In one way it was the best decision her mother would make… and in another it was the seed of a family tree plagued with drama, intrigue, abuse, and blame. Baby had been living with her grandmothers during her mother’s trip to Reno where she was seeking a quickie divorce..
Even though the match was favored on all sides, it was doomed from the start. They were both too young. He was in the Navy and she was a perky red haired sophomoric coed. Spitfire wanted to go to college and take business courses, but her mother said, “Why don’t you just get married and have a baby?”
He cheated. She was disillusioned. While in Reno on her divorce jaunt, she met Dick Curtis. She fell in love with him immediately – his sweet talk and his sweet tongue. He could dance and swing, and she would be a move up for him. The family was against Dick for three reasons:
#1. Spitfire was just coming off a divorce.
#2 She had a three month old baby.
#3. He was not of their class.
He tried and tried to win them over, but to no avail. There were lots of fights. “You should leave the baby with us, and go off and do your own thing,” Mimi said. Gigi just tsked and pursed her lips together.
The problem with alcohol is that it sneaks up on you. If you are a binge drinker from an early age, you most probably will become an alcoholic. Curtis was doomed by both his past and his genetics. His parents were fine and healthy, but paired up they made a brood of predisposed addicts. All of his siblings died in their fifties as victims of alcohol addiction.
Curtis made it into his sixties, and he drug everyone along with him on his alcoholic fun park adventure. His strong personality tried to force Baby into a corner which she always managed to avoid or get out of….
So it was a good idea:
He was intelligent.
He was socially adept.
He was into show business.
He was politically savvy.
He was an accomplished business man.
So it was a bad idea:
He was an alcoholic.
He was a chronic gambler.
He liked to swing like a playboy.
He was a cruel bully.
He was an alcoholic.
He made her life a living hell with his restrictions and his brow beating. At other times he was a guiding light for her thoughts, opinions, and talent. Baby took everything Curtis had to offer on both sides, because what choice did she have? She was appreciative some of the time, but she couldn’t help but wonder what her life would have been like if she had continued to be raised by her loving grandmothers.
(First published 8/14/12)
