Moment 025: Hiding out with Mom and my Aunties

Alright, I'm getting into some sketchy memory here- but knowing what I know, there is only one or two ways this could have worked out-

See, when my parents split because my dad was whacked out after the war, apparently on several types of drugs and was catting around- there must have been some sort of agreement that he could still see us (my brother and I). I say this because, I know that when my mom left we went to stay with my Aunt Marie and we were completely on the down-low about it.

We also stayed with Aunt Loraine (Lo-lo) as well as my Grandma-
Now, my Grandma we stayed with last because we eventually moved into a little trailer house right next to my Grandma's place that Mr. Fred owned- and that is probably where I remember stuff (or choose to remember stuff) a bit more clearly- I was six then.

Anyway- We were in hiding because my mom was very scared of my dad and didn't want to see him- as a five year old I did understand this a little- as my mom confided in me a lot and I had seen some of the things he could do.

Well, I say that there must have been an agreement because I remember one day my dad spent time with my brother and I-
I don't remember how we hooked up nor do I remember what we did- I DO remember my dad asking me the directions for where we stayed so he wouldn't be dropping us off at the agreed meeting place but rather at our new locale.
I had the feeling that I shouldn't be helping him find out where we were but this WAS my dad and he did have a great deal of influence over me. I was scared of him too.
He figured out the way back to my Aunt Marie's place which was a small trailer like place if I'm not mistaken.
There was trouble as my dad waited no time before smashing the glass that was in the door trying to get in and my mom frantically locked him out.
There were words, screaming- Marie did some threatening. It was a scene that I can't remember how it ended. Alls I know is that was the last time I saw my dad in a nice way- and I can't even remember what we did because of the way it ended.

I had to promise my mom I would never EVER lead him back to the house should we see him again but like I said, I didn't see him really after that and if I had- there was NO WAY he was going to be lead to my mom again.

That was when the real hiding out began. We stayed at either of my Aunts houses for a bit and at Grandma's 'til we finally settled in that little trailer joint next door to Mr. Fred.
During that time I have a lot of great memories of things I learned from my Aunts.

One thing my Mom, her sisters and Grandma loved to do is play cards. Spades was the game and I loved it. Hell, I loved games and they always let me play.
I used to hang on to the Ace of Spades 'til the end so often that if it didn't pop up after a while they knew I had it. I learned to smack the cards down so that they would spin.
We also played dominoes. My Grandma would drink a beer sometimes with her girls- a long way away from what they used to be like under my puritanical grandfather- or so I'm told.

Sometimes we would hang with Aunt Jewel who was the mother of my favorite cousins on my mom's side, Marvin and Micheal (we called him Newey- I don't know why) but they weren't around much in the beginning.

Another thing we would all do is DANCE. Aunt Lo-lo was the best and spent significant amounts of time showing me how to do the latest moves (I looked like Re-Run) and she delighted in how fast I caught on. Lo-lo and I had a lot of fun dancing together and I credit her for my love of dancing.
It was this love that would lead to so many great moments later on in life.