The Summer Of 1993

We Move To The Burbs

   Uncle Vincent was single for lost of his life.   Vincent liked pretty girls.   He married pretty, but she cheated and left him.  They had two daughters Nicole and Tessa, but they did not want a fifties ranch in Indiana, so uncle Vincent who always adored me "gifted" me the house.   It wasn't much.  It wasn't in a fancy neighborhood, but it was a home that didn't have things breaking all of the time.  The day we found out about the house, the cupboard door fell on me.  This also ushered in an era of our fighting, and loud,  my husand's mental instability was showing.  Every day was a fight and also I was pretty wrapped up in Patrick but one day the bubble would burst. We fought over the little steps of things and I prayed we would either divorce or he would die. Eventually Melissa would bore of Patrick, and we could be together.

I wasn't much of a mother then. Maddie spent a lot of time with Sam. Sam was very cute, came from a family who lived out in the country. They lived off of the grid. They lived in a house in a hill that looked like a log cabin, they heated with kerosene, had lanterns for light, and was kind of strange. When we lived in the hood, he loved coming over when I worked nights to use the computer, but also to be with the girls to keep them safe, but like curious teenagers. I caught them having sex. I never shamed them for it, I felt, "She's gorgeous, she's pretty, so have at it...". If I were pretty in high school, I would have fucked like a bunny and I was with Patrick. We were pretty regular up in the attic off the courthouse. However, I knew it would end one day. A new hire who didn't like how I made fun of my husband and felt I was unfair TOLD both Melissa and Steve. Eliana Shenkel told all.  

"I think you need to know that your wife has been very unfaithful. She goes upstairs with him almost daily. It has been swept under the carpet in the past, but I feel you need to know. She also referred to you as the psycho and that she wishes you would just go away.... That is not fair to you."

I remembered the day I got the letter, the look on Steve's face, and the way he shoved me around that ranch house, BUT he had nowhere to go. I remembered the day at the YMCA when Melissa, an overweight woman who looked like a lesbian if she had short hair came up to me and said, "So, you think I am ugly and that you two would make a much better couple? Well let me tell you, I hope you find a different office to work in. I will go to HR and give you 30 days. That is MY man, the father of my child,and my love, he just got tail from YOU!" That was how I got moved to the Clerk's Office.

It was bad time for our family. However, Steve stayed as he would have been homeless and dead. I tried to make it work with sSteve but I was too far gone. We quit having sex.  

Maddie didn't ask much about her dad. She was busy doing it with Sam, but was on birth control because Jamie recommended it. "Your parents could help, but I feel another mouth to feed for you both would kill you. A family of four making $29,000 is not good," she told me. Yeah, we were a bit on the poor side. I also didn't want Johnny to think we were seeking money. The girls never complained. We got our clothes at the best Goodwill Stores and we shopped at cheap. We tried to make it without help. However, it nagged me that there would be a day she would ask....

I was not ready for it in the least.