Well, that was a long pause. Wondered if I was ever going to resume writing this book. It is May 23, 2013 and is the 218th Month-a-versary of Sharon and my marriage. Here at Highlands Wildwood in Menomonee Falls Wisconsin, we can see Goose Lawn is now being torn up as construction of the additional 20 apartments gets under way. Digger Dan is quite busy at the moment as earth is being moved from one place to another. Two dump trucks wait patiently nearby. Our parking lot is filling up as a portion of our tenants are having their places in the underground garage scrubbed. We had ours done yeaterday. Sharon and Frank have been retired since 2005 and look back and wonder how we had time to work for a living. We now live in this gorgeous luxury living third floor apartment which reminds us of our visits to our long gone timeshares. We wonder if people accuse us of spying on them as we peer over our third story balcony at all the activity and we seem to know a lot of what is going on and what is new as we report these things at social hour once a week. There go those nosey Berndts again !! You can look at our balcony view at BalconyMay2013 and Goose lawn.
Future episodes will be covered in later chapters as we talk about the Great Anchorage Earthquake (9.3), Merged Accounting and Fiduciary Reporting, The only Comptroller Squadron in the Entire US Air Force, and lives with two other wives who died of cancer.
Now, back about 75 years to where Junie is growing up in the Los Angeles area. Let's see . Penny bag candy, 11 cent movies, 10 cent sidewalk hamburgers, peanutbutter and mayonaise and raisin sandwiches, and giggling until our ribs hurt.
Dad would wake Junie up about 2AM each morning to give dad a pill to alleviate his episodes of Parkingsons disease which caused the left hand to shake constantly. The chore would require Junie to grab dad's right hand to help lift him to a sitting position to take the pill while in bed. Dad was progressively getting worse and would soon be moving to a Rest Home for the rest of his life. This would cause Junie to live elsewhere later.
In the meantime, a white rat came into Junie's life for a short while. It lived in a large shoe box with air holes and food and water containers inside. After a few weeks, there was a repulsive odor permeating the bedroom and gradually moving to the rest of the boarding house. Buzzy (the landlady) put a halt to this situation and Junie became petless.
One day, Buzzy was troubled as to the method of telling Junie some news which would be changing his lifestyle. Dad was placed in the Sunset Rest Home where he would stay for the next couple of years. Informing Junie of Junie's impending change of residence was no easy matter for Buzzy to accomplish. She was very attached to Frank Jr and parting would be sad for both.
There was an opening at a school for boys called the Spanish American Institute in Gardena, California near Torrance, the gambling city. This was to be home for Frank Jr for the next seven years.
Frank Jr was placed in a dormitory called Farm Cottage which housed about 12 children of comparative younger age than the rest of the school. Junie changed from there to Hamilton Dorm, then to Central Dorm, and finally to Lincoln Dorm as he progressed from a younger age group to an older age group. Approximately 70 children lived there at any one time. Children ranged in age from about 8 to about 18 and were from broken homes not having a mother and a father to take care of them or unable because of economic conditions. Most, including Junie were sponsored by the County of Los Angeles for livelyhood. The school existed mainly through the auspices of the Methodist Church and most children were of Latin American descent with 3 of us of Asian descent. Gilbert, Sydney and Junie were of the latter descent and grew to know one another very well.
