CLICK HERE TO READ ***Spoiler Alert*** Have you listened to Episode Four?
A rare photo of all four kids which appears to have been taken at our Italian grandparents' home. My dad loved to poke humor at just about anything. Although from a Catholic family, not much was off-limits, as you can see.
Back in the day, moms loved to put their sons in sports coats from Sears. Loving this red plaid.
Brad was always up to something and getting into trouble. He was my hero- full of adventure and excitement. This was taken in front of our first home in a 'nice normal neighborhood'. You will come to hear in future episodes, our home was anything but normal.
As you know from the previous post, Brad and I had some schemes going.
We had this one trick where he would carefully open up my sister's fundraising chocolate almonds, empty half the box out, then re-seal them. I was his accomplice acting as the 'lookout' and got 25% off the score. As I pick apart the details of my life I realize, Brad and I had the more innocent version of my dad and my Uncle Tony's relationship.
Neither one of us was good at math, so becoming bookies would have been out of the question.
I'm pictured here with my mom on the way to my 1st Holy Communion. Don't I look sweet and innocent?
I was not a good Catholic girl at all. I once accidentally set my hair on fire during Easter Service when I was playing with the candles. I was kicked out of Sunday school for asking, "How do the scholars know the Bible wasn't some work of fiction like James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl?" I also complained bitterly about the story of Job. "What kind of God will make bets with the Devil that would torture one of his devoted followers?" Yeah, that went down like a bag of cow guts in a vegan restaurant.
Speaking of cows, I was a vegetarian until I was in my mid-thirties because my dad butchered our cow, then sprung the news on me while I was eating, "You like the Beef Bourguignon? You're eating Daisy." My pet cow at the farm, of course. Ewe.
My dad is seen on the left in this image at home behind the bar. The bar was always fully stocked and he was great at making cocktails with the finest spirits. I have no idea who the other fellow is. I hope he doesn't see this and sue me.
Some of the famous people Dad promoted are blurred out in the images framed on the walls. In the book, he says one of those famous singers, who is still around and has a very famous son-in-law, asked him to procure under-age girls for him. My dad says he was disgusted by the celebrity's request. I was shocked to read about it and wondered how it's never come out in public, especially in light of the #metoo movement. No, it wasn't Bill Crosby.
This is the school where the attempted kidnapping happened. I was dropped off by the bus out in front, pictured here, and approached by the stranger as I was cutting through the back field on my way home.
Someone once told me a Girl Guide was kidnapped and murdered in this town back in the 1970s, but I don't know if that is true.
When my daughter and I took that trip out to the farm, we decided we would try and track down the car dealership where my dad first worked, and the plaza he bought across the road. We found both in pretty rough shape. The car lot was empty and looked abandoned.
My dad certainly had a lot of nerve (or guts) to buy the property across the street and go into competition with his boss. I'm not sure if dad was fearless or stupid. He ended up building onto the store and owned the plaza next door.
You will find out in future episodes, something significant happened at the furniture store. It's pictured below in its current state. In fact, I wandered upon the store name and infamous event quite by chance when I was reading a best-selling true crime novel.
Brad and I had many adventures here and it made me sad to see the buildings and entire neighborhood so run down. My daughter said it best, "Why don't we just lock the doors, mom?"
This is me (right) literally making a discovery about something we just talked about in this episode, but after we recorded it. Since we record two episodes at a time, you won't hear about it again until Episode 7 or 8. Can you say 'cliff-hanger'?