Kraken Kronicles

Philadelphia, 1944

Well, the time had come to move out of the big house on the avenue. Uncle Con actually got married to Aunt Betty and moved into a third floor apartment near 2nd and Snyder Avenue. Grandmom Schmidt and Aunt Laura moved into a small house on Garrett Street between 3rd and Moyamensing Avenue. Mom, Dad and I moved into a small house on Emily Street between 2nd and Moyamensing Avenue. Uncle Con and Grandmom lived about five blocks from each other and I lived in between them near the middle.

Aunt Margaret Dillon, my Mom’s sister lived near Grandmom, with her husband Uncle Howard and their two daughters, Margie and Jeanie. Aunt Helen Stinger, my Mom’s oldest sister also lived near Grandmom, with her husband Uncle Howard and their two children Billy and Helen. Grandmom Murphy my Mom’s and Aunt Helen’s and Aunt Margaret’s step Mom and her son, Edward, Mom’s youngest brother lived on Greenwich Street about a block away. These stories I’ll tell later.

My new house was two stories with a living room, dining room and kitchen with a very small room on top added. This new house was about 100 years old. A bathroom (tub and toilet, no sink) was added at some point making one of the two bedrooms kind of small. Running water was added at this time. The original small fireplaces were bricked over and a huge, to my eyes, coal fired hot air heater added to the former root cellar. As I remember, the house needed lots of work to make it nice for my Mom. Dad and Uncle Con worked about two months to make two cabinets for the kitchen and paint and paper all the rooms, it took that long as they were working during the day.

We rented a horse and wagon to haul the few family possessions and finally settled in, and I remember my Mom beaming in her very own kitchen. The cabinets were red and white; the used wringer washer could be pushed into a small shed. The brand new cloths dryer was strung between hooks mounted on the fence around the back yard. We had an icebox and dad cut a hole in the wall into the yard and put a hose through to drain the water from the melting ice so Mom didn’t have to lift the pan and empty it. An old iron three burner gas stove and used furniture completed the kitchen. Mom and Dad rented this little piece of their blue heaven for $25 a month. These were three happy loving people living in their first house.

There was an Ice Man who came through the street in a horse and wagon and you had a card in the front window indicating the size of the block of ice “5, 10, 20 or 25 cents”. The milk man also had a horse and wagon.

Many vendors and hucksters used push carts selling fruit and vegetables. I even remember a fellow who pushed a grinding wheel and would sharpen your knifes. Some folks had an insulated metal box with a lid that would hang out of window to store milk and the like in the colder weather. The forerunner of today’s cooler.

There were many kids on the street, and in the summer we liked to chase the ice wagon for chips. Sometimes in the summer, a horse drawn merry-go-round would come to our street and all us kids would run into our houses to beg a nickel to ride.

As I remember, the small six horse merry-go-round was hand cranked. I think the fellow timed the ride with a sand glass visible to the Moms. There were very few overweight folks around. The streets had to be cleaned at least once a week as the horses were a bit messy. Dad worked and Mom was a homemaker. I would sometimes wait on the corner for Dad to come home on the trolley.

The war news indicated the war was going good, that is, we were winning.
Mom and Dad had a party once in a while, they rolled back the dining room rug as there was no furniture in the room and had friends and family over and danced to big band music playing on the radio. I was supposed to be in bed, but I sneaked down the steps to watch. I guess I was hard to keep in bed.

The First Christmas in our blue heaven was coming and, of course, I was counting the days. I suspected the origin of the Christmas gifts as I found some toys under the couch. Now, grown up’s really don’t know how to hide things from little kids, they put them in low places, just where little kids live.

Christmas morning I found lots of toys and household gifts under the tree; my
favorite was a US Army colt model 1911, 45 caliber cap pistol. I only knew it was a cap pistol at the time and I wish I still had it.

Mom and Dad were sitting on the couch, holding hands and watching me open presents. They were two very happy people living in their blue heaven and very much in love.

Little did any of us know a storm was brewing.

God bless them both.

Kraken
11/17/2006