Springle... The House

Brad Richardson was not crazy. He did not drink or smoke, so we knew he would not be around long. Brad was divorced and had three sons (I do not remember their names). His sons lived with him every summer (I guess that was the divorce arrangement). We never saw his ex-wife or heard anything about her from Brad. We knew she was white because that is all mom talked about...Brad Richardson and his mixed sons. Almost as if he had committed a crime by having children with a white woman. I hated when Brad had his sons. We were all thrown in together, because if you were kids, you should all get along. I was the only girl. The sons were always trying to kiss me or touch me. I could fight and was good at it; but trying to fight all three of them at once made it just about impossible to win. Stephen would just stand around and cry. No help there. I would tell mom what was happening, and she would say, "well you are going to have to get used to them, they may become your brothers." Or, "they are just being boys." Fuck! Why did my feelings never matter!?! Why did my safety never matter? It seemed as if I always had to fight alone. No help. No support. And, to make matters worse, I also had to watch out for Stephen (so much work!).

One night my mom thought it would be a good idea to go to spend the night with Brad and the boys. We had already spent the whole day with them on a "family" outing fishing and enjoying the great outdoors. Now, to add insult to injury, I was expected to take a bath before we went to bed. Oh yeah, there was no lock on the bathroom door. When asked if I had bathed, I just lied and put on my pajamas and went to bed dirty. There was no way I was going to have to try to fight off three boys while I was naked and wet!! I came out of the bathroom and had to fight my way past at least two of the brothers. Stephen was already in one of the bunk beds, not doing any of his crying which maybe would have gotten an adult to come to tell him to shut up. But no. I could not even count on him to cry. So, I eventually got to one of the bottom bunks and laid down with my back to the wall so nobody could get behind me.

We had caught a turtle while we were fishing. The boys finally lost interest in me and turned their attention to making the turtle crawl back and forth across the bedroom floor. I was relieved. The poor turtle was dead by morning. He had given his life to give me a more peaceful night, even though I never went to sleep. Thank you turtle.

Another night we were on our way to spend the night at Brad's. Since it was fall, Brad's sons were not there. Thank God! Mom was driving one of Mr. John's Cadillacs. Mr. John lived across the street from us. If you have read Springle... The House Episode 1, you will know that my mother helped Mr. John sell liquor, food, and run numbers out of his house. In return Mr. John paid mom and let her drive his cars. Stephen and I called this Cadillac the Batmobile because it had the same big fins on the back like Batman's car. While mom was driving the car it stalled...on the railroad tracks! At the time there was no train coming. Thank God again. We got out of the car and followed mom to find a pay phone (cell phones were not around yet). Of course, we ended up at a corner liquor store. She called Brad to come get us. We went to spend the night at his house (apartment). She just left the car on the railroad tracks. I guess what else could she do.

When we got up the next morning, mom and Brad were watching the morning news. Lo and behold, there was a story about a train running into a stalled car on the tracks. There were no passengers, but the car was totaled and burned to a crisp. Brad drove us over to where we had left the car and it was unrecognizable. He took us home. Mom went across the street to tell Mr. John what had happened to the car. You would think he would be upset, but he just said "ok" and reported the car stolen. He ended up collecting insurance money for the car. Wow! A lesson in business.