I watched Sesame Street as I had before my mom left. I still had a crush on Kermit the Frog and Raggedy Andy. I had an Andy doll that was as tall as I was. I practiced kissing him. I got scolded for it and Iris locked the doll away.

During summer vacation Iris locked me and Lisa outside from the time that Claud left for work until about five to ten minutes before he came home in the afternoon. It was God-awful hot outside and so we would climb up under the car to get in the shade. There were no trees in the yard, but way off in the back of the meadow. We weren’t allowed out of the yard.

Our only time inside during the day was at 11AM. We got to come inside and eat lunch while Iris watched “The Price Is Right”. We always had sandwiches, usually of the banana and mayonnaise or peanut butter and jelly variety. They were made on white bread, which turned to dough after about ten minutes. We choked them down with powdered milk. I always thought of it as white water. It grossed me out then and still does.

So Iris sat inside in the air conditioning all day listening to religious radio programs and watching soap operas while we sweated and panted, looking forward to our crappy little lunches and our white milk break. We tried to play before things got too hot and we had to crawl under the car. I danced and tried to catch pill bugs to play with. Lisa was usually off in her own little world and liked playing by herself.

After Claud got home from work we would eat dinner and talk. I tried to tell on Iris for leaving us outside in the heat, but she would call me a liar and whip me for it. I finally gave up. I learned early on that the truth wasn’t a big commodity in that house.  I also learned that ‘switches’ hurt like hell.

Iris locked all of our toys in the closet in our bedroom. We were allowed to have one paper grocery bag of toys out at one time. Lisa generally picked out all of her favorites and filled the bag first. I squeezed mine in on top. Of course Lisa got to go first because she was “younger and didn’t know any better.” That was Iris’s favorite excuse for favoring Lisa over me. That and, “One of you has to give in. Jennifer, you are older, so you should be the one to do it.” Lisa never argued and Claud was rarely home, so I got rolled over on these things.