Much to my surprise, yesterday's post got a lot of positive feedback. I'm going to continue down memory lane for a bit longer. It is a bittersweet journey.
After Andy graduated from college with a degree in English, he was offered a teaching position in neighboring Erie, PA. So, we packed up all the animals and moved to yet another tiny house. This one had two bedrooms and a basement. I mention that because they both feature in the Peeping Tom story. I've already written about that experience, but it bears repeating. Most of our memories include moments with our animal friends. From the time Two alerted us to the aforementioned Peeping Tom, to a stoned Andy "losing" Molly one day while I was at work and to Heidi sensing a ghostly presence.
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| One of my favorite pics of Andy with Two and Heidi |
We heard rumors, the son of a rich family that lived down the street, was a voyeur. One hot summer evening, Andy and I were watching television in the back bedroom. Being twenty-something "hippies," clothing was, well, minimal. We had the front windows and door open for air. Two, who had gone down to the basement, was barking furiously. When I went to check on her, she was staring up at a window well adjacent to the front bedroom. I ran upstairs to look out the window above it. When I pulled back the curtain, there was a man outside, looking back at me. All I could think of was he looked like Humpty Dumpty! I quickly closed the curtain and screamed bloody murder.
Andy, who was clad in nothing but his undies, came flying out of the other room like a wild bull. He started tossing furniture out of his way like it was weightless. I'm sure he would have torn the guy apart if he'd been in the room. For a second I forgot about the creepy guy and wondered if I had an even bigger problem on my hands. Andy ran outside, in nothing but his underwear, with all of the dogs at his heels. Now, I wasn't worried about Heidi, the German Shepherd, or Two, the Border Collie, but my little Molly, a Pekingese, ran out with him!
I called the police and quickly threw on some clothes. Then reality set in. Andy was out there in his underwear, running down the street like a madman with three dogs! It's all a blur from there. I guess he got back and put on some clothes before the cops arrived. I mean, he didn't get arrested. He also hadn't caught the guy. Neither did the police. I suspect they knew where he lived, though, and had a chat with his parents. Nonetheless, it was scary. We closed the curtains from then on.
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| This was the house. Dad is holding Molly. Andy is next to him; mother and my sister. |
"Hey, Man, Have You Seen Molly?"
Okay, so it was the early 70's. Andy was teaching and I worked at a radio station. The details are a bit fuzzy, but the story goes something like this. I was at work; Andy was home with the dogs. He and a fellow teacher were hanging out - probably having a few beers; possibly smoking a bit. Anyway, they were messed up. At some point, one of them turned to the other and said, "Hey, man, have you seen Molly lately?" No.
They went looking for the tiny dog. When they couldn't find her in the house, they expanded the search to the neighborhood. Picture two stoned guys running up and down the street yelling for Molly! All they could think of was how I was going to kill them if she was gone. Paranoia strikes deep. Into [their] lives it did creep.
They eventually came back to the house to regroup. At some point one of the geniuses checked under the sofa again, and there was Molly, where she had been all along, sound asleep. When I got home, they were stone cold sober and looking a bit frazzled. I asked about their day and they just shrugged and said it was boring. I didn't hear about the day Molly went missing till years later.
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| Andy and Molly |
"Heidi Knew"
I was so excited when the house across the street became available to rent. Our current one was a tiny Cape Cod, but that one was a two story, three bedroom with a nice yard. We packed up our stuff and moved across the street.
I loved that house. I had plenty of room to hang artwork. Like the self-portrait I did, as a class project, in which I was engulfed in flames. I was inspired by a Leonard Cohen album, and I was weird. I put that sucker at the top of the stairs. It especially made my mother-in-law nervous. Didn't even phase my own mother, who suspected from birth I was the spawn of satan. (At least that was the impression she gave.)
 This picture says it all. |
| Dad smiling. Mother looking at me like I'm Rosemary's Baby. |
I was busy cooking dinner and figured they were hanging out somewhere. When I finally went to check on them, I saw the bedroom door was closed. I knocked and tried to open it but it was locked. They were on the other side in a panic, yelling that they were stuck in there and had been yelling for me to help them. I don't remember how we got them out, but that was the last time they visited.
High on the "creep factor chart" was Heidi's reaction at the door to the third floor. This house had a beautiful, finished attic with a staircase - not a pull down ladder like most houses have now. The door was at the end of the hall, across from the bathroom. On several occasions, usually when you were indisposed, Heidi would stand at that closed door and growl. Her fur would stand up, as did the hairs on the back of your neck, while you waited for some God-awful apparition to ooze through the door. Or an axe murderer. It was a terrifying experience. We didn't stay there very long.
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| The "Haunted House" sister, Andy, mother and dad |
It's been fun, sad and interesting going back down Memory Lane. Andy and I marveled at how carefree life seemed back then. But it's all a matter of perspective, isn't it. I mean, if someone had told us life was only going to get a lot more complicated, I wonder what we would have done.
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