Open Writing

The Canadian Bars back then always seem to be packed. They had what we called beer parlours.

There was one room that was for MEN ONLY, and one side was for LADIES AND ESCORTS.

There was only one day that the ladies could get away with being on the men's side and that was on Halloween. Then they would dress up and liven up the men's side.

Today's generation can't believe that it was in the 40's that this was the way things were.

Many a time I waited outside for one of my parents to come out. And sometimes when they did we would go across the street and up to a second floor apartment over Haber's Grocery Store to the friend who was also the local bootlegger. There they would sometimes have me go to sleep in the next room.

Many times when my mother would be out of town, they would baby-sit me at the bootlegger’s. I didn't like that at all.

They had a son older than me, and not very nice. Georgie they called him. Thought he was the apple of their eye. Georgie molested me, and said if I said anything to his mom he'd beat me up.

He didn't hit me or anything like that. It wasn't a violent rape thank God. And we were in the next room to his family. They would come in to get more booze and not pay any attention to us . We were supposed to be sleeping. I didn't go to their house anymore unless mom was with me. I didn't like Georgie and stayed clear of him.

They were hard working people when they weren't in the Beer Parlour and gave me another job working for them. Not only were they bootleggers, they also had the food concession at the Fair Grounds and sold hot dogs, chips, ice cream and pop, you name it. So I worked for them at every stock car race, selling hot dogs.

I had the big hot oven thing that kept them hot. And believe me I didn't put my nickels in a jar. This time I made more and got tips as well. But like any normal kid. I spent it.

I loved the movies, I lived at the movies. They took me to the places I longed to see. I would buy one ticket to get in and stay and see the same movie three or four times. I got the dialog down pat. And I loved movies when children had to be accompanied by an adult, I would just line up and someone always let me in with them.

We had three movie theatres, and there wasn't a movie I didn't see. On Saturday mornings at the Royal theatre they had a broadcast show of local talent. I must have been on that show a million times. You got a free pass to the show for going up there. And if you won, you got a book of tickets.

So I would sing my little heart out. Mom once told me that I sang " Salamation Army, save my soul, send me up to heaven in a sugar bowl".

I don't remember doing it but she got a lot of calls from friends and she couldn't stop laughing.

I would learn songs all week just to be able to sing on stage again. I must have been not too bad as they always seemed to call me up.

Wish I had some of that nerve now.

My oldest sister was collecting dishes at the theatre. She would pay my way and get her dinnerware. They had dishes you could buy with theatre tickets. She still has them today.

I wanted to be an actress but never got the chance. I use to go to the YMCA and watch the kids learning how to dance. Then I'd practice my myself. I really don't know how old I was. Couldn't have been more than eight or nine. I could hardly wait to get older and really dance.

But mom would take me with her when she went to a family gathering or party. And I got to be the entertainment.

Then I'd end up asleep in someone's bed with a zillion coats on me. I loved going with mom, she was always the life of the party. They were always telling jokes, one after the other. Didn’t matter if I was there or not. Then one day I told a joke to a bunch of people that I'd heard mom tell many times and I'd memorized it and everybody laughed. It wasn't till years later that I realized it was no joke a child should be telling. I didn't understand the joke, I just knew that when mom told it everybody laughed. I still remember it.

Mom always had a boyfriend, I don't remember a time where she didn't. It didn't bother me back then. Cause they would take us out for a drive and sometimes to the beach. She never had a lot of boyfriends, only one at a time.

Daddy was always drunk and he knew he wasn't a good guy and didn't seem to mind mom having a boyfriend. I know one was his best friend and he would listen to him rather than mom when he'd had too much to drink.

Mom would stay over at his house sometimes and didn't think I noticed. Daddy would get so drunk he would start looking all over the house for mom. And he would curse and swear at the top of his lungs in French.

Lots of times there was only me in the house, or my sisters would sleep through it all. I would hide in the closet as soon as I would hear him come up the steps.

The closet was a deep one, not quite like the walk-in closets of today. It was three rows of clothes one in front of the other. And I'd be hiding under the third row.

Sometimes I would wake up and mom would be standing at the top of the stairs waiting to hear his next move.

Then we heard him coming………………

Both ran down the hall only mom had beat me to the closet and I couldn't get the door open, my heart was beating so fast. I quickly turned and dove under the bed. But the rail holding the springs caught my back and scraped me good right down the middle of my back.

I wanted to scream out loud but bit my lip instead.

He never bothered to look under the bed and I'm sure he never knew that there were three rows in the closet.

Our perfect hiding spot. We laughed about it after .

He was even known to pass out in the bathtub fully clothed. Or he'd be sick and just pass out in it. Either way it was a blessing. And we'd go to bed.

Sometimes mom would take me out for French Fries and gravy. It really must be a Canadian thing. Not that many Americans have heard of it. I still love it and make it quite often, even for my Yorkshire husband. So always some good came out of some bad. I got to spend time with my mom.

* READ THE FIRST CHAPTER of Rita B's vividly written life story in our Open Features archive. We will be bringing you further chapters in the coming weeks.