Saturday, September 27, 2008

B

The return to Texas was less exciting than the reverse trip. The one really good thing that came from this new development was that I admired S more than ever. His trying to do something worth while for his half sister, made him a hero in my eyes. I tried to do my share of helping, but her inertia made it difficult. S and I often wondered what made her so retiring and so without any self confidence. She had a domineering father who had been brutally abusive to S. Maybe that man had robbed her of what she needed to get along in this world.

I told you some time ago that the sergeant's wife who lived behind our kitchen changed my life. She listened o soaps on the radio about seven hours a day. I had to listen unless I wore ear plugs. And I had watched S's mother listen to the radio every morning when Helen Trent was on the air. And so it seeped into me. And so my part of helping B was sitting down to a card table working on a Jigsaw puzzle and letting this surrounding noise invade her. Probably the worst thing I could have done to her. But somehow we had to survive.

We, all three of us, survived. B was introduced to all our friends. She was exposed to a lot of GIs when we were invited out to the post to play Badminton. And we always went out to the post when the troops were reviewed. S was the adjutant of his company and we loved seeing the funny steps he was required to use while doing this.

We were speaking of Helen Trent. When S retired and we moved to the North West we joined a class given at the Junior College. The teacher's name was Bob Sidney. His mother had been playing the role of Helen Trent for something like 25 years.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I have missed quite a few postings and have a bit to catch up on.I was appalled that your grandfather was treated so badly and worked so hard when he was only ten, but that is not unusual in Australia in those days either. I think there is no excuse for meaness of spirit in any era. I am enjoying being "back on board" to hear about your life.

Bonnie's blog said...

How very different things are now, there are so many things that you accepted and made a good with which many young people today would really baulk at! Your writing is so interesting, although , as a Brit I've no idea who Helen Trent was!
Keep going we're still reading!

Joanna said...

I'm American and also had no idea who Helen Trent was! Heh heh.

According to wikipedia: "The Romance of Helen Trent was a radio soap opera which aired on CBS from 1933 to 1960 for a total of 7,222 episodes. The show was created by Frank and Anne Hummert, who were among the most prolific producers during the radio soap era."

Bonnie's blog said...

Thanks Joanna! (it was a bit before my time) of course we had 'Mrs Dale's diary' which I think was in a similar vein and at a similar time althoguh wikipedia could prove me wrong!