Wildwood. Growing and sinking.

Jenny lived across the street with her sister and her parents. They were super nice people. Jenny was a few years older than me and for some reason she didn’t play outside with us. Even though she was a kid, she was also friends with my mother.  One day we were at her house, and we played hide and seek. I hid in the bathtub with the shower curtain closed. Jenny called time out because she had to use the bathroom. As fate would have it, she went into the bathroom where I was hiding and closed the door. I heard her sit on the toilet and in a panic, I said her name. She told me it was too late, and she relieved herself. She had diarrhea. She finished, washed her hands and left the room. She did not flush the toilet. I peeped into the toilet, and it embarrassed me. I felt sorry for her.

There was another kid on the street named Sterling. He wasn’t allowed to play with us. He was very polite and wore a CPO jacket very similar to the one Eb wore on Green Acres. He had the whitest complexion and for some reason I remember his parents looked older than my grandparents. And further down the street was Mandy. Mandy’s parents seemed like my parents except they had their shit together. I remember walking to her house one day. I was excited that I was going into the third grade the next school year. I was going to carry a briefcase to school, do homework and ask Mandy if she would be my girlfriend. I was so excited. But life had other plans. My dad was advancing in his career, and my mother was sinking into her addiction. Life on Wildwood would change.