CANAL STREET, DEEPWATER, NJ (2)

Edie's mom, Lizzy, threw a piece of wood at the rat and hit hard enough to make it dizzy and then she hit it again and killed it. Lizzie thought to herself that it was good they had chopped wood because it killed the rat and they would have heat.  She carried in an armful of it after she got Edie into the house.  Then she started a fire in the pot-bellied stove.  The only light in the room was a ceiling light with a pull string.  After looking around she saw there was a sink with a drain side, one kitchen chair, an ice-box and a stand-alone cabinet for dishes or food. There was also a booth-table nook with a large lighted Coca-Cola clock hung over it.  The floor was linoleum with a filthy rug that had seen better days. There was no running water and the privy was outside.

'Just like the mountains', Edie thought to herself. 'But I can get out side- no steps.'

There were two windows.  One was high over the sink. (There's a story about that, but it will come later.- A scary story.)  There was a room past the kitchen that had a step up for access.  This was supposedly a bedroom.  It had a couch which folded out into a bed as well as a chest of drawers.  Beyond that room was another room with a bed and a dresser and of course, a ceiling light with a string.  There was one more room that could be used for a living room if one desired and had furniture.  This room had all kinds of canning jars, more kitchen chairs and just stuff.

There was no heat in any room other than the kitchen...so that is where Edie and Susan had to live.

CANAL STREET, DEEPWATER, NEW JERSEY (1)

   Edie's mother suggested they have lunch before they got to the house in Jersey. She knew a good hogie shop so they went there. Susan had never had a hogie. She didn't like all the onions. She would have liked a hamburger instead. Yeah, and some fries. Mama got her some fries when she asked for some. Thank you, mom.
   They came to a river and drove onto a ferry. After they got started, Susan was allowed to get out of the car. She liked this. Big white birds flew all over high in the sky. They were so beautiful against the blue sky. Being outside felt so good to Susan after a month in that "room." The air smelled so good and even felt good. She enjoyed every minute. 
   They were on the other side already and ready to get off. They had traveled about two hours and crossed a little bridge over a canal that went down a street called Canal Street, in the town of Deepwater, New Jersey. At the very end of the street was a house over on the left side of the railroad tracks. We stopped in front. The house was a duplex and needed painting.  It was cold, dark and came with a rat running across the room. Regardless of it being a room, Edie wanted to go back to the hotel.

THE HOTEL (3)

    Edie's mother had a gentleman friend who had a vacation home in New Jersey and he made a suggestion that Edie and Susan could live there if they wanted. He said it wasn't much, but he wouldn't charge anything and he only used it once in a while. Edie jumped at it. At least they could get out of the hotel. Susan needed to get into school and Edie needed to find some kind of work to make some money. I could crochet designs on handkerchiefs and have Susan sell them for me like we did with the dinner if I find another one. That would be good but I think I'm going to have to make more money than that. Do alterations if I had a sewing machine. How can I get a sewing machine? I'll ask my mother if she's still sewing. Edie's mind was just buzzing and then a knock at the door stopped that. It was Edie's mother.
    "Are you ready to go?" Edie's mother asked.
    "Am I? With bells on. Let's get out of here. I feel like a bird escaping from a cage."
    This was another one of those "If she only knew what was around the other corner she might want to stay in the cage."

THE HOTEL (2)

Nancy got life in prison.  Edie and Bill didn't get anything.  They did straighten out their problems later on in years and became good friends.

I (BJ the writer) apologize for going off the track and writing about Edie's father, but, I thought you might find him "colorful".)


Back to the hotel-

Edie's mother came to see if Edie and Susan were doing ok and find out what they needed.  Needles and crochet thread were top of their list.  She said she needed something to do, or she would go nuts.  With the thread, Edie crocheted a clothes line to attach from the bed pole to the hanger on the closet door.  She washed Susan's and her clothes in the little sink and hung them on her crocheted line.

Looking out the window one day, Edie noticed a diner across the street.  She got an idea.  Waitresses wore crocheted handkerchiefs in their pockets on their uniforms.  She made half a dozen and wrote a note letting them who she was and asked if they could buy the handkerchiefs in exchange for food.  And it worked!  Edie couldn't make those hankies fast enough and she and Susan ate pretty good for a month.

THE HOTEL

Frank's third wife was smarter than Frank.  She was a retired nurse...And well, Frank liked his Scotch a lot. He also liked cigars and but swam every day.  Frank would get drunk every night and every day his wife, Nancy would give him oxygen.  One morning he went swimming, came out, lit up a cigar and laid down on the blanket.  Nancy yelled at him because he was burning his arm with his cigar.

He was dead. Heart attack.

Everyone swore that Nancy killed him by getting him drunk every night (which she didn't) and then getting him sober every day.  They said it was too much on his heart.

People were telling Edie that everything he had was left to Nancy.  Neither Edie, nor Bill was getting anything. Not a thing.  Nancy said he didn't have anything left except the trailer they pulled back and forth between Penna and Florida.  There was talk going around that Nancy was dating someone before Frank's grave was cold.  Well, She married the guy and they got into a fight one night because Nancy caught him with a gal, so she shot him with one of Frank's guns that was to be Bill's when Frank died.  It was a gun worth a lot of money.  Incidentally, the guy who was shot had been Frank's attorney.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS

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ESCAPE FROM THE MOUNTAINS (31)

Ever since she could remember, her father was cold and cruel.  If she was sitting in the living room listening to the ratio, her father would ask her abruptly, "Don't you have work to do?"  And she always was working. She cleaned all three of the upstairs bedrooms, the bathroom, and down to the living room, dining room, den, kitchen and the basement.  Furthermore she also cleaned the front and back porches every Saturday.  All of this for a quarter. Through the week she helped her mother with the laundry (wring washer style) and hung the clothes on the line.  Helped with the meals, the clean up, etc.etc. and her father had the nerve to ask "Don't you have work to do?"  Edie ground her teeth at the thought. 

She had to sneak behind his back and say she was going to the library and in reality she was going ice-skating.  On one of these nights some boys were playing a joke and threw Edie's shoes up into a tree.  It took a long time to find them and retrieve them so she got home after the library had closed.  As she opened the door her father hit her in nose so hard it bled for four hours.  Every time they took the cotton out of her nose it bled.  They had no insurance and her mother didn't have any money at the time.  Edie was seventeen then, and she met Jim.  He had his own nose broken three times.

He was 25 years old and a boxer in the army and had been living on the street since he was nine years old when his mother had died.  Edie felt sorry for him.  Even though she had the father she had, she lived pretty good.  Even during the depression there were three cars with money for gas. And a big house with all the all the trimmings.  Her father was a big shot contractor and the head contractor over at the college.  They never did without during the whole depression.  Edie had a brass bed that had posts with nobs that came off.  That is where Frank stashed his hundred-dollar bills.

He didn't trust banks like he did before the stock market crash.  He did say that he thought something was going to happen in this country.  Something  big!  Wonder what he would think now if he were still alive?  When Edie spoke of her father she would say how mean he was, but she gave him credit for being a very smart man and taking good care of his family.