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10: “Grandma Agnes’ Warning”
By summer, Ali’s mother had sold the house on River Street. One weekend when Ali came home, almost all the furniture was gone; it had been sold too. They still had their little table in the kitchen, and the stove, and their beds, but almost everything else was gone. Things sure looked different to Ali. It was a little scary to think of going someplace so far away, but as long as her mother was there, she knew it would be all right.
“Ali, answer the door. It might be some people answering the ad for the garage sale,” yelled her mother from the kitchen.
Ali let the people in and they began pointing to a few of the small things that were still left: a set of encyclopedias, some dishes, little figurines, a few pictures on the wall. One lady walked into the kitchen and picked up a dish and ask Ali’s mother, “How much?” Then the lady reached over to Smokey Bear that Ali had left on the table and again asked, “How much?”
“NOOOOOOO, not Smokey” shrieked Ali.
The lady looked down at Ali like she was a bad-tempered child.
“Smokey is not for sale,” said her mother as she reached over and handed Smokey back to Ali.
“Ali, take Smokey and go out and play now.”
Boy, that was close frowned Ali as she went running out the back door with Smokey in tow.
That evening Grandma Agnes came over to the house. She walked in and immediately started telling Ali’s mother how crazy it was to go to New York City.
“I’ll never understand how you can just leave California to go to that awful, dangerous big city with your children,” was the first thing out of her mouth. Ali was sitting at the table and listening to her grandmother and mother talking as she ate her bowl of Rice Crispies and drank her glass of milk with Br’r Rabbit molasses in it.
“You’ll live in some awful apartment that has bugs, I’m sure. What happens if the show George is in closes? Everything is covered in concrete. They don’t have grass and trees there. No place to go on picnics like Griffith Park. People are always shooting each other and hanging all their laundry out the windows. I’ve also read that there are baby alligators that come right up out of the toilets there. I know, I used to go to Chicago when I was a young girl. Cities are awful,” lectured Grandma Agnes while Ali’s mother was packing boxes.
“Look Mom, stop saying all those things. First of all, you’ve never been to New York City. Second of all, I want my family to all live together. The children need to have a father and I need to have my husband. If it’s New York City, or Timbuktu, I am taking the children and going to be with him. Bugs or not. Grass or not. Laundry hanging out of windows or not. George and I have been away from each other far too long.”
“You’ll miss the California sunshine when all the snow starts falling in New York. I never thought you’d leave me all alone!” exclaimed Grandma Agnes.
“Really, Mother. You won’t be alone. Dan is here. Your brother and sister live nearby. And yes, I’ll miss California, but there are larger issues. I’m trying to raise my family now and we are all living in different places. George is in New York. Ali is at Mrs. Amity’s. Reynolds is at Mrs. Packard’s. I’m working all the time and only come home long enough to eat and fall asleep and get up in the morning to go back to work----”
“No one ever said it was easy,” interrupted Grandma Agnes again. “Why doesn’t George go back to work at Lockheed? He had a good job there.”
“You know he always dreamed of singing and being in shows. It’s something he had to do----”
“Yes, the day Ali was born,” Grandma Agnes said pointedly.
Ali’s mother looked at Ali who was listening to both of them.
“You don’t need to keep saying that mother!” fumed Caroline.
Ali’s mother told her it was time to brush her teeth and go to bed, so Ali went to the hallway, but kept listening even though she knew that was bad manners to listen to other people while they were still talking in the other room.
“Caroline, I want the best for you. You know I do. But, I’m going to miss you. Who’ll go to the movies with me now? You’ll be so far away”.
Caroline reminded her mother that there was such a thing writing letters and using telephones to stay in touch.
“My stomach is on the bum,” announced Grandma Agnes as she suddenly grabbed her purse and headed for the door. “You’ll see what that New York City is like. You’ll see!” she declared as she left the house slamming the door behind her.
Ali emerged from the hallway and walked to where her mother was sitting on the floor still trying to pack a few things.
“Your Grandma Agnes just doesn’t want us to go,” said Ali’s mother as she looked at Ali and got up from the floor.
“I think that is enough packing for tonight. “
As Ali and her mother went to the living room, Ali noticed that the globe was still there.
“Look mother----here’s New York City,” she said as she pointed to a place on the globe that her mother had shown her awhile back.
“Do they really have bugs there, and laundry hanging out the windows, and alligators----?” asked Ali.
“Oh, I’m sure they have a few bugs, just like we have here in the Valley, Honey. And as far as laundry hanging out the windows, does that really matter? We’ll be with your father. That is the important thing to remember. Look, Ali, Reynolds is staying over at his friend Russell’s house tonight. Let’s watch a little television and have some popcorn and just have a good time, you and me. OK?”
“OK!” replied Ali enthusiastically.