,
pruning bushes, or working on their cars. All in all I thought it was
wonderful! So this is how people live in a smaller town. I was used to the
hustle and bustle of a larger city like Seattle. I had been walking around for a little while
and sort of lost my bearings… After a few turns around the block I noticed Aunt
Ida was walking up towards me. “Where in the world did you go John W.
McMurphy.” She said a bit sternly, but with a smile on her face. “I was in the
kitchen and turned my back and you were gone.” “I figured eventually you would want to go
exploring.” “But next time you do, would you let us know?” “Okay.” I said; “I’m
sorry, I didn’t mean to worry you.” “That is okay honey, I know you are just
curious.” “There are a lot of children in the neighborhood.” ”Maybe you can
make some friends?” “I don’t know anyone Aunt Ida.” “Well you just have to get
up the courage and talk to someone.” Ida said. We slowly walked back to the house enjoying
the sun shining through the trees as we walked in the cool shade of the trees
and the pretty manicured lawns. Many of the yards had flower beds and I looked at the colors of the flowers. They didn’t have much for lawns in the city
I came from. You had to go outside of the city and live in a house for that. Our landlord didn’t believe in flowers let
alone trees. As we went into the house Aunt Ida started to talk to me in a real
serious tone. “John.” Could you come into the living room with us we need to speak
to you. I looked up at her and was a bit
scared. I didn’t say I was scared, but I was, I felt queasy in my stomach like
I was going to throw up. Like I had
eaten too much candy in one sitting and my body was turning against me in
protest.
My uncle and aunt talked to me for
quite a while. Aunt Ida explained that she spoke with my mother a couple days ago before we left for the park and she had been trying to figure out how to tell me since then. "I have some bad news to tell you." “John.” She said; “You mother asked me to
keep you indefinitely as things are not working out well with her and your
father, if anything, they have gotten worse so she asked that you stay with us
this Summer and maybe she can get you back by the time school starts in
September.” “No!” I said; “I don’t need to stay here, I need to go home!” I
argued. My face was stern and determined. I had my arms crossed and my lower
lip stuck out just a bit. This was my stance that I used when I was trying to
make a point. Aunt Ida replied. “I can see you have your mother’s stubborn
streak and independence that is for sure.” “I am so sorry John, but your mother
said it was not safe for you to go home right now.” “She is going to call us
later this week and let us know how things are going.” Aunt Ida said. I was so mad I could spit! How could they do
this to me? My mother and father dumping me off without hardly a word? How bad
could it be? My mind was racing? Was it that they thought I was too much
trouble? Were they tired of me? I stared at my aunt in anger then I turned and
ran upstairs to my room.
I stayed up there for a couple
hours. I laid on the bed staring at the ceiling thinking. I was trying to reason
things out in my 7 ½ year old brain. Was my mom trying to protect me? Was she
afraid of my father? He did have a tendency to get violent at times. He had
never hit me, but he did threaten to hit my mother? My mind continued to try
and figure things out when I heard a soft knock on the door and my Uncle George
was at the door. “Johnny?” “Johnny?” “Are you okay?” “Your Aunt feels real bad
about this whole thing.” “Would you come out please?” I laid there and thought
about it. “Alright Uncle George.” I said.
Uncle George sat me down with Aunt
Ida. Uncle George explained. “Johnny(he liked to call me Johnny)” “Sometimes life
is not fair.” “You wish things could be different, but things are not always in
our control.” “But Johnny, I want to tell you a secret.” “What you can control
is how you behave in this world.” “You can chose to fight against the world
with all your might and try to change all aspects of your life or you can
decide which things are out of your control and make your own destiny.” “Johnny”
“The bad thing is this is something that is out of your control.” “But we want
you to know that we both love you dearly and we will do our best to help you
through this difficult situation.” “We cannot take the hurt away, but we can
try to be a listening ear.” ”We will have to take this one step at a time.” “So, that being said, why don’t we go out to
the kitchen and see if we can fix ourselves a snack.” “Sound good?” I nodded
slowly. Aunt Ida put her hand on my shoulder and guided me towards the kitchen.
After we grabbed something to eat
Uncle George took a book out of the library and asked If I wanted him to read
to me. I said “I guess that would be nice.” The book was “The Adventures of
Huckleberry Finn” by Mark Twain. I curled up on the sofa next to Uncle George
while he read to me. I quietly listened as he read. I liked it when someone
read to me. My mother used to read to me all the time. I closed my eyes and
drifted off. It was much later than I thought as I fell fast asleep. My uncle noticed I fell asleep and carefully
picked me up and carried me up to my room and put me to bed.
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