The next morning after getting up and eating breakfast my Father took us into town.  My Aunt Katy had set up a meeting at the local Catholic school, Holy Angels.  Karrie and I sat there in the van waiting for what seemed an eternity.  My Father came out of one of the buildings with a woman that could have been a man she was so ugly.  She wore a black dress, black funny hat on her head and it was tipped white.  Her name was Sister Paula.  She wore little wire framed glasses that moved when she spoke. 

She was going to be my second grade teacher.  I was terrified of her.  There was the van, there was me and there was her.  I couldn’t even get a word out.  I just nodded.  Karrie would have to go to that school too.  She would be in Charlottes class.  Sammy would go to the “Tree House” day care facility.  It was just up the road past the fork heading from Aunt Katy’s.  It had a huge tree house for kids to play in. 

We were taken to a specialty store to buy our uniforms for school.  White, red or blue button down shirts and Ronald McDonald pants.  A big black belt to divide the two.  I was seven but I knew this sucked.  Just last week I was wearing OP, Hang Ten and Vans.  I was cool.  In style, well that’s what my Mother always said, to her seven year old.  I couldn’t wear my regular shoes.  I had to wear black shoes that I would not of worn to church. 

I made a couple of friends.  Burt was my best friend.  He had black hair, a big nose and black/brown plastic glasses.  I had another friend named Jeremy.  Everyone called him Germmy.  Out side on the playground on an occasion I would see my sister.  There was a big tractor tire from the mines that was filled with sand and we would all scramble to climb up it.  The bigger kids would nock us down and be the “kings”.  My sister was a “big kid”. 

After a couple of months the sisters started taking me and a couple other boys aside to  a little prayer room.  When you entered you had to dip your fingers in this special water and smear it on your forehead while making a plus sign across your body.  If you were a smarty you made fun of it like me and got hit with a ruler or long stick. 

Entering into the room was very dark.  The sister’s would turn the light on and there would be an alter, cross and big giant sun made out of something copper colored.  There over the next few months.  I learned to respect everything I had made fun of. I learned what holy water was and why Catholics used it when entering a “holy” place.  I learned why they recited after the priest while praying.  I became Catholic.  There in that room I would take of my first Eucharist and Catechism.  My Father some twenty years later would deny that he knew anything of it.  My Aunt Katy would admit otherwise.  She would go on to say that while we were in her care she would make it her responsibility to teach us Roman Catholicism.   In many ways I never forgot it. 

After time my Father found a job as a Plumber and carpenter.  We got a home across the creek form Aunt Katy.  We had a three bedroom house.  It was one of five houses side by side.  Ours was the end home.  Behind our home was another hill that had a large three story home on it.  The home belonged to Aunt Katy’s Mother.  All of the homes in the area were either owned or leased by relatives of Katy and Larry Hall.  We were well secure in Father’s bunker in case someone came snooping. 

My Father being a carpenter would bring home lumber from job sites.  We built a tree house in the backyard.  It had green carpet.  In front of our home within feet of our door was the creek.  Trees covered it on both sides.  I would go down there many times and play.  I had made a friend named Todd.  He lived within walking distance from my home.  We would build forts together and climb the mountains behind Aunt Katy’s house many times for hours on end.  No one asked and I didn’t care to tell.  Occasionally I would have to call upon my aunt’s help. She being a registered nurse and me a magnet for cactus thorns.  One time I even fell face first in one.  Between my rump and my face I kept her busy.  

Sometime after we had arrived in Globe my Father had finally made his promise of a surprise come true .  I am sure it was a welcomed gift to him and in many ways to Sammy and I as well.  My Grandfather Connelly came.  He had been in Boise, ID.  The FBI had been there looking for us around my Father’s other family.  He had said on many occasions he had seen my Mother sitting in an un marked police car waiting.  We were supposed to laugh at this with all the grownups.  Being a coward in time I did too.  I really wanted to see her. 

My Grandfather was like a cool nanny for an eight year old.  He baked pies every day.  He sewed, cleaned, cooked and even turned the backyard into a garden.  He loved squash, eight year olds don’t.  I had joined a T-Ball team called the Mariners.  He would spend hours in the backyard teaching me to hit the ball.  I was one of two “home run” hitters in the 1981 season.  My Father and attended many of my games.  Slowly my Mother, Nana, Papa, Uncle Bill, Aunt Marcia, Aunt Rhonda, Uncle Mike, Uncle Tommy and my cousins were erased from my memory.  I was given new cousins, uncles and Aunts.  Aunt Katy’s family saw to that.  Aunt Katy even became my Mother in many ways.  She even told me that. 

I melted into the school system.  I attended football games when the varsity Globe Tigers played in town.  Holy Angels Private school did not serve beyond the eighth grade so everyone found themselves a loyal Globe High School Tigers fan.