hormones

Bumps in the Road Part 7

Though Kathleen was only nineteen, she’d already been engaged to a nice, well-educated fellow who worked at the radio station.  She wasn’t deeply attracted to him but her mother really pushed for the marriage thinking he’d be a good provider and husband since he was a bit older and settled.  Kathleen had always been submissive to Mama, but this time she stood her ground.  Mama was manipulative and knew how to sling guilt, so Kathleen was subjected to her stormy disapproval.  Mama was a force to be dealt with.  Subject to depression, she’d had no qualms about telling the child Kathleen maybe she’d just run butt her head into a tree and kill herself.  Of course, the tiny girl believed her and both feared and felt desperate to get home from school, hoping not to find her mother dead and bloody at the base of a tree.  Remembering Mama’s domineering ways, she didn’t want to be subject to her machinations this time.  She’d deal with Mama when she had to.

Consequently, Kathleen made no mention of her new romance with Mama.  She did, however, discuss her concerns with Annie, her older sister.  “Bill wants me to marry him, but I’m worried.  He’s kind of wild.  I know he drinks.  I think I love him and want to marry him when I’m with him, but don’t when I’m away from him.  What do you think I should do?”

Annie gave her the worst counsel I think I’ve ever heard anyone give a a nineteen year-old kid.  “I think you ought to do what you think is best.” No one understands the ramifications of such a life-altering decision at that age.  Kathleen wasn’t grown.  She was just driven by her hormones as all teenagers are.  She’d been saving herself for marriage and was madly in love.

For his part, Bill was just as much in love.  It was hard to believe this incredible girl wanted him.  She was gorgeous, smart, witty, and obviously a person of quality.  He’ d asked around.  Her reputation was flawless.  She was the girl of his dreams.  He was as smitten as she was.

Once the decision was made, Kathleen starting making plans.  Bill was to pick her up at  the hotel at noon.  Kathleen dressed carefully in  her white spring dress and new hat with its two pink roses.  She didn’t like hats, but this seemed right for a wedding.  Twelve o’clock came and went, then one o’clock.  Fearing she’d been left at the altar, so to speak, Kathleen got more agitated and angry.  The very nerve!  As she fidgeted, she picked up a razor blade lying on the sink edge.  She noticed a ragged cuticle and went to work on it.  As you’d expect, she nicked herself. A rivulet of bright red blood dripped down the skirt of her pristine wedding dress just as she got the call that Bill was waiting downstairs for her.  Thankfully, peroxide cleaned her dress right up.  She dashed downstairs to meet the man she intended to spend the rest of her life with.

They were married that afternoon in Paris,Texas.

Maniac in the Wilderness

Bill and mother
I don’t know how my baby brother Bill ever survived my mother’s brutal abuse. When he was only a tiny lad of eighteen, he was six feet four inches tall. I think the fact that she wasn’t even acquainted with five feet added to his raging hormones gave him a feeling of superiority. While I won’t say he had a smart mouth, I will allow it was extremely well-educated. I am sure they only reason my mother hadn’t already killed him was because she hated to go to prison and leave her younger daughters motherless. It certainly wasn’t because the thought hadn’t crossed her mind at least a thousand times a day since puberty attacked him and her by proxy.

Anyway, on occasion, they had to travel places alone together. It was a misery to both. It didn’t help that the car was a tiny Volkswagon Beetle. It’s always worth a person’s time to stop and watch a huge guy unfold himself and crawl into or out of a Beetle, a pleasure Bill dreaded providing mirthful onlookers. It didn’t improve his mood on arrival, a mood already blackened with inevitable conflict he’d shared with Mother.

At any rate, on this particular day, they started home with Bill driving. According to Mother, he was driving like a maniac: driving too fast, following too closely, cutting people off. I have no doubt this was true. It was his typical manner. She insisted he slow down. He crept along at ten miles an hour, hoping that was slow enough to please her. She’d finally had enough, telling him to pull over. She’d drive. He critiqued her driving as soon as she started. “Speed up! Don’t ride the clutch! Change Gears!”

Finally, she’d had enough. She pulled over. “Get out!” Delighted, he hopped out, thinking she’d come to her senses and wanted him to drive. She drove off and left him standing on a country road, thirty miles from home. She enjoyed the rest of the peaceful drive. At home, Daddy wanted to know where Bill was. “I left him somewhere close to Bossier City.”

Daddy was shocked she’d left the little fellow all alone in the wilderness. “Well, You’d better go get him! It’ll be dark soon!”

“You go get him if you want to! I don’t care if he never gets home!”

Daddy was a lot better at giving orders than taking them, but he jumped in his truck to rescue his precious son and heir. Billy met him at the end of the driveway, brought home by a Good Samaritan. He’d somehow survived his abandonment but I think he still drives like a maniac. I don’t think he and Mother voluntarily ride together till today

See attached picture if you care to put out APB on either