Getting Out!!

Wilson loved powwows and never missed them if they were close, but I had never seen him dance. For two days we visited a powwow in the park. A circle dance began and because I had enjoyed it so much two years earlier, I begged Wilson to dance with me. He finally gave in. Together, we took Andrew and Joy and joined the circle. By the time we were done, we were all laughing and smiling. It was our first and last time dancing together.

Joy’s mother came back from Detroit just a couple weeks later. She wanted Joy back. Wilson and I decided to fight it. I took $1000 of the money my dad had given me for new gutters and hired a lawyer. I knew it was wrong, but felt there was no choice. Joy needed a better life. But the lawyer didn’t serve the papers to Shirley properly and the judge wanted them served again. That was going to cost more money. We couldn’t afford it and Joy told us she wanted to be with her mom anyway. Around the end of April, Joy moved back to Misty’s with Shirley.

Two weeks later, in mid-May, I took the rest of the money Dad had sent to prepare the house, took some vacation time from work, and we drove to Elmer’s with Andrew and Haley to see if we could find a home. Staying with Elmer and Marcia, I was able to spend time with my babies without any pressure. I felt free and relaxed. Wilson and I picked up the classifieds and began looking around for a place to live.

There was a house in the Mino valley that was for sale. We drove out there to look at it. Coming over a hill, we beheld the beautiful valley for the first time. Parking in the driveway of the home, we should have known it was out of our financial reach. But being dreamers, we spoke to the renters living in it anyway. They were moving out in two weeks, they said, “But the owners don’t want to rent it again, they want to sell it.”

A preacher friend of Elmer’s knew someone with a small trailer for sale. It was run down, but it was a place to live. We bought it for $1500, then left for home a few days later. Andrew thought it so neat how, although it was warm and sunny at Elmer’s house, he could throw snowballs at the highway rest stop in the mountain pass.

Andrew and I were on my porch when Misty and Wesley pulled up in front of our house in late May.
“Where’s my dad!” she yelled.
“He’s not home.’
“Come here, Andrew!” Misty called.
Andrew stood up hesitantly, then looked at me. “You stay here,” I told him. To Misty I said, “Your dad isn’t here. Go on.”
“Come on over here, Andrew!” Misty hollered again.
Andrew moved toward the steps, then looked at me.
“I said stay here.” Then I turned toward Misty. ‘Wilson isn’t here, Go home!” Wesley started the car. Misty stuck her head out the window of the moving car and bellowed curses at me until they were half way down the road.

When Wilson got home, I complained, ‘That’s it, Wilson! I can’t stand it anymore! I’ll give my notice at work and let’s move week after next!”
Wilson looked up at me, surprised. “I’m ready when you are.”

We called Elmer and Marcia and told them we were coming, but the trailer we’d bought needed too much work to move into right away. Besides, we had no land to put it on. So, still having their classifieds, we called the owners of the house we’d seen in Mino and asked if we could rent it. To our surprise, they agreed over the phone. I packed everything up. Wilson and Matthew got a U-Haul and moved a load of our things while I disposed of everything unneeded in a rummage sale. Wilson and Matthew then turned around and came right back so we could drive out together in our car.

During my moving sale, Dad called. As I spoke to him, someone came to the door and wanted to know if I would sell an item for just a dollar. I agreed. Dad was disgusted.
“They won’t pay you a good price. I will buy all your things. Will $300 cover it?”
“That will be fine Dad.” And I gave him our address in Mino to send the check.

When Wilson returned with the truck, I realized that I had miscalculated the amount of money needed to rent the U-Haul. I had forgotten to double the mileage for the ride back. There was no way we were going to be able to cover it.

So Wilson returned the truck to the lot at night and we hurriedly got ready to leave early the next day. But once the wagon was packed, Andrew was no where to be found. We split up covering the neighborhood. I stopped next door.

“He isn’t here,” they told me, “but you better make sure he’s not at the neighbor’s next door. We just found out their 12-year-old kid’s been molesting our little boy.”

We found Andrew playing with a friend, quickly got in the car, and left.
None too soon, I thought to myself. What a horrible neighborhood – I am so glad to be getting our kids out of it.

Wilson drove our wagon and I drove a small hatchback I’d bought from Bobby. Along the way, we stopped frequently to let the dying wagon cool.