MEMOIRS OF A BROKEN FAMILY

One afternoon, I jumped on my bike and went to the mall. “First, I’ll stop at Chic-Fil-A,” I thought. I purchased a chicken sandwich and fresh squeezed lemonade. It was fun having money. I felt like I was in control of my own destiny. I walked around the mall and bought clothes for school. My plan was to have a different outfit for everyday of the week. After I finished shopping, I put my bags of clothes on my bicycle rack and rode home.

I pulled up into the driveway of my home to find our things being moved out of the house. “What’s going on?” I asked Melissa as she stood in the driveway. “We’re being evicted!” “EVICTED! But how could this happen?” I asked. “You have to ask Mommy!” she bitterly replied.

My heart sunk deep into my chest. This has to be a dream. Where will we go? What will we do? We don’t have the money to buy another home. We didn’t have the money to maintain this home. This was another one of those times when I wished I were someone else.

In earlier weeks, Mom had meetings with a lawyer and new lady neighbor down the street. I asked what the meetings were about, but Mom wouldn’t tell us. Now--I knew that they were discussing our house.

Prior to the summer of ‘80, an older couple named Rick and Greta moved in up the street. They lived two houses away from us. Mom and Greta became good friends. She came over the house often. Mom and Greta had tea together and talked for hours.

Greta was a strong-willed heavyset light skinned woman with long black hair. Rick was stout light-skinned man with curly blackish gray hair. He was very passive. Greta wore the pants and the overalls.

Mom wasn’t paying the mortgage, so our house went into foreclosure. Greta and Rick bought the house right out from under us. Most of the equity in the home was eaten up by the credit card debt. Do you remember the school shopping and Christmas gifts we bought back in ‘76? Well, in the end, we paid for all of the frivolous purchases. Mom was issued a check for $1,300.00 for the sale of the home.

Meanwhile, Greta issued Mom a rental agreement. Mom couldn’t pay the rent Greta was asking. It was too expensive. Greta wanted $275.00 per month. If you asked me, Mom should’ve been making the mortgage payment. It was only $159.00 per month.

I came into the house to see Mom sitting at the dining room table playing solitaire. “What’s going on?” I asked. “I don’t know what’s going on,” Mom said. “Go ask Greta.”