Chapter 11 Another thing I do have a great memory of was a popular store named Red’s that was on the well-known Stony Island Street. This was where all the kids in the neighborhood went to buy penny candy. Yes, penny candies like Chews, Mary Jane’s, Bit-O-Honey, Pal and Fortune bubble gum, Caramel Creams, Cherry Sours, Tootsie Rolls and Jolly Ranchers. If you had a quarter, you were in penny candy heaven. Red’s is now a neighborhood bar. After staying on 69th and Cornell for a couple of months we then moved again to 67th and Blackstone. By this time, my mother and stepfather were allowed to have my brothers and me on the weekends. My mother was living back with Clarence at our old house on Troy Street. I was so excited when I first set my foot back into that house. Everything pretty much looked the same but it did not feel the same. It seemed like the love, laughter and peace that once was in that house had disappeared into the stale air. My grandfather, Mr. Lemons, had passed away, the lagoon that had been in Douglas Park was no longer there and even the neighborhood did not look the same. It seemed like within the couple of years we were gone from our house something came through and sucked out every little bit of life that was left until it was dry. The beautiful west side of Chicago where I was born and where my happiness, my love for music and my joy began had become just memories that I would try desperately to hold. I hated when they had to take us back to the foster home. I could not understand the DCFS concept. If it was okay for our mother to have us for the whole weekend, then it seemed it should have been okay for her to have full custody of her children. In reality, she could have kidnapped us and taken us to another state. I mean she was unsupervised while we were in her care. Anyway, I was a student at Parkside for maybe the first semester of third grade before we moved again like some damn gypsies. For real now, Army brats have more stability than this. At least they get the chance to move from state to state or to another country. Instead, we got the privilege of moving from block to block. We were now living in a two-flat apartment building at 6547 South Ingleside. This one had three bedrooms, one full bath and an enclosed back porch. Again, everybody and their mommas were living in this apartment. We had nine people living up there -- Esther and her four kids, Big Momma, my baby brother and me. We were like some true black Mexicans… for real. Melanie had a room of her own that was right by the living room, Big Momma’s room was in the dining room again and I still could not understand this concept, but Esther and her daughter Pauline shared the biggest room, Sherita and I shared a room that was in the back by the kitchen, and the boys’ room was the enclosed porch. And can you imagine all of us sharing only one bathroom? Sheesh, this was definitely a hot mess. At least the neighborhood was decent and quiet. There were plenty of children that lived in this neighborhood and the majority of them were good friends to hang out with. About this time great news finally came around; there was a new addition to the family-- my big brother, Pierre! Big Momma found it in her heart to allow him to live with her so we could be a family under the same roof. I was so happy to see Pierre, but it was sad to hear that Pierre had also endured emotional and physical abuse from the foster mother he had lived with. Even though I was excited that I could see my big brother again on a daily basis, the fact remained that I no longer wanted to be with this family. I wished that Ms. Irving would burst through those doors and tell my brothers and me that we could live with our mother. Now that would be some true happily ever after right there. Passed Around By Man But Not Passed Over By God Chontate Brown Copyright ©2013 All rights reserved.
Posted on: Sat, 03 Aug 2013 01:11:47 +0000
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