Growing older but not up
Growing older but not up
Read about the misadventures of an upper-class suburban family, whose lifestyle was downgraded to living in a hippie shack in the redwoods.
For my family – you know who you are. It was the wild and crazy Seventies, when American culture was divided by the social upheaval of the Sixties, the conservative imperialism of war, and the natural forces of sex, drugs, and rock & roll. San Francisco was still a bastion…
Marty White knew his life was going to be different the day he came home from school to find naked hippies jumping off the roof into his family’s swimming pool. Being only twelve years old, he simply didn’t understand just how different it would be! He heard yelling, and huge…
The next day, after the last ragged gypsy had stumbled out the door, the kids got a formal press release that ‘things are going to be different around here.’ Their mom now preferred to be called Marge, and had gotten a job at a pet store (which her kids thought…
Aquarium Beautiful wasn’t just a pet store – it was a broken-down traveling circus that was going nowhere fast. Located in downtown San Rafael, in one half of a grungy old building between D and E streets, it served as a dilapidated suspension bridge between the human and animal worlds. …
Marty rode his bike all over those hills – far beyond the boundaries of what could be called his ‘neighborhood.’ It seemed as though he covered hundreds of miles on his high-handled, banana-seated Schwinn Sting Ray. Many of the hills were steep, and his bicycle had no gears. The street…
The holiday season had always been strange in Marty’s family, and this year would be no exception. In the past, on the day after Thanksgiving, G.O.D. would make them all go “as a family” to Union Square in the city, and join the crush of people looking at the elaborate…
The winter of 1974-1975 was wet and dreary. Marty couldn’t ride his bike anywhere, and the house was cold and empty. His mom disconnected the heater to save money, saying they could wear extra clothes to keep warm, and so they did. To Marty, it seemed as though they were…
By February of 1975, the kids hardly saw Marge around the house anymore. She was either working, partying with her friends, or looking for a place they could afford, and the children literally had to fend for themselves. Julie’s boyfriend, the aforementioned Dick, drove them all to the store in…
The changes happened quickly, because Marge was behind on her payments. The mansion in Terra Linda went up for sale within a few days, and she made an offer for the cabin. The family waited nervously for the real estate agents to sort everything out. Meanwhile, Krishna had her first…
It took a few weeks, but Marjorie bought her little cabin in Lagunitas, and sold the large, empty, sheet rock castle on the steep hill in Terra Linda. All three of her kids were excited about moving “to the boonies,” but grieving inwardly for the friends they would leave behind……
The next morning, the muffled light disturbed Marty from his sleep as it crept into his room like a cat. Or was it Krishna, who was now sleeping on the small of his back? He poked his nose outside the sleeping bag. Yikes! It was godawful cold for an April…
After lunch, Marty went to meet their downstream neighbors, not only because it appeared they had a big, sunny yard, but he also wanted permission to explore the swimming hole. This must be the China House I’ve heard about, he realized as he approached on the dirt road connecting the…
When Marty got back, it was late afternoon. Marge was cooking a big pot of beans and rice on the camp stove. Jimbo had the grate off the barefoot burner and was underneath the house, disconnecting the oil pipes. “Well, we have nice neighbors,” Marty announced, “They’re nudists from another…
All Sunday, the White family tried to arrange their many things in the new space as best they could. Marty rated their decorating skills somewhere between an indoor yard sale and living in a garage. Marge took possession of the crypt-like bedroom she called “the cave,” and scrubbed out the…
And so, another day as the “new kid” at school went by quickly, with all the novel sights and faces, and then it was time to go home. Marty noticed a lot of kids liked to hang around school after it let out. He couldn’t wait to leave the place…
For Marty and his sisters, every day was like a tactical military operation just to get to and from school. Most of the families they knew had a hectic morning, but theirs was beyond the norm. Waking up in a walk-in freezer was the first challenge, followed by a bowl…