Plus One

The drive seemed like a lifetime, a life that was taken away and now a new life was beginning; I had no idea what was in store for me. One moment I was whisked to my Grandparents to live and the next I am in a strange car with a strange woman being taken to a new home. When would I see my family again? Why was this happening to me?

I come from a family of nine, my Father, Mother, two brothers and four sisters. We usually did not settle in one place for long. Our ages ranged from Big brother , myself , sister [eight], brother [five], twin sisters [two] and baby sister who was one. Our father loved the bottle but he was a hard worker. He would go from one job to another, one town to the next, moving us frequently. We were poor but our mother saw to it that we ate good meals and wore clean, decent clothing. She worked hard trying to give us a good home but when it came to the old man she was just too scared to make a stand. He beat on her more than he did big brother and I. When I was ten, he started messing with me in an unnatural, horrible way. I would fight him but one time he hurt me in a very bad way. Then it stopped for a while. My dad only became a monster when he was liquored up. When he was sober he was a decent man with a comical sense of humor. I believe that when he drank his past demons came to haunt him and turned him into that monster. A few years went by with just a few “beatings” but mostly peaceful times. Then I started to develop into a young woman and he began to bother me again. I was older, stronger than the ten year old from before. I fought hard and would get away from him. I would run to the neighbors, who would call the police. The police would take me to my Grandparents. The next day dad would send mom to come fetch me and I would be punished. It happened several times in that order then just after Christmas of my fifteenth year, Child Services came to take me away to live with my Grandparents. They were in their sixties and very religious. I was a rebellious teenager. Years later I would go to visit them and feel badly for the way I was when they were only looking out for me. I loved them dearly and made sure to tell them often. I lived with them about six months but I was so difficult, it was too hard on them. Child services had to move me into a foster home. I was angry at the world, so confused, lost, and scared. My life ruled by strangers.

We actually only went about thirty odd miles and pulled into a driveway to a large yellow house in the country. My foster parents were a young couple with two little children and two foster girls my age. It was a good home. They were fine people who truly cared and I had a few months of peace living there. Then the old man came, raised hell, threatening their lives so Child Services had to move me to an undisclosed location. When my mom brought my siblings to visit, it had to be at the Child Services office. They were not taking any chances.

This home was a nightmare that I had to endure for Two Years. My foster father was a pervert, my foster mother was a lunatic, my fourteen-year-old foster brother was over sexed and my eight-year foster brother was a whiney little sissy. Then there was the two-year-old girl they were trying to adopt. She could have been a sweet, beautiful little girl under the right circumstance; instead she was turning into a spoiled, demanding nasty little screamer. I was there as their slave and nanny. I had a room that was an old closet with a plastic folding door. Child Services had control of me now; no matter what was done to me, they kept me there. I could not have survived without Nancy. This is our story.









I.

I tried hard to make do; there were lots of rules. I had to get up extra early for school and pick up the house. The boys made messes purposely and would derive pleasure from my toils. Dishes every morning and night. I naturally had to do my own laundry but it had to be hung out just right. If it were not hung properly I would have to re-hang it. House cleaning every weekend and of course babysitting. I didn’t make friends well as I kept to myself. I didn’t want others to know the people I had to live with or why I was in a Foster Home. There were two foster brothers who were married with children of their own and they were good to me. When the mother went into one of her fits, which often involved physical punishments, the oldest brother would come get me and take me to his house. His wife and child loved me; I loved staying there and helping with their little girl. The other brother, his wife and little girl lived right out back. I liked to spend time with them also. They had a horse that did not get ridden much so they let me exercise him. He was a big painted gelding full of piss and vinegar. His name was Dusty and I loved the time spent riding him. He lived at a neighbor’s farm. At that time I was only allowed to ride inside the pasture. Thankfully, I did have a few pleasures to make up for the misery.

Since I was the new girl and lived in a foster home it made school tough to get through. A couple of the popular girls decided I would bear the brunt of their twisted humor. I learned to avoid them and ignore them when they tried to engage me in verbal battles. Science class was a haven for me with Mr. Pooler teaching. I excelled in his class with good grades and he treated me kindly. One day in the gym, heaven smiled upon me as I was sitting on a mat waiting for class to begin. I was sent an Angel. Of course I didn’t realize this at the time. She was a tall blonde with sky blue eyes and she plopped down on my gym mat saying, “ Hi, I‘m Nancy and I have a peachy keen idea!” What????? Who the heck are you???? How dare you invade my mat I hated her. She stunned me; she scared me as I sat there with my mouth agape staring at her. She rattled on, “You see, I have a horse and I live right up the road a mile from you. I saw you riding your horse and thought maybe we could ride together.” How the heck do I get out of this one I thought to myself. “Actually, Nancy, I am not allowed to take Dusty out of the pasture.” I told her. Not allowing me to put her off’, she chided, “ Oh come on, I am sure you can talk them into it. That horse is getting fat and lazy, he needs some exercise!” After some thought and prodding from Nancy I felt maybe it would be nice to hang out with someone my own age. So we set it up for the weekend, after my chores of course and some necessary begging.

Saturday chores done, I went out to saddle up Dusty. He must have known we were going out of the pasture; he was a hand full getting saddled. I was nervous taking him out on the road and sure he felt that too. We finally made it to Nancy’s and I was stunned when I saw her saddling up this strange looking creature. Once upon a time, probably the 19th century, he must have looked like a horse. He was a paint also but much smaller then Dusty. He had hardly any flesh on his bones and must have been a hundred years old. He looked like a skeleton of a horse with a saddle on. Nancy said, “ This is patches” and lovingly ran her hands over what was left of his mane; through her eyes he must have looked as he did back in the 1800’s! She certainly adored that old horse. A big yellow and white cat was rubbing around her legs so she picked him up, put him in the saddle where he sat for only a moment. Then she picked him back up to wrap around her neck, smiling she said, “This is Leon.” Then out comes a fat, warty cocker spaniel so homely he was cute but I cannot remember his name. He had so many warts and growths he looked like a porcupine. I just stood there, amazed, taking in the curious little circus that surrounded me. “Let’s go!” Nancy said, snapping me out of my stupor. We both climbed onto our mounts and off we went. Patches looked so pathetic next to Dusty and he had quite a time trying to keep up with us. He surprised me because looking at him before she mounted up he looked near death but the minute she climbed on he came to life.
We took them to the creek for a bath then jumped off their backs into the water. We rode the circle behind her house and around back to where Dusty was pastured. She talked the whole time and the more she talked, the more I liked her. The more time we spent together I soon realized I could not fathom my life without her. We seemed to know what the other would say next and usually at the same time. I would say ‘you owe me a coke!” But she had already chimed in with me. “You owe me two cokes!” Ok, a trillion, billion, zillion cokes. I could never win; sly ole Nance would always get the last laugh with “ Plus One!” Yep, that’s all it took was a plus one. Oh she was a dirty rotten cheater! Oh how I loved that girl! She made me look forward to school and the weekends. Nancy made my life a joy. She kept me grounded when I was depressed from missing my family. To this day I thank the Divine for the day Nancy was sent to me. “Want to ride tomorrow?” she asked as she was riding away. “Yes!” I hollered back at her and that is what we did. We spent many a day riding around the countryside and other days just hanging out together.

When Monday morning came I got on the bus wondering if she would sit with me as she usually sat with her friend De who lived right around the corner from Nancy. Nancy got on the bus, came to me and said “Come sit with us.” She introduced De. De had long dark hair, big brown doe eyes and a sweet nature. She had a boyfriend so her weekends were spent with him. Nancy and I rode our bikes to De’s once or twice a week. She lived in a huge old house filled with old treasures. We hung out, made fudge or watched TV. We all ate lunch together at school and sat together on the bus.

Nancy chose to live her father when her parents divorced. She knew he needed her to take care of him. I felt he just needed a housekeeper. They didn’t have much of a relationship. He was short tempered, demanding and after meeting me, Nancy said he thought I was a “chippy”. Chippy, to him meant I came from poor white trash as I lived in a foster home. He tolerated me because I filled the void in Nancy’s life due to his long hours at work and a girlfriend that took him out of town frequently. Nancy took care of everything from cooking meals, laundry, ironing and all household chores. She amazed me. We had a lot in common with our likes and dislikes. Standing side by side, we looked like Mutt and Jeff. She was tall with big hips, a small waist, long legs and I was short with a chubby body. I didn’t really like her dad and Nancy didn’t like my foster family. I slept over at her house but she only stayed a couple times at mine.

II

Summer vacation we swam in the creek at three different locations. The one out behind Dusty’s pasture was our favorite as it had a dock. Every now and then cow manure, snakes and such would float by. So I would always wear sneakers because we could not see bottom and my biggest fear was “what might live down there”! I feared the unknown, worrying something would grab me, dragging me under but for some reason the sneakers made it safe. Nancy would dive and I just cannonballed. One day she decided it was time for me to learn diving and she spent an entire day trying to teach me. We would be perched on one knee beside each other on the end of the dock; she would lean over pointing with her hands towards the water and I would copy her. She would push off into the water and I would still be on the dock poised, ready but not moving. I had the posing down to perfection, the perfect statue! She repeated this over and over again until late afternoon and she said it’s now or never. I was just scared of my face going first into the dark unknown, coming face to face with bulging eyes and huge fangs. I was a little jealous that she had no fear and I actually imagined the creek monster grabbing her. I pictured her face, surprised, shocked and the realization that I was right as he pulled her down into the dark. The Creek Monster was real! Ok, I am just kidding. She really was patient but it was getting late so she yelled at me, “Its now or never!” What????? She is yelling at me!!!! I’ll show her! Ok, here I go, open wide Creek Monster, I coming in! I did it, I loved it, I couldn’t stop, would not stay still. Out of the water, run onto the dock, dive in, back and forth I ran. Finally, Nancy yelled, “ Stop that now! You are making me Dizzy!” Then she told me how proud she was of me. I was proud too, she taught me to dive! I had conquered my fear, well some of it that is.

Some days the horseflies were voracious in their appetites for our blood. We would be treading water and smacking them off each other’s heads when something would graze my leg. I would shriek then wrap my legs around Nancy’s waist and she would hold us both up while treading water with those long legs. I would then beg her to take me to shore without my feet touching bottom. She would too and the whole way I would be smacking those nasty blood-sucking flies off of us. They were huge so we would make up little “ditties” about how they could carry off the livestock and maybe a few mean people we knew. We would each get a mental picture of it in our heads, laugh our butts off saying, “Too funny!” in unison. “You owe me a coke!” we would say in unison then two cokes, a million then trillion and Nancy would always win by saying ”Plus one!” “I said it first!” “You owe me a coke!” “Plus One!” “You cheat!” Cheater Nancy always won. Of course it didn’t work when I tried it….

We went to our least favorite swimming hole for a new adventure and certainly found it. We were splashing and smacking flies when down from the tree overhead came a nasty little green worm. He was hanging down from his web. A little breeze came along and blew his web just right so he landed right between my breasts! Whaahhhh!!! Shriek, scream, gasp, “Get it off me!” “Get it off me!” He bit me! He latched on so tight, poor Nancy had a dickens of a time trying to get him off. She was trying to get a hold of him while I was jumping, screaming and frothing at the mouth. She screamed, ”Hold still will ya!” “Yahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh,” I couldn’t hold still, he was sucking me dry! I would soon liquefy into a puddle of green slime! What? Is she crazy, is she nuts, hold still, yeah right! “Get it OFF ME!!!!!!!!!!!” “NOW!” Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhh! I am dying here! Scream, jump, and twist until she finally held me down while prying him off of me. She squeezed him until his guts gave out. Yuk! “Eeeeeeouuuuuuu!“ “There! Are you ok now?” she asked. “Oh my lord, you are my hero!” I bellowed! I was so relieved I hugged her hard and vowed to worship her forever. Then we looked at my chest and there was a raised red mark on me. I still have the mark today along with the fear of little green worms. After ward’s we laughed till we cried. Nancy said, “ The little booger planned his attack well but he didn’t know who he was up against!” My hero, the green worm slayer!

III

On one of her rare nights of staying over at my house we went out after dark and walked down the road to test our bravery. The road had lines of trees on both sides. They were large old trees with branches that met overhead to make a tunnel. That was where the big farm was located that housed Dusty. There were cows in the pastures on both sides of the road. It was very dark after passing the streetlights heading under the “tunnel”. It was like the Wizard of Oz movie. We were skipping along singing “lions, tigers and bears oh my!” Two idiots pretending we were not scared! Suddenly we couldn’t see a thing so we screeched to a halt. We also realized we were too far down the road AND in the “DARK”! “Did you hear that?’ Nance whispered. “Creeeeaakkk, grooooan. “ “No-oo, What? I didn’t hear anything.” I whispered back. “Shhh! There it is again!” “Creeeeaaakkkkkkk, grooooooooooooaaaaaaaaaaaaaan.” “Oh Nance it’s just the cows!” “The cows are sleeping!” “Then it’s the squirrels.” “The squirrels are sleeping!” “Ok you big ninny it must be chipmunks then!” Suddenly Nancy screams, “The chipmunks are sleeping too stupid!” With that said, she spun around and took off like a rocket flying toward the streetlights. What just happened? She left me! “You left me!” “You witch!” “Wait for me you witch!” In our short time together I had always been able to out run her, even with her long legs. When it came to running I was like a compact sports car, zero to 60 in first gear, but not this time. The witch was running for her life with no care for me, who was left behind to be a meal for some vicious monster. I may have been slow to react but when I shoved into gear I caught up with the traitor a mile down the road. [A little exageration] I latched onto her shirttail while she dragged me behind her. All the while she screamed, “You’re slowing me down! let go!” I retaliated with, “You’re not leaving me behind you witch!” She was pumping those long legs of hers double time and I was holding on for dear life. I felt as though my feet were flying off the ground and I was her cape flying out behind her. Like a locomotive she got us back to the streetlight and when I let go I smacked her! Aghast although, smiling that evil smile she asked, “What did you do that for?” My explanation came out in gasps, “I could have been eaten alive!” She laughed and said “ He would have spit you back out after getting a good taste of you!” We laughed so hard the tears poured down our faces. We had to lie down on the ground to catch our breath. If anyone had seen us that night they would have had us committed. I learned a valuable lesson that night. When scared, Nancy could outrun a locomotive. She turned into Super Girl with me as her cape! I lovingly told her at the same time she chimed in, “You are pure evil!” Again in unison “You owe me a coke” “Plus one!” “It totally disgusts me with what a cheater you are.”

IV

When we stayed over night together, Nancy was always cold and she would curl up behind me like spoons. She would bury her nose in my hair and I would be lulled to sleep by her breath on my neck. I was her portable heater and even years later we slept that way when I stayed at her dorm. Some people believed there was more to our relationship but that was only in their sick minds. We were bonded together, probably from past lives; fate put us back together. Nance was the leader and I the follower. She was the Idol and I the worshipper. That changed a little shortly before I was to return to my own home. I will get to that later in the story, as I do not want to get ahead of myself.

There came a time when we were forbidden to see each other for a couple weeks and I thought I would die without her. A schoolmate that lived next door whom Nance and I thought of as a geek but a nice girl invited us to swim in her pool. We really did not want to hang out with her. Her mother was a friend with my foster mother. Since my foster mother was invited, she insisted we go. We “dragged butts” behind dear old mom and the little screamer as they marched across the field to their house. The geek, whom I will call Donna, was very happy to see us. The mothers were busy gabbing while we three were having a great time in the pool and on the diving board for which I now was a pro. Some how little screamer ended up in the deep end, suddenly we heard screaming and crying. Donna’s mother ran to pull her out of the pool. She was ok but mostly shook up from all the screaming. Foster mother blamed me for not watching the little one that I had no idea I was babysitting. Nancy was fit to be tied. She yelled at Mom, “We came to swim not baby-sit! If you weren’t running at the mouth and paying attention to your own kid this wouldn’t have happened!” FM [foster mother] was in hysterics and screamed at Nancy “I will tell your father about this!” “ You go home!” Nancy’s reply was “OOH I am so scared!” FM told Nancy to leave and I begged her to apologize so we could see each other. She said “I am not apologizing to that lazy good for nothing Bitch!” I ran back to the house crying. I occupied my next two weeks with sneaking phone calls to Nance and playing with the foster nieces. The oldest FB came to get me to spend a couple days at their house. They felt bad for me; they knew how impossible FM could be. I was to celebrate my sixteenth birthday that week so FB’s wife baked me a cake. Their little girl was calling me Aunt Cookie and asked for me to put her to bed. Afterwards, FB and his wife gave me some wine. It was a fine party but I was not a drinker. We laughed silly then FB’s wife and I got dressed up. I put on her wedding gown and she threw on a brides maid gown she had worn to her sisters wedding. We all danced, fell down as we sang old songs. We could have made money by having people pay us to shut up. FB’s wife got sick and threw up all the way into the bathroom. She clung to the “porcelain god” crying” I’ll never drink again”. “Who’s going to take care of my baby?” FB took her to bed while I staggered to mine, flopping down; I fought the bed spins until I passed out. I did not drink again for a many years. A lesson well learned.


Nancy finally gave in and called FM to apologize so we were allowed to see each other again. School was starting as fall was fast approaching. The creek was getting colder even though the days were still sunny and warm. It was good to be back in school but even better being with Nancy.
V

Towards the end of September the weather was still warm but with a cool breeze. The weekend was upon us, I should have been frightened when Nancy said,” I have a peachy keen idea!” She was the leader after all and I always went along with her ideas, good or bad. This idea was one that I would soon regret. She breathlessly exclaimed “Lets close out the summer with a bang and take the tubes to the creek one last time!” The creek was up and flowing fast so it would be like whitewater rafting. We put a board over our tubes and christened our crafts with a combination of both our names. Mine was “Arnson” and hers was “Wasnold”. We were so very clever. The creek was freezing and the wind was blowing but we went anyway. We actually managed to maneuver about a mile down the creek without incident. It was exhilarating when we were within reach of our favorite swimming hole. The exhilaration was short lived as I lost control and fell in. I quickly swam to shore and stood shivering. Nancy quickly sprang into action grabbing our tubes and shoving me towards home. I ran in to change and Nancy went on home. I did my regular chores then fell into bed. I could not get warm. I felt cold deep in my bones. Finally, exhausted from shivering, I fell into a fitful sleep.

The next morning I woke with a raging fever, swollen throat and pain beyond comprehension. My foster mother came to get me up for school. One look told her I was a sick Pup. She took my temp, which should have read 200 degrees. It was dangerously high. My throat was on fire, the pain kept me from talking. FM took me to the hospital where they diagnosed “Quincy”. The tonsils get infected, fill with puss and swell up. The trip down the creek was a curse. The doctor asked me what I had done over the weekend. When I fessed up, FM was furious, she said Nancy was a bad influence on me and I could not see her anymore. The exception of course was that Nancy had to bring me my homework. She would try to get me to laugh by imitating Fm while ignoring my pain. She had me in stitches, laughing hysterically and crying from the pain. She was the only one who felt bad for me; possibly because I was suffering from her bad ‘peachy keen idea.” We went another couple weeks without hanging out weekends. Thank the Divine for school.

VI

We continued our good times together through the winter with sleigh riding and such. Then came spring and soon summer. Nancy and I were hanging at her house. Her dad said it was time to make dinner and he invited me to stay. This shocked us both but why look a gift horse in the mouth. Nance and I worked in perfect harmony getting the dinner ready. Her dad came in, sat at the table and started talking about Vietnam. This is the moment I was telling you about earlier on, when the tables turned on who was the leader. {I know you have been waiting with bated breath.} He asked Nancy for her opinion on the politics of Vietnam because he knew she kept up on world affairs. I really to this day do not remember her answer. He was so angry at her reply that he started berating her. He jumped up off the chair, knocking it over and strode towards her with his fist up. Suddenly I was thrown back in time, cowering from my Father as he strode towards me with his fists flashing into my face. Oh, I had been in her shoes on many occasions. I shocked myself while moving into the path of his fists. I had actually jumped between them, {how did I get here?} Anger had instantly overcome fear; I was mobilized into action! I put my hands on his chest. I planted my feet and pushed into him hissing “ Don’t you dare hit her!” He gave me a look of pure hatred mixed with what I hoped was some remorse. He shook his head, turned and stormed out of the room. I realized at that moment that I had sealed forever the hatred that he felt for me. Nancy, still stunned, sat down as I followed suit and we enjoyed a quiet meal together. She looked at me after awhile, her eyes glistening, then said, “ You are my hero! I can’t believe you did that for me!” Neither of us could believe it. Our roles had reversed.

VII

It was time for my fourth visit in front of the Child Services board. They usually denied me the return to my home. This time they shocked me with approval. My parents were divorcing finally so with Dad gone, I could now return. I was so thrilled that I called Nancy immediately when I got home. To the foster home that is. She was so happy for me but sad for my leaving. Fm was mad that I actually wanted to go home, she griped to me about what a good mother she was. She claimed I was much better off with her than my own Mother. I still wonder to this day what planet that woman had come from so I could call NASA up and warn them not to go there. Nancy and I said our good-byes with promises to keep in touch. Knowing that we would always be a part of each other’s lives, our hearts were not so heavy.

VIII

When Nancy went on to college it was only twenty miles from my home. I would spend weekends with her at the dorm. Her dorm mother thought I was a very polite young woman. I was now the leader and would do little things to get Nancy in trouble. Oh how it worked what with my innocent demeanor. The dorm mother would chew Nance out and look at me as if to say “ can’t you do anything with her?” We dated brothers for a while and everywhere we went people thought we were sisters. We Were! My family adopted Nancy and she became one of us. Her mom and stepfather actually liked having me visit. She always had to feed us and she was a good cook so I never turned down a trip to her house. Nancy’s dad continued to hate me. He asked her one day on the phone after hearing me in the background; “You’re not still hanging around that “chippy” are you?” I was her maid of honor at her wedding and we consoled each other through our divorces. We shared homes a few times when one of us was in a bind. We don’t see each other much now but whenever we do we just pick up where we left off. I have those silly little wishes like everyone does. I wished I could win the lottery then I would buy Nancy an Island and name it Wasnold Island. I would repay her for always being there for me and putting me back on my feet again. Our relationship, our friendship, is built on a foundation of karma, fate, respect, love and times shared. I look forward to our next life.

This is written with much love and fond memories of Nancy, my Hero, my Sister, and my Friend.