Читать книгу On the Goose - Josie Penny - Страница 15

Construction

It was spring in 1962. The first year of our marriage was, to say the least, overwhelming. It’s probably a blessing that I was too busy to give it much thought. It was during that first winter that Keith decided to build a big addition onto our little house.

I was pregnant with our second child while our property was filled with tools, lumber, concrete, and all manner of building supplies. I hadn’t seen any plans, and there’d been no conversations about Keith’s decision to build an addition onto our home. I don’t remember if we had the money or not. I didn’t ask any questions. Nevertheless, as soon as the weather warmed up in April of that first year, the construction began.

I was beginning to get excited about the house. With the siding and roofing on, it looked huge! There wasn’t any drywall on the walls. There weren’t even any partitions up yet. There was a plywood floor and that was it for our new addition. I hadn’t any idea what the rooms were going to be used for.

I had started a new job as a food service worker at the airport snack bar on the Canadian side near the runway. In this snack bar there were no waitresses. We prepared the food and served it from behind a long counter. I worked through the winter and into the summer until I had my second child.

In July there still wasn’t a hospital in Happy Valley. A clinic on Hamilton River Road was the only medical service available in this somewhat pioneer town. At least for this baby I knew what was happening. When Keith dropped me off, I was in excruciating pain that seemed to go on for hours and hours. Near birthing time, Nurse Susan ordered me onto my side. I didn’t understand. I had never heard of a side birth before. However, nothing was going to stop this feisty little infant from making her way into this world. Despite the unorthodox method used, Susan did a good job delivering my baby. On July 23, 1962, our first beautiful daughter was born. I didn’t have a name for her at first. A few days later someone handed me a book of names. I searched through it and liked the sound of Darlene, I’d never heard it before growing up on the coast, so we named her Darlene Frances.

After one week I returned home with my newborn and placed her in her crib. She was fussy and seemed to be more demanding than her brother had been. She was the cutest baby from the start.

As soon as I was well enough I decided to go back to work. We would need the money to pay for materials for construction. I hired a babysitter for my children and started back at the airport restaurant. I worked all of that summer.

When he managed to squeeze time away from the club and his buddies, Keith continued to bang a few more nails into the house. In the meantime we got a dog. Every new family has to have a dog. It was the cutest Labrador retriever, with a shiny, jet black coat. We named her Tammy. She was a wonderful asset to our family and the children adored her. She was very gentle with the babies, and smart as well. It wasn’t long before I had her trained to fetch, roll over, and so on.

Tammy grew fast and started having puppies, which added another burden to my life. Even though we enjoyed the experience of new puppies, I was the one stuck with all of the responsibilities of caring for them, such as cleaning up the messes and finding new homes for them.

My husband made a decision, somewhere along the way, that he didn’t want the responsibilities of a family, and started not coming home after work. I was confused, because he’d been very supportive during my pregnancies up to this point.

“Where was ya?” I asked as he stumbled in the door.

“Just dropped in to have a few beers wit de boys after work,” he slurred.

“Why?”

“Cause I wanted to.”

“Well what about yer family?” I screamed.

And the fight was on. I was shocked and bewildered. I’d never seen him drunk before. He seemed to be angry about everything he’d ever done. But I didn’t know what to do about it. What had I done to make him so angry?

Keith and I were trying desperately to earn a living, but we seemed to be going backwards. Would I be better off staying at home? Working five days a week required a nanny to care for the babies. We sat down one day to try and figure things out. We discovered that with the cost of two babies, new construction costs, heating and electricity costs, phone bills, grocery bills, and a nanny for the children, we were barely making ends meet. The problem was we didn’t have a solution. I didn’t have a clue how to manage money and I didn’t know how to stand up for myself. All I could do was try.

“If only you’d come home after work instead of goin’ to have a few beers wit de boys.” I yelled. He didn’t let me continue.

“Now wait a minute,” he screamed, so loud it startled me. “I work hard every day on the job, and then I come home and work on the house.”

I didn’t hear anything else. I shut down. What was wrong with me? Why could I never win an argument? Why for once couldn’t I be right? Why did I feel so rejected, dejected, and inferior to him? I didn’t have the answerers and just gave up.

As the time passed Keith continued to stay out with the boys. I soon realized I would have to take charge of this household and focus on what I needed to do to care for our family. To feed and clothe my children, to make sure we paid the heating bills, so we wouldn’t freeze to death in dead of winter, as the construction on the house remained unfinished.

Household Finance came to Goose Bay and opened up a branch just down the street from where we lived. We started hearing how easy it was to get money.

“What do you think? Should we go?” Keith asked as he returned home after work one day.

“I heard a lot of people get into trouble with those finance companies,” I said, trying to sound educated.

“Well, maybe we can get a furnace for the house.”