Beginnings WHATs CRAP?
She knows from the deepest part of you what is right and what is crap. Summer of 61 we were evicted. We had been living in hotels and with relatives. Then my mother finally found an apartment in Williamsburg. That is how I spent my summer homeless while my mother looked for a place that would take 6 kids. Eventually we moved into a pretty bad place called 185 Boerum Street. It was a really tough neighbor hood. But that was the least of our problems. The lights were off when we moved in we did not have enough money to have them turned on. That night we were eating our dinner takeout pizza. All of a sudden my mother who was having some severe stomach problems was doubled over with pain. Michael my oldest brother who was 11 years old knew what to do. He called for an ambulance. I was 6 years old [the youngest of the girls] and scared maybe she wore herself out looking all over the city for a new apartment. Any way when the ambulance came they called the police. And we sat there in the dark being entertained with flashlights by the cops while the paramedics worked on my mom. They distracted us with shadow puppets while she was being taken out on a gurney. Where were they taking her? What hospital? What was wrong with her? I asked.
So we were left with one cop while the other called for another car left and came back with some candy. What would they do with us? My stomach was starting to churn and tumble from the licorice he had given us. The cops they were nice but my head was spinning. I was not clear about what was happening. Suddenly all three of us girls were put into the back of one patrol car. My brothers were all taken in the other. I got sick to my stomach. We rode around for quite a while till eventually we all fell asleep. When the car stopped we were taken into a place called The Foundling Home. I just did not understand where they took my mom. Where were they taking my brothers or me and my sisters? I caught a break from confusion angst and discomfort by being asleep when we arrived. But that was very temporary. In the morning I saw where we were in a large room, the size of a gymnasium filled with beds and older girls my eldest sisters age. I later found out someone screwed up I was supposed to be with the younger kids and my sister Debra. I did not really get along with Phinie she was always taking teasing to a whole new level and just being mean. Each day I kept asking.
Eventually they put me with the younger kids and Debra who was a sweetheart. We stayed in that Foundling Home for months into the school year. I stayed sick to my stomach and could not eat. We celebrated birthdays there and I could not even keep cake and ice cream down. I remember them playing Frankie Vallis Sherry Baby on the record player during a party.
Still I was constantly asking questions.No one would explain what was happening to us where were my brothers and my mother? I knew from the other kids they were orphans up for adoption. I was always ready to burst into tears constantly asking what was going on.Finally, I was told by one aid that we had been given up for adoption as well and my mother would not be returning for us. She was kind of chubby because she was pregnant and had another baby that night we were delivered here. Now what did I want for Christmas? Then all of sudden one day in the fall (Debra and I were pulled out of class) put into a cab where we met Phinie again with no explanations. We were driven to another location and met by my brothers then Bill [my mothers common law husband]. He took us home to 185 Boerum Street. There my mother was waiting with a brand new baby boy. The lights were on we had furniture. We never discussed the several months that marked the unraveling of our family. We just proceeded as if nothing had happen. Treating children like possessions objects not talking to them like their people deserving of an explanation. That is crap.
