My mother came into the room and then she exited it. Then she came back with her belt. Da Da Da Dum! The blood and gore from his nose, initiated beef with my mother that I could have done without. No need explaining about cubic inches or how I didn’t mean to do it. I was immediately met with whacks on the backside that said I had better not touch her nephew again, who was 6 years old now. And although I didn’t get a lick in edgewise, I have to say it was the fairest fight I have ever been in. I committed a transgression, infraction, crime, offense, and I was corrected. End of story. It was a loving and protected environment. The older kids went downtown for piano lessons and the younger ones tagged alone.
Our neighborhood park was down the street in the next block, right across the street down there where my cousins lived. We would cut through good ole Franklin Park to go to get our vaccinations. Ever so briefly, we would try to play on the merry-go-round or the swings, only to be met with, “Come on, we have to stay clean until we see the Dr!”
One day I woke up to Christmas morn. One of my presents was new skates. Wow! Winters in Chicago can be brutal. Not that year, that year on that day, it was unseasonably warm. I saw out the window that other kids, kids I didn’t know from other streets were out there with their skates. Oooh momma, can I take my skates out too? That was so much fun
My birthday is also in the winter. But one summer day I was summoned home. Guess what happened? I got a new car, I mean bicycle! It wasn’t my birthday, or Christmas or anything! Just a blessed day. She treated all of the children that way. My cousin and little brother had matching suits. The little brother who was purposefully born at home under the Newberry Project. I remember, my aunt was there. I remember shopping for my clothes both in person and the Sears catalog.