My little sister and I packed up our little suitcases- we were spending the weekend with Daddy. We were excited- we hadn’t seen him in so long. He and Mommy were divorced. Actually we hadn’t seen Mommy for a while either. Sometimes she had to go away, so we were staying with Grandmom and Grandpop. It was raining- their grayness and the gray of the day and the color of my grandmother’s pink sweater rolling down the slanty rear window in blobby raindrops. Bye! Bye! Have fun! They disappeared as we turned off the boulevard. We turned to look ahead, at the man we didn’t really know in the front seat and I squeezed my sister’s hand. They said he had a pool!
It was super hot that weekend so the pool was nice. Daddy had a girlfriend- she was really young and pretty. We listened to her records- Fleetwood Mac, Simon and Garfunkel, Jackson Browne. We ate pizza and watched Wild Kingdom and it was great because there was an air conditioner in the apartment and Cocoapuffs for breakfast. My sister and I slept on the couch head to toe, like we did when we went to the cabin in Margate with Grandmom and Grandpop where Lucy the Elephant lived.
It was a really, really long weekend! Like days and days, and when I asked Daddy when we were going back, he said well, how about you stay here with me for a little while? And I said what about Mommy and Grandmom and Grandpop? Wouldn’t they be worried? I didn’t want to say I missed them because I didn’t want Daddy to feel like I didn’t love him, too. And he said they were at the shore and we would see them soon. My sister and I went to my Aunt Sheila’s for a weekend because Daddy said he and Donna had something they needed to do. That was OK- we loved Aunt Sheila. She was in a wheelchair and she smoked Pall Malls, and drank wine from a box and let us watch TV.
My sister was really starting to bug me at night on the couch- she was always pushing me to the edge and pushing her toes into my back. So I was excited when Daddy said we had a new place to live where we would have our own rooms! When we drove up I could hardly believe it- the house was so pretty. A little white house with black shutters and a humongous yard with grass and trees. New Jersey smelled so good! There was a big pine tree in the front yard. I claimed it as my friend and would climb up to the very tippy top swaying in the breeze and not come down for a long, long time. I loved this place. I wondered if Mommy knew where I was. I wrote her a letter.
There was a wedding! Daddy was so handsome. We didn’t even go to church, and there wasn’t a priest-it was at the little house. All of Daddy’s side of the family came- including the cousins! Donna made us blue dresses and flower crowns for our hair- she was really good at sewing. Everyone said she was chic,and I was really proud to be a flower girl. Late that night, after everyone had gone home and we were in bed a long time, I heard Daddy and Donna yelling at each other, which was really confusing because it had been such a beautiful day. It also made me scared so I stayed up for a while. We were starting school the next day. When we woke up, Donna made pancakes! And she said she wanted us to call her mommy now.
— Cristine
It was super hot that weekend so the pool was nice. Daddy had a girlfriend- she was really young and pretty. We listened to her records- Fleetwood Mac, Simon and Garfunkel, Jackson Browne. We ate pizza and watched Wild Kingdom and it was great because there was an air conditioner in the apartment and Cocoapuffs for breakfast. My sister and I slept on the couch head to toe, like we did when we went to the cabin in Margate with Grandmom and Grandpop where Lucy the Elephant lived.
It was a really, really long weekend! Like days and days, and when I asked Daddy when we were going back, he said well, how about you stay here with me for a little while? And I said what about Mommy and Grandmom and Grandpop? Wouldn’t they be worried? I didn’t want to say I missed them because I didn’t want Daddy to feel like I didn’t love him, too. And he said they were at the shore and we would see them soon. My sister and I went to my Aunt Sheila’s for a weekend because Daddy said he and Donna had something they needed to do. That was OK- we loved Aunt Sheila. She was in a wheelchair and she smoked Pall Malls, and drank wine from a box and let us watch TV.
My sister was really starting to bug me at night on the couch- she was always pushing me to the edge and pushing her toes into my back. So I was excited when Daddy said we had a new place to live where we would have our own rooms! When we drove up I could hardly believe it- the house was so pretty. A little white house with black shutters and a humongous yard with grass and trees. New Jersey smelled so good! There was a big pine tree in the front yard. I claimed it as my friend and would climb up to the very tippy top swaying in the breeze and not come down for a long, long time. I loved this place. I wondered if Mommy knew where I was. I wrote her a letter.
There was a wedding! Daddy was so handsome. We didn’t even go to church, and there wasn’t a priest-it was at the little house. All of Daddy’s side of the family came- including the cousins! Donna made us blue dresses and flower crowns for our hair- she was really good at sewing. Everyone said she was chic,and I was really proud to be a flower girl. Late that night, after everyone had gone home and we were in bed a long time, I heard Daddy and Donna yelling at each other, which was really confusing because it had been such a beautiful day. It also made me scared so I stayed up for a while. We were starting school the next day. When we woke up, Donna made pancakes! And she said she wanted us to call her mommy now.
— Cristine
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