Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Family Secrets

Families do have problems. When my Uncle Clarence discovered that his wife was enjoying her free time just a bit too much; while he was dispatched on his work related rail road over night trips. He filed for divorce.

My dad (his brother) generously suggested that he to come live with us. Dad offered him our small room addition that was built for us by another uncle.

At the time, I was in the 5th grade, and flexible as to living quarters. My brother, sister and I had our private bed rooms upstairs, but one day, mother informed me that I must give up my room and begin to share with my sister; because cousin Walt was to take over my room.

What happened was my handsome cousin Walt, a high school student, decided he had endured enough of what was going on at home with mom, so he wanted to be with his dad and also move in with us.

What a tease he was, asking me what was my boy friend’s name. Then he made up a horrible name for the boy, and would taunt me unmercifully.

These were the days when teen-agers wore Levis, the dirtier the better. His Levi pants were extremely stiff, and would stand alone with no help wanted.

One eventful day when Mother did the laundry, she decided that those filthy pants needed washing. When Walt discovered what she had done, naturally he was completely devastated and sort of had a fit.

I knew better than to make any remarks, but secretly I smiled inside. To me, this was pay back for all the humiliation and embarrassment he had caused me.

One action-packed evening, my Uncle brought home a lovely lady friend he had met. They sat spooning in the front room on the sofa, while my mother, in the kitchen read to us children a bedtime story.

Soon, we heard the loud footsteps of my cousin running up the front porch stairs. Jumping up quickly, my uncle managed to lock the front door before Walt could enter.

Now our front door had a small window across the top, and my tall cousin had got a pretty good view as my Uncle was locking the door. My Uncle scurried into the kitchen with his lady friend and asked me to hide her, while he let his son in the house.

Oh me, how exciting this was!! I took the lady into my Mom’s bedroom and hid her in Mother’s closet. She was shaking and so scared! I told her that everything would be OK.

Embarrassed and excited, my uncle let my cousin in, took him into his room closing the door while trying to explain that the lady was my mother; and my cousin did not know what he saw. My cousin was not stupid, and he figured out what was going on; and later he came to understand that it was OK for his dad to see someone.

Shortly, I showed the lady out the back door, escorted her around to the gate, and she hurried home. We never saw her again. Best kept secrets are sometimes hard to keep.

If you share secrets with the Lord, He never tells, and you can always share with him anything, no matter what it is.

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