Mom Goes to Prison

Most of us can remember things in our life starting at the ages of three or four. Some people have said they remember things even earlier in life. As for me, I started remembering things at the age of four. I can’t remember anything before that age.

I remember my mom working very hard and long hours as a waitress during 1963. She would come home and count her change that she received as tips while working at a local restaurant.

I know she would always say that her feet hurt because she was standing on them all day. She would say most people were nice, but there were a few that would be rude. These are some of the things I remember.

However, there was one moment in my life that I never forgot. That was the day my mom did not come home from work. My grandparents had come to our house, and I could not figure out why. It was my mother’s parents. It was getting late, and mom was still not home.

My grandparents told my two sisters and I that we were going for a ride in the car. So, we all loaded up, and took off down the road. My grandfather had been notified by the local police that my mother had been arrested. When my grandfather asked why, they stated she had been writing bad checks.

So, we ended up at my grandfather's house that day. He pulled the car into the drive, and when he turned the car off, he told us what had happened. I remember, I started crying, and thinking I would never see my mother again. My grandfather told us, we would have to stay at his house until my mother came back home. He did not know how long that would be.

Everyone got out of the car except me. I got in the front seat, and grabbed the steering wheel, and would not let go. I did not want to stay with my grandparents. I wanted to go see my mom. Well, my grandparents tried to pull me out of the car, and I put up a fight. I kicked my grandfather in the face and knocked his glasses to the ground. I thought he would whip me for that, but he knew how I felt. My grandparents could not pull me out of the car, so they yelled for my uncle to help them. It took three adults 10 minutes to pull me from the car, and I was kicking and screaming.

My grandmother tried to console me, but I was too angry. I cried most of that night. The following day, my grandfather went to the courthouse to see if he could bail my mother out, but the judge denied bail, because she had run up so much debt writing bad checks.

I know my mother tried to do the best for her children. My dad was gone most of the time, and he left her paying all the bills. She could not do that on her small wages. So, I guess she thought she could write bad checks, and no one would notice. The judge sentenced her to six months in prison.

I found out most of these things as I got older. However, I do remember going through all the turmoil of her being gone and staying at my grandparents’ home. I know it was some time in early November 1963, because a few weeks later, I heard people talking, and crying about John F. Kennedy being assassinated. It was tough times to say the least.

During this time, my grandfather tried to keep me busy by teaching me how to hunt and fish. It was the first time I ever shot a rifle. He served in the U.S. Army from 1928 until 1933. He got paid $23 a month, but because he was an excellent shot with a .45 caliber pistol, the Army paid him an extra $5 per month. So, he took the time to teach me how to shoot pistols and rifles. He also took me fishing with him. He had a boat, and he would load it in his pick-up truck, and we would spend the day at the lake fishing. It did help keep my mind off other things. And I really enjoyed learning these things too.

I thought sometimes this was my fault as well, because I would always ask my mother for things. I didn’t realize she did not have the money. My dad did not help much by being gone. She was under a lot of pressure trying to raise three children by herself. Every mother wants their children to have nice things. And we all wanted them too.

That Christmas was one of the most depressing of my life. My grandparents did not have a lot of money, so they could not get us much. I didn’t care anyway. I wasn’t in the mood for Christmas. That winter in Indiana was very cold. We had some heavy snows that year too.

Spring started in April, and all the flowers and trees started budding, and everything started to turn green. One day in May, I was out back playing, and my grandmother yelled for me to come to the house. So, I started walking up to the front yard to climb onto the porch, and there sat my mother. I couldn’t move, I just stood there. I couldn’t talk. I just looked at her. I was in shock. I did not expect to see her sitting there. So, finally she got up, and came over to me, picked me up, and gave me a hug and kiss. I hugged her tightly, and gave her a kiss too. My mother was home. It was the best day of my life!