As I stepped into the night, I had no clear intellect driving me, only pure emotion. I must have known at some level that my new friend Jill and her family would take in. I had gone to dinner there and remembered the long double decker bus ride to her home. They were very relaxed and kind people. Logically thinking back knowing what I do now, I had a bold bravery that encircled my youth. My feminine cyclical as a young woman had only been with me for such a short time. Two years and I was now 19 years old, having not much of an understanding of my moods and proclivities. I had traveled on a ship reaching almost halfway across the world to England.
Most of my childhood was spent in Rochester NY. It was in a sweet loving neighborhood that watched over me as I roamed from house to house. The only time I got a taste of a different culture was on 3 trips to West Virginia. I did have a couple of trips to Glens Falls NY and where my grandfather was and an aunt and uncle. Glens Falls was still in NY, not really much of a culture change. I did have two glorious weeks by myself on trips to West Virginia at age 13. My mother took me to stay at the beginning of my teens as she, I assumed, was beginning to let go of her growing daughter. I had only stopped sleeping with her at age 12. Some of our sleeping together was out of a practical need to rent our front room for extra money. She also probably needed a break and was feeling another layer of having to let me go. It was the only time I had a tan because we went to the pool every day as well as a Baptist Church. I remember going to Church right across the street from my aunt and uncle's house, I had a Northern accent and they had a Southern accent. Their manner was so interesting to me. I would watch my teenage male cousin wondering why he was up to slapping SeaBreeze on his face. There were also lots of teenage boys at church fascinated by how I spoke as well.
There I was sitting in the Bobbies’ officeI was watching again. They called Jill Carter's family whatever went on and they called Jill Carter's parents and they welcomed me into their home. I must have told Jill when I stopped after my Art College in a Department store where she worked. I no doubt told her of my troubles with the family that I was living with. Perhaps I was stalling in my stop on my return to the house because of the tension of my strict living arrangement. I needed an outlet. Department stores were also a comforting place for me. Because it was my part time job since I was 14 and in the summer and after school. Department stores were also my mother’s form of employment as well.
I didn’t know it was alright in this new way of family living to speak up. I thought if I spoke for myself, I would be punished. It was the mid 60’s and freedom of speech and feeling were about to start. The Beatle Revolution was beginning. Whether the Cunliff’s called the Police because their charge left their house. I don’t really know, however my English experiance was about to begin to offer me a better time in a new country and in the city of Kingston upon Hull, the East Riding of Yorkshire, England as I was informed.
