Mom was a good house keeper before the boys came along. The house was always swept, dishes done, furniture dusted and polished. They took pride in the furniture Dad made himself from plans out of a magazine. They couldn’t afford fancy stuff, but they were determined to be hip.
Dad bought the materials and hardware he needed. He was making a couch out of a sheet of plywood cut in half length-wise, screwed together to form a frame and covered in a nice course brown tweed with small orange and yellow nubs. Mom sewed the fabric to cover the rectangular pieces of foam that would make the seat and back cushions with her old Singer sewing machine. Dad screwed on some little legs capped with bronze that set the whole piece off. The arm rests were made of nicer pieces of maple that had been sanded down to a smooth curve. It was a nice simple little couch.
Then Dad decided to take on a more complicated project. He made a bar out of plywood. He cut all the place holders to fit each style of glass needed to be a complete bar. He had holes for shot glasses, wine glasses, beer glasses, and cocktail glasses of various shapes and sizes. Each glass fit perfectly into the rounds he cut and sanded specifically. He painted the cabinet chartreuse and day glow pink and stained the inside maple. Then he fixed two small wrought iron decorator touches to the front of the cabinet: a cocktail glass and a music note.
The booze was kept on the lower shelves: vodka, tequila, gin, whiskey, brandy, Scotch. On second thought Dad installed a lock on the door which was of no use because the girls could get into it with a paper clip if they wanted to. The only thing they knew they liked at their young age was Creme d’ Mint and a sip or two of beer. The stuff in bottles tasted like poison to the girls and they were not interested in it until they were practically grown.
The little family was living in some bungalow apartments. They didn’t have much money. He was on the way up, but he hadn’t gotten there yet. She was a stay at home mom doing laundry, dishes, gardening, and house work while her husband went out to conquer the world. It was a happy little existence with visits to grandma and the like.
The girls rarely got to go to a movie. Sometimes they were allowed to walk down to the theater by themselves to see screenings of movies like King Kong and The Blob. Kristie never could get over her fear of the terror genre after seeing that giant ape take over the Empire State Building and Silly Putty gone wrong.
Once they moved out of Palms to the desert, things changed rapidly. The next nine years would prove to be hell for Kristie…
(First published 12/6/12)
