Story cont part 4

1970.....

This is when my sister and I came to realize that with just it being us, our parents and ourselves, how much we really didn't seem to matter to them. The only thing that brought us any direct attention was to make sure that we acted properly and didn't cause any embarrassment to our father when around his boss.

My sister and I had our first plane ride, when we flew into O'Hara Airport you could see the John Hancock building from the plane the clouds looking like a tutu around the top of the building. We moved into a huge apartment complex outside of Chicago, new buildings that they were still laying sod around. We moved in the summer, so my sister and I had the summer to learn our way around the complex. The buildings were 3 stories high, our apartment was on the 3^rd floor along with 3 other apartments it had 2 bedrooms, with a laundry & storage in the basement area.

One good thing our parents did because of us moving around was to take us to the museums and other attractions in the area. We were on the 74^th floor of the John Hancock building you were capable of seeing 4 states on a clear day. Went to some different ethnic restaurants and other activities. Mom helped with the Girl Scouts again, so we were able to get back into that.

Chicago was also the place were we learned another lesson about not trusting the adults around you. They may seem like they are your friend but they aren't always. We spent the summer evenings before school started at the playgrounds in the development. There was a group of us kids probably 5 or 6 of us. We'd travel around the development from the playgrounds to the recreational building, they had a pool table, juke box, weight rooms, a gym, and a swimming pool there. When we first moved in some of the buildings weren't completed yet so the storage rooms where open, all they were were wire boxes. So we kids made a fort in one of them using mattresses and cardboard, I don't know where we found the stuff. Most evenings we spent running from place to place around the development. One night this guy followed us down into the storage room, joined us in our fort, he was talking to us asking us questions. I didn't like him, there was something about him that made me uneasy. We started running into to him a lot, one night we went into the rec hall and he followed us in there. Most of us went up stairs and I turned around to look for Christine and she wasn't there. I asked where she was someone said she went down to the bathrooms. I noticed that guy wasn't upstairs with us either so I ran down to the bathrooms and opened the door and he was in the ladies locker room with my sister. He said he was just talking to her, but something didn't seem right to me, so I stayed with her. He left then but we went to the closest parents and told them about this. So they called the police about it, we weren't allowed to be out after dark anymore or running from place to place.

School started I was in 6^th grade now, I was chosen to be a cafeteria helper we helped the janitor set up the gym for lunch. Then after lunch clean up we'd clean the tables and fold them back up then I had recess. I loved feeling special about helping in the cafeteria and had made a friend with the janitor. He seemed to like me, I was always looking for attention, I got so little at home. I yearned for someone to show me love, especially since now I didn't have my paternal grandparents, to go to on week-ends, especially my grandfather.