More Groundwork

Yesterday, I gave you some foundation, today I have to lay some more groundwork.

My father died when I was 8 and by age 10 my mother remarried. Enter Deb, the step-sister.
She's six years older than me and a mystery. Pretty much because she's holed up in her room constantly. It was an adjustment for all of us. I can't leave her out because she becomes a player in my story.

Deb was pretty cool in a mysterious sort of way. She was a groupie. Listened to The Beatles, The Doors, Pink Floyd. Followed a couple local bands where ever they were playing. She had a '65 mustang, first car at 16 when she moved in. I tried very hard to be a sister to her, but she was pretty independant and well, I was only 10. Shortly after she graduated she joined the air force and was off to see the world. She came home on leave every now and then and gradually, as I got older, I was included in her circle of friends.

I had other friends growing up, neighborhood friends, school friends. Some of those friendships started and evolved before the posse started. We lived in a rather small community, everyone knew each other in a way. There's a connection back to pretty much anyone if you put it in a 6 degrees of Kevin Bacon perspective. As the story continues, I will be referring to Deb friends, school friends and neighborhood friends.

Hold everything dear. Once I make a friend, they are a friend for life. I always have said I don't like to burn bridges. You never know when you might have to go back and get something. I make friends easily. I like to think that I'm a leader. I like to think it, sometimes I wonder if it's true. Growing up, I made many friends. Some were closer than others, but friends all the same.
For instance, there was Teresa, my best neighborhood /school friend. We did everything together, were inseperable during the summers. Teresa got pregnant when we were 16. When my mother found out about it, I was forbidden to ever associate with her again. Mom's logic, take away the friend, your daughter won't get pregnant.

I can't give up friends, it's not in me. I continued our friendship in secret. Through her second pregnancy, through her marriage, third pregnancy, through her divorce. I was also friends with the father/husband. My mother didn't know for years that I continued the friendships with them.

I wasn't exclusive to the posse while it was forming, I had outside interests. Friendship building that didn't include the posse. Some of those friends were brought into the mix, some from me, some from the others, but like I said it was a small community; everyone knew someone.

When I left my parents house, I went and stayed at George's. I was only there briefly, I moved in with a co-worker who was in the process of a divorce. We lived in that house for a short while, but her ex, Chuckles, ended up getting the house after the divorce. She and I moved to a one room apartment. She and I would go out together, mainly with Deb friends, to Deb places. The posse would congregate at the apartment every now and then. Not very often because the old lady that owned the house lived downstairs. She was rather cranky and didn't appreciate the traffic. Mainly we would hang at George's house. His parents were very cool. We had their basement pretty much to ourselves.

I introduced that roommate to a school friend and they started hanging out, she moved in with him, married him and they are still together today. I found another room-mate who was also a school friend and we moved to a two bedroom apartment. Diane was a classmate, but through marriages and stuff we had a couple of the same relatives. The apartment that we moved to was owned by a cousin of hers, and he and his wife lived downstairs. It was the first official party house. The posse was there quite regularly. It was the beginning. Some things are foggy. George had a little relationship with Diane, that was fine. We lived there, never knowing what we would come home to. People in and out at any time. We are all working, different hours, and partying when we got together. As I recall, there were concerts attended, weekend trips to party out of town. Lot's of those concerts were Michael Stanley concerts.

We didn't live there very long, and I can't remember why we moved. I've been trying to remember, but I just can't. We moved to another two bedroom apartment. Diane and George were through with their little whatever it was. This was another party house, party neighborhood as a matter of fact. Very cool neighborhood. My recently found mechanic/old friend lived next door. I made several friendships in that neighborhood. The posse was strong. The original four had grown to a few more. Billy was one of the new members. He was a friend of the boys, and fit in quite nicely. The posse had gone to southern Ohio to party with him on several occassions. Billy seemed more mature than the boys, we hit it off rather quickly.

Diane met a guy, moved in with him and married him. They are still together today. That left me without a room-mate; but only briefly. Tom moved in shortly afterwards. I thought I knew the posse pretty well. Turns out, none of us knew the real Tom. When you live with someone, you learn quickly. He drank and got high more than any of us. And when he drank, he got mean.
I mentioned earlier that he beat the shit out of George. Turns out, he beat the shit out of pretty much everyone when he was so inclined.

That apartment was a definite party house. We had block parties, would shut down the street. I spent most of the time picking George up, cleaning his cuts, taking him home. It was getting to be a routine, start having fun, Tom beats up George, instant buzz kill. We still had good times, but the Tom thing was getting really out of control. I started spending more time at Leap's. Just easier to stay away.

After one of the Tom episodes, Billy and I were sitting on the couch, just hanging out, talking. He gets tears in his eys and says to me, I wish I had someone that cared about me as much as you care about George. I'm shocked by this, I didn't know anyone realized how close George and I had become. Billy asks me if I would marry him. I was kind of at a loss for words. I've already fallen head over heals for Leap. From my heart, I told Billy that out of all of George's friends, I liked him the best. At the time, I meant it and I'm glad I said it to him. I know he wasn't serious, but it was flattering none the less.

I mentioned to my mother that having Tom live with me probably wasn't such a good idea. I only said it to my mother and to Leap. My mom told me that I should probably just move in with Leap since I was spending most of my time with him anyway. My mom, encouraging me to live in sin, who'd a thunk it?

I was the target of Tom's next episode. It was the first and last time any man ever hit me. Leap, my savior volunteered to kick Tom's ass. I didn't think that was a good idea, but try to reason with this one, who wants to protect me. He had no clue. If George could have taken Tom he would have. So Leap thought he was going to fix Tom. What happened was very simple. Tom kicked the shit out of Leap all over the front yard. It was a horrible sight, seeing this violence against yet another person I love. That was the final straw. I called Tom's grandmother and asked her to meet me at my work the next morning. She did, took one look at my face and knew that Tom had to move out.

And so it goes, Tom's grandparents took him back in. I moved in with Leap. I informed George that Tom was not to come around me ever again. I begged him to stay away from him. Donny had a new girlfriend and he pretty much stayed out of the mix. I never laid eyes on Tom after I moved out. Sometime after that we heard that he had moved to Texas, as far as I know, he's still there. MAD was in prison for a theft. He got involved with Shithead, a school friend of his, and they were ripping off cars and stuff. Shithead got busted too and that was their status at that time. Shithead was never a member of the posse, just a factor. Leroy is still truck driving, still a slut, still in contact.

So that's where I'm leaving you for today. I'm really moving in with Leap. I love this man, it's the beginning of my destiny.

Hold everything dear.