THE NEIGHBORHOOD chapter 175

While the house had ugly interior colors, it was laid out very nice. Of course, I didn’t help maintain the beauty much. I was walking through the living room with the fast going out of style rust-orange shag carpet when I tripped over one of the kids toys and went sprawling across the living room floor spilling the open bottle of bleach I was carrying to the bathroom. Wouldn’t you know it, it splattered in a three-foot circle in the middle of the living room floor. No amount of speed stopped the discoloration growing by the second. All I could do was stand there and watch calling Della and saying, “You will never guess what I just did.”  She came running from the laundry and gasped when she came through the kitchen door. By the time she arrived that spot was gray-white. So was the t-shirt I was wearing. Being the smart aleck that I can be, I said, “I never did like that carpet.” Neither of us did, but it wasn’t our carpet. The house was rented. We still had more than another year to live there when the accident occurred.

It was the professor’s wife to whom we reported house issues. I had to call and explain what happened. She said, “Just cover it up for now and we’ll figure it out when you move.” Great! We were now going to be hit with a big bill after graduation. Well, it was better than hitting us now, I thought.

The kids loved the neighborhood. There were plenty of preschool kids nearby to play with. A group of them got together to help out a neighbor when they heard an older kid saying that his dad really needed to wash his filthy car. His youngest son arranged the good deed. Five preschoolers had pans of water, a hose and some dirty rags to clean the car.

We knew nothing about it until the neighbor girl, our babysitter, laughingly reported what was happening. By the time we were heading to the site the kids were walking back our way. “What were you doing?” Washing Tommy’s car.” It was Tommy’s dad’s car. “Is he home?” Tommy said he was sleeping on the sofa and they wanted to surprise him.

When we got to their house, we knew he was going to be surprised. The dirt was now spread in little circles all over the bottom half of the car. It would have looked better if just left alone. Mr. Gartner came outside shortly after we arrived, put his hand to his mouth and said, “What happened.” His son took the lead, “We wanted to surprise you.” I told him immediately that I would clean it up. But he laughed and said, “Don’t worry about it. I’ll just take it to the car wash.” He thanked the kids and said the next time they wanted to help, call him and he would help them,

We have always had cats. It was Della, not me. We had a beautiful pure white one in California who had one bright blue eye and one lighter that looked pink in some light. Rhonda loved that cat and would drag it around whenever she had the chance.

One day we were wondering where she went. All the neighborhood kids were across the street and she wasn’t there. We checked the back wall first. She wasn’t walking the wall. We went back out front and asked Rod if he had seen her. One of the kids immediately said, “She put her kitty in her buggy and took it for a walk.” “Where?” They pointed down the street leading out of the Crescent.

I took off running as fast as I could. As I looked down toward Knott’s Berry Farm, I could see her three blocks away standing at the street light on Western with her hands on her doll carriage. If she ever got across that street she would be at Knott’s. Running as fast as I could with Della trailing I know we were both praying, “Don’t cross that street.” As I got close I didn’t want to yell and startle her, but she looked ready to step off the curb. Traffic had slowed, but the light was still red. As calmly as I could I asked her where she was going, she turned to look at me and said, “To the merry-go-round.” She was going to take the cat for a ride. I don’t know how she expected to do that without money, but then she never paid for a ride so why would she need money.

When Della caught up and I explained what happened, she told her that we would go to Knott’s later. She was fine with that. I don’t think the hearts of either Della or I slowed down until we got home. Thankfully she could not figure out what she had to do to get across the street. Too many cars, she said. True enough.

About the cat! She never once tried to get out of the carriage and even stayed there for the ride back home. The cat amazed us that she laid in the bouncing carriage for the entire ride.