Happy Birthday, Sis

It was a hot summer morning back in the old place on North 21st Street in north St. Louis. I know this because Barbara was still a baby, probably about six months old, and we were taking turns pushing her in the stroller on the sidewalk out in front of the duplex we were living in at the time.

I remember we were all sitting on the front steps, probably because it was too hot indoors. I'm sure Mom was fanning herself and holding up a sign that said Kids. Free to Good Home. Desperate. Really, Really Desperate. (You think that's a joke, don't you? But that's how we got rid of Waldo, Mortimer, Joyce, and Billy.)

Anyway, the sidewalk in front of our front porch steps was wide, and slanted downwards toward the curb. As I remember, it was Timmy's turn to push little Barbara in her stroller, and as was my brother's way, he decided to do it the hard way. Instead of going back and forth on the sidewalk, Timmy was pushing the stroller down toward the curb, and then back up toward the steps, up and down, up and down. Perhaps he had some notion in his head that my mom would snap at him that he wasn't doing it right and pass the boring job onto someone else.

As it happened, that's about the time I decided to rid myself of an empty glass soda bottle I had in my possession, and called out, "Who wants this?" (For you young whippersnappers reading this, glass soda bottles would fetch a whole nickel at the store - a great sum indeed for poor kids like us.) I set the bottle to the pavement, and it started rolling toward the curb.

Sadly, Timmy wanted that bottle more than he cared for his little baby sister's safety. As he let the stroller go to grab that empty soda bottle for himself, the stroller continued on its rapid downward journey toward the curb, and all six of us watched in rapt interest as it bumped off the curb and turned over into the street with poor little Barbara still inside. I don't remember a single one of us running after the stroller to stop it, but I'm sure it was a neat thing to see nevertheless.

As far as we know, Barbara survived that ordeal, and I'm not sure if Timmy ever got in trouble for it. But if you ever wonder if Barbara is strange or does weird things sometimes, you now know who to blame. Timmy.

Oh, by the way, Happy Birthday, sis.