Once upon a time is not now

“Grandma, were where you born?”

“Why in Southern France child.”

“Did you grow up there?”

“Just for a year and then we moved to Holland”

“Well, when did you come to America grandma?”

“About 1961. Why all the questions?”

“We have to do a paper on our family history for school”

      Thankful the questions ended but my mind began to reflect on my early childhood. My first clear memories are walking along the streets of Paris France. My two brothers and I had been sent to buy bread from a nearby bakery. Oldest brother 6, next one 3, and I was turning 2. I remembered we passed an entrance to a subway station and I really wanted to go down there but my brothers were walking very fast and I didn’t want to get lost so I didn’t. We were staying in a fancy hotel while are furnisher and new home in Holland was being set up. We stayed there for about a week and our mother felt we had to visit every historical place she could find while we were there. My brothers got in trouble for doing summersaults on the lawn at the Louvre. I got scared to death because when we walked past a display of chastity belts, one of my brothers told me I was going to have to wear one of them. They were horrifying. I had heard the guide explain what they were used for and I swore I would be perfect until we were out of there.

   After all of that touring, we just wanted some place, any place to call home and our wish was granted. We moved into a corner lot at a place known as an affluent suburb of The Hague, Wassenaar Holland. The house was huge with a fully fenced in lawn and a side back yard that had been turned into a sand lot equipped with slide and swing sets. The driveway even had a gate. At the end of the driveway was a garage with a side door that enter into a small room that hat three doors and a washing machine. The door from the garage, the opposite door to the back yard, and a third door that entered into the kitchen. The kitchen was huge and had another door that opened into the main hall. To the left was the first flight of stairs that lead to a landing with a desk and writing area. There were three main rooms off the hall and a small downstairs bathroom. There was the dining room, the main living room, and the sitting room. Once you made it up the first flight of stairs there were 4 bedrooms and two bathrooms. Then the finial flight of stairs leads you up to the uppermost floor with 2 bedrooms a bathroom and two attic storage area.   My bedroom was the first one at the top of the second flight of stairs. It had French glass doors that lead to my own balcony, a closet, my own bed and dresser and lots of toys.

  We had a couple of people as au pair’s and each of them was named Corey.  One of them believed that there was a ghost in the house. She said she saw it on the first flight of stairs. That happens to be right where I fell all the way down the stairs one night when my parents were throwing a party. It wouldn’t surprise me though because weird things seem to happen in that house. We had a peacock land on the roof and it’s screaming woke everyone up. We had a big birch tree with a metal collar, the size that would have fit a human, nailed into it at about 6 feet off the ground. In the part of the yard that was the sand lot we found some metal ore that my oldest brother swore was a bomb.  But the house did have a history and it had survived WWII. Which had ended 12 years before are arrival.

   One of my most vivid memories is going into the master bathroom climbing onto the toilet then onto the sink and opening the medicine cabinet to get some medicine. Someone came into the bathroom and placed me on the dryer that was in there to dry towels. I remember two big adult hands, one with the tablets in them and the other picking them out one by one and giving them to me. Later I had been told that I, at the age of two, had found a bottle of aspirin and had overdosed on them and had to be rushed to the hospital to have my stomach pumped. Go figure.

  Another very clear memories is of a house across the canal from our house. It was occupied by another American family and they had the best swing set on the block. Instead of chains holding the swings it was thick rubber so you could make the swings bounce. Lots of kids from the neighborhood would go over there. One little girl lived kitty corner to this house and one day she asked me to come home with her so we could play. Her house was huge and had a very large lot. We went inside and she walked me upstairs into a room that had two closets. Then there were two twin beds set up parallel to the closets. She said, “I know will each go into a closet and take of on item of clothing, Let’s see if we pick the same thing. Then will come out and show each other.” Okay I thought sounds dumb but I didn’t have many girl friends since I mostly played with my brothers. We went into are separate closets and I took off my shoes and socks. She asked,’” are your ready? Now open your door.” Which I did. She had taken off her shirt. She laughed and said we don’t think at all alike. Let’s try again.” So back into the closets we went. “Okay ready.” This time I had taken of my shirt because unlike her I had an undershirt on. I opened the closet and this time all she had on was her underpants. I looked around the room and noticed a man laying on the farthest bed. He motioned her to follow him and the both left the room and went into another room. I knew none of this was right so when they left, I picked up my clothes got dressed and just walked out of the house. I went home thinking about how strange this girl was. A few days later I walked along the canal and saw her playing in her yard.  Sitting down across form the canal I waited for her to come close. “I can’t play with you anymore because I don’t like your games”

  About a year later I had transferred from the international school to the American school. It was a special day and they had brought a television in the classroom and my younger brother class was filing into out room. We were going to watch a show from the American man Walt Disney. I looked up to find my brother and I saw that same man that had been in the little girl’s house. I left the class room. I didn’t want to be in the same room as him.

  It wasn’t until years later that I realized that this young girl was probably involved in a predator sexual child abuse relationship.