Singular Scene

As I had arrived in the US in the July it was October [end of] when the three months from hell came to an end.
The close of business between Sherry and Pom and me was phased in slowly…
Initally I had thought it prudent to go the bold and have a chat to them about how I was feeling… So I got them together and told them… actually I might have taken the cowards way out and written them a note… that I was unhappy and had a couple of suggestions to make the whole situation work a little better…
As you may expect we had a rather intense exchange, where I indicated that I needed some time off during the day and a bit more support at the daycare centre… So it was agreed that things would stay the same but for 2 hours off in the middle of the day.
This was bit of a farce given that we lived semi rurally, I wasn’t able to drive and the bus ran once an hour… sheesh… So I got further jaded and on one Saturday, having had a gutful, I wrote them a note tendering my resignation and left the house for a day at the mall (see below!).
When I returned all hell broke loose… I was told in no uncertain terms that I was unwelome but that I had to stay and work out my one month’s notice. Where I had been promised a bed upgrade I was informed that the in laws from the UK were coming and I’d have to make do. And in fact, during that 3 week period my stuff was gone through, the new employer I had been fortunate enough to secure was called and bawled out for stealing their nanny and I was basically ignored…
Actually, the nanny I had replaced 3 months earlier came back after I’d given notice to work alongside me for a time. and, as it became apparent they couldn’t wait for me to leave I called the Resucers the week before Halloween and asked them if I could take them up on their previous offer of a port from the storm should the need arise.
They came at once and whisked me home with all my gear, installed me in the bedroom which had been completely cleared as if to accomodate a long-term guest and all at once I was made to feel right at home. We then left the house for a long visit through one of the local parks and some time out, ostensibly to prove that there were some rather nice American folk if you just know where to look!!
And, as it happened, I stayed with the Rescuers, calling the prospective employers declining their kind offer of a job, feeling rather as if I was trading one noose for another and remained for the rest of my year in America at the Rescuers haven!
The Garfield decorations reference both that Halloween and actually a teenage love affair with that cat. I believe I identified most strongly with his struggle with lasgne but I have quite a collection of Garfield publications in NZ in storage… quite what I’ll ever do with them I don’t know but in very short order the Rescuers managed to cotton on to all the things I loved and these decos were included in that magic ’88 Christmas I had with them.

So Cinderella, how did you survive during those 3 long months?
I went to the movies a LOT… It’s how I got very keen on sitting in the cinema all by myself. I can remember watching Tequila Sunrise, Say Anything and all manner of other movies… and I don’t just mean watching a movie and then wandering the mall, I’d watch a movie, then go out to the box office and buy myself another ticket for the next feature!
I’d wander the shops, Macy’s, Sears, and the like, grab a sub from Subway, or a Bg Mac ‘sandwich’ from the Golden Arches of course, and sit and watch the world go by… Coke in HUGE cups, Ice Cream, takeaway burgers in waxed paper wrappers… Candy from the drugstore and shop after shop of stuff… Many hours spent investigating Hallmark stores with collectibles and cards! I knew the Montgomery County (Montgomery, Wheaton Plaza, and White Flint) malls well and I remember them still!!
If I ended up in conversation with someone [men particularly] along the way I’d ususally end up with an invite for a date!!! The Kiwi accent is a very attractive thing apparently… I got picked up in a shoe store, after a taxi ride and after ordering pizza once… Of course as an inexperienced little country girl who was afraid of the Big Bad Wolf I always said no… (Maybe if I hadn’t I wouldn’t still be a singleton!!!)
Anyway, this was how I survived… and yet, not only by visiting the mall but by escaping to a little local Methodist Church where they had a piano for me to play on… my other escape… In fact the first time I met the Rescuers I had wandered next door to the church to find the Music Director – Barge. Apparently she was the woman to ask for such things.
I walked straight into a music rehearsal actually, so hovered at the back and finally, when there was a break in the proceeding, I managed to ask if I may use one of the anterooms with a piano for some personal practice and sancutary.
She said yes of course, and so I tucked myself away from the crow and tinkled away happily, though it wasn’t long before I was interrupted by a group jostling their way into the room.
As this was a mixed race church the color of the faces was significantly darker than my own, and they were fairly surprised to find a little white girl at the piano! It seemed I had stumbled upon the gospel choir rehearsal (think the Fighting Temptations). I was invited to hang out and sing a bit if I felt so inclined, and it was here that I fell in love with gospel harmonies, and finally learned how to clap on the off beats!!!
They adopted me pretty much as their mascot in those days, the Kiwi member of the Fairhaven Gospel choir. It was such a great time! We sang together, we practiced together but the most notable occasions were the anniversary tours. We’d visit all the other gospel choirs in the county and beyond singing at all to celebrate each choir’s anniversary, and they in turn, would come and sing at ours. It was the most incredible culturual experience, not to mention of course, a whole lot of fun! And then there was the real-life southern fried chicken lunches with all the trimmings, collard greens included… I couldn’t have had a better time even in the middle of the chaos and tension at ‘home’.
Anyway, this story is getting too long… On that first night I met No Bill who was one of the [few] other white men in the choir. We chatted and hit it off right away. I believe he told me of his family and generally made me feel very welcome, not only in choir, but also in church. I tucked his acquaintance in my mind, caring to remember his name and anticipating I’d see him on Sunday. Though I was to come in contact with him again, very much sooner than that!
Barge had given me a phone number which I was to call too speak to the ‘Chairman of the Board’ in order to garner a key to the building that I may return there when it was quieter to play and to pray. The next day I dialled the number and asked for the Chairman [who was a woman actually] and in passing the phone to her the answerer realised that the caller was the Kiwi he had met last night and had told his family of that very day! And so it transpired that No Bill and the Chairman were indeed husband and wife!! And furthermore it became that I, in making their acquaintance, was in fact sealing my fate as a victim and theirs as the Rescuers!
The decoration above is another from that same Christmas in 1988, and as it was given me by the Rescuers it is fairly pertinent that it depicts the very thing the brought us together!