Baby Boom

A funny thing about older people, like the ones we now lived amongst. People think of them as conservative, busy bodies, writing to TV stations, complaining. Well, in the event, not one of them ever said a word in dissent, in complaint, in comment. They saw the reality, that here was a lovely housewife and mother, burdened with a hustler, flim-flam artist. Getting shed of him relieved not only her but the whole community. If, after the fact, she ended up with her son in a relationship that might 'raise an eyebrow or two', who were they to judge.

My gorgeous mother and I decided to stay put. Why not? The people were nice, no one was a 'nosy Parker' about our living arrangement, and we had a nursery on the grounds, ready to take more recruits. Eventually, we were known as 'that couple' near the cul de sac. I always wondered. Many couples go through life pretending that they were respectable and married, but never were. We, on the other hand, were pretending to be just a mother and son living together under the same roof. The truth was, we WERE secretly married in Nevada, making use of mom's recent return to her maiden name.

As to that nursery in the community building? It finally was getting used. After that first child, we contributed another, then two more, one more, and three more, as we had as many babies as we could as fast as we could to make up for lost time. That nursery was packed with eight children, all proudly ours. It was a handful, and they weren't free to raise either. It helped that my high school's greedy insurance company finally conceded a big settlement for my football injury. With that, the assets from the divorce and father's life insurance settlement (don't ask), we were well set for eight children or eighty children.