An Overstayed Welcome: Finding Home

Chapter 10

Not having mom during the day for dinner was a change that was hard for me to get used to. When I was younger and did not attend school, I stayed at home with her all day as she cleaned the house and prepared the food for dinner. As I started attending school, I got used to being at school for half of the day and getting home to her cooking and having her presence there for whatever I needed her. It was a reassuring comfort that I took for granted until she started working in the evenings.

Although she did have food prepared for us to eat when we got home, she was not there with us in the evening in case I needed her for something. Dad was there but was jo substitute for mom. The upside of it all was that a baby sitter was no longer necessary and that the cops would not knock at our door ever again. The ability to go in and out of the house and not have the worry about staying in one room was a burden off mine and Julia's shoulders.

Almost as soon as we arrived, mom fed us and waited for dad to get home and take her to work. We rode in the back of a deep blue Chevrolet Caprice with them and watched mom walk into the chicken factory. We waved good bye to her as she waved goodbye back and then went back home where we spent the afternoon and evening with dad watching television until night fell and dad would send us to our room to go to sleep. 

Julia and I laid on blankets on the floor and had a pillow for each of us. I was not used to sleeping on carpeted floor, and did not feel too uncomfortable that first night. Eventually, the blankets were not enough to keep my back from hurting and they did not help me get a full night's sleep. The weekday routine seemed to go by slowly whereas the weekends were the opposite.

As soon as Friday hit, it felt that there was not enough of a break from the week days. Friday came and we spent the evening with dad in his bedroom until we all fell asleep. Mom got home at 12:00 pm and would get into bed and fall asleep with us. Saturday mornings were busy as we traveled around town. Mom learned about yard sales and went to any yard sale that she saw unless dad wanted to go to the many thrift stores around town and where we had gotten much of the furniture that was in the new apartment.

Mom spent the rest of the day cooking and cleaning while dad spent time cleaning his car or doing something outside that kept him busy. Late in the evening, mom had Giselle, who lived beside us, and her roommate Chavela to dine with us. They gathered round the dinner table while Julia and I ran in and out of the kitchen to have a drink or a snack and then heading out to the back yard to play.

As the darkness of the night fell, we stayed in doors and watched a movie or whatever was on basic television until we fell asleep. More often than not, Julia fell asleep on our parents' bed, and I slept on the floor of Julia's and my bedroom. No matter how uncomfortable it was to sleep on the floor, I chose to sleep by myself rather than sleep on a bed with four other people. I could not sleep comfortably either way and hoped that one day dad would buy me a bed of my own. That day did not come until much later on in life.

On Sunday morning, mom woke us and dad to go to church. Dad woke up to take us but not to stay. The peace and joy of the chapel filled my heart as soon as I entered it, and the music filled my soul with gladness and love for God. I knew that God was there. I felt His love and presence, and I wanted to stay there always. It brought me more happiness than the television shows and series did. We stayed there for three hours and waited outside playing on the playground of another church that stood beside ours for dad.

Eventually, dad arrived and we all loaded the car and went back home. Mom and dad argued on the way back home and mom told him to stop the car and let her out. Julia followed her lead and got out of the car. Dad insisted for her to get back into the car, and she would not, he left. All of a sudden we were all standing stranded on the side of the road and found ourselves walking back home until a car pulled up and offered to take us home. The lady in the car was an older woman and asked where we lived. Mom told her how to get there and we were home sooner than we would have if we had walked all the way.