Before I get to the real story, I need to explain that my grandparents lived with Uncle Lyndon so he could care for them as they were getting older. Grandmother was already crippled. FUN FACT: Uncle Lyndon did some cooking every once in a while on the weekends. He’d been a cook in the U.S. Army.
My favorite places to be, like most children, are at my grandmothers’ houses. I spent the night with them as often and for as many nights in a row that I could get away with.
No one slept in the bedrooms at Grandmother Hix’ house. Lyndon built a room at the end of the house that was as long as the house and about 15′ wide. About mid-way to the back of the room, if you turned left through the ex-back door, you’d be immediately confronted with a VERY scary doorless closet that held the dreaded Attic Fan Monster. Turn one step left, and you were immediately in the kitchen.
Uncle Lyndon built this large den to accommodate caring for his parents, my grandparents, who were living with him:
- So, the door to the left kinda divided the room.
- A twin bed was on each side of the back of the room.
- At the foot of each bed was a recliner facing each other.
- In the middle of those beds was a comfortable recliner for Grandmother (at that time, she could move herself from the bed to the chair), and
- from the entry door before the middle door to the kitchen, there were twin sofas, one on each side of the room.
- On the wall to the left of the right side entry door sat the black and white console tv (black and white was the picture, not the color of the cabinet).
The reason for going through this is to explain where everyone slept: Grandmother and Grandpa had the twin beds at the far end of the room. Uncle Lyndon slept on the sofa to the right. Every night. He needed to be close to the grandparents, and that’s what worked. So, when I spent the night with them, I slept on the sofa to the left, across from Uncle Lyndon.
I’m also listing all of this layout of their den so I won’t forget. Those memories are so precious to me, and everything I can do to preserve them, I’m doing! ❤️
One night, we had all turned in for the night, but Uncle Lyndon was watching one of the very few, in those days, late night tv talk shows (yes, the tv was complete with the necessary rabbit ears) called “The Joe Pyne Show.”
Joe Pyne’s guest that night was a prostitute who wanted to leave “the business” and was on a media blitz to warn other young women, homeless and desperate, NOT to fall into this terrible profession. Somehow, knowing this was a hush-hush topic, I was bursting with questions but was too hesitant to say them aloud.
After a few minutes, I couldn’t stand it any longer, so I asked Uncle Lyndon, “What’s a prostitute?”
He took so long to answer I didn’t think he was gonna! Finally, he said, “It’s a whore.”
I grew up a lot that night. It was the first time I’d heard an adult use that word. It was also how I learned that good prostitutes worth their salt were from Babylon! 🙂
Note: Believe it or not, I actually found a link to the actual show we were watching that night. It’s audio only. I’m positive Uncle Lyndon didn’t hear the first part of this show or I probably would not have been watching it.
