THE GARDENS

Josephina Irene Altamirano was born on December 1,1939. She was a beautiful baby. So round and rosy-cheeked. What else would you expect from this perfect couple? I guess we all start out that way. She was born at the Los Angeles General Hospital on State Street. My Grandpa had to admit they did something right. Mom was ten years older than my father and she was the best thing that had happened to this poor, illiterate man. My grandpa intimidated him for good reason while my father used the age difference to his advantage every chance he got. Mom was 29 when she had Josie and eleven months later I followed, and in all modesty, the best thing to come along in 1940. My name is Nellie Margarita. Arnold Jr. was next and he followed eleven months after me. Mom rested for a few years and then had Linda. Eleven months later came the twins, Ronald and Donald. This was the beginning of the end for all of us.

Mom had the twins at St. Marta, a little hospital in East Los Angeles where they believed that if you had to make a choice between baby or mother’s life, you had to choose the baby because it had not been baptized. They let my mom labor too long and a blood vessel in the back of the brain hemorrhaged. We all were sent to stay with strangers until Mom could come home. My uncle Eddie and Aunt Dorothy helped care for her. She couldn’t move. She just lay there. I remember being home on Ezra Street and then an ambulance came screaming up the street to our house. Mom had another stroke and this time it was bad. A priest was called. Lights, screams, and people. I threw up orange juice and hid behind the sofa and no one even noticed. I remember the smell and I don’t know what happened next. Knowing me I probably went to sleep.

Before this time, my few memories of the house on Ezra  are warm and I remember the color yellow in the kitchen. Josie and I had our own room and we had a blue bed and dresser with a mirror that went all around the dresser top. We had party paper dolls. Mom painted our room because we had colored our walls with crayolas. I remember my mom as healthy and pretty. She was always cooking and Papa was always there. Mom was always pregnant and always looking sad. We were always acting up and so was my dad. He used us to put Mom in a better mood. Mama couldn’t stay mad. To me everything was yellow. Birds use to sing and we always listen to the radio. I guess that’s where we learned to use our imagination. A good thing to have as the years went by. On Saturday we would never miss “Let’s pretend” nor the song we sang,  “If you go out in the woods today, you’re in for a big surprise.” We would dance and sing and mom would get us dressed and out the door we went.

The air was clean and Los Angeles was a beautiful city. Green grass and clouds. Mom showed us how to look at the sky and see shapes in the clouds.  Morieta lived next door and she made dresses and mom had her make some for Josie and me. I remember Mom always granted that life was good and would always be so.