Lunches that I would have never known existed had it not been for Laura and Patty. Being in school in Cudahy meant that you walked to school. I didn't even know a thing like a school bus existed outside of school field trips until I went to Oak Creek.
In Cudahy you would be lucky if your parent drove you to school to help you bring in a school project. This also meant that you could choose to go home for lunch or bring in your lunch in a bag, although you were supposed to have written permission, most teachers felt that was annoying and really didn't want you hanging for lunch at school anyway so they didn't question.
Having so many kids at home to keep fed, my mother turned to keeping lunch items locked into a closet. She would ration them out in the morning. Snack cakes, bananas, potato chips, cookies - would be laid out on the kitchen cabinets. But since she had kept them all in one closet, potato chips tasted like bananas and the cookies were soggy.
We packed our lunches daily and walked to school.
I had two friends that were lucky enough to go home each day for lunch. Patty and Laura. Patty lived with her grand parents and Laura was the only child of a police officer. I would save myself from having to eat at my desk or in the school cafeteria by tagging along with one of them.
Patty's home meant comfort and visits with her grandmother who was all too happy to have us visit and tell her about the latest homework assignment.
Laura's father worked during the day so her home meant eating quickly and then heading to the basement to play in the wood burning stove. We would twist up newspapers to form a long wick that ended in the stove's belly. We would light it and take bets at how long it would take to to ignite the wood that we had pushed into the stove.
It was Laura who introduced me to the big smiling 'G' that had a whole menu full of delicious food. George Webb's was only a few blocks from the school and her father had given her some money for lunch. The first time we went she paid for my burger and coke.
After that I would have to pay for my own part of the lunch. I had scoured the dump for bottles for my first trip. I began borrowing money from kids in class with the promise of paying them back. By the end of the winter break I was in debt to most of the people I knew. My addiction to the greasy burgers had led me to a life of gluttony. I would do anything to get spend Friday's with Laura at Webb's. My friends were getting antsy and annoyed at my inability to pay them back the promised amount. They were beginning to threaten to tell my parents or even worse the teacher!
I couldn't ask my parents for money, after all, they did provide me with a daily bag lunch so there really was no reason for me to go out for burgers.
Hmmm cold PB&J or hot grilled cheese and soup. No contest. I would continue to borrow from Peter to pay Paul. Especially if it meant I could toss my 'banana chips' in the garbage.
But the debts were getting to be too much. I needed to come up with a way to pay everyone back and still have my weekly lunch at Webb's.
It was when I was at Patty's, talking to her grandma when it finally became too much to bear. I started to cry. It felt good to be talking to a grown up about my problem. I told her everything, how much I hated banana chips and really loved the burgers. That I had borrowed the most I had ever borrowed in my life and I had no way of paying it back.
I'm not sure what I expected her to do. I guess I was hoping that she would be touched by my story of over indulgence and reach into her purse and hand me the money I needed. But instead she did the most unexpected thing - she told my parents.
I got home and they were waiting for me. Giving me that look. You know that look, the parent all powerful look of disappointment.
Allowance was not a thing in our house, but they were more than happy to find me jobs I could do to help pay them back for the money they gave me to pay back my classmates.
I bet you're thinking I went to school and paid back my friends aren't you? Well, I paid back most of them. The ones I really liked and wanted to keep as friends. The rest would just have to be happy with the promise I would pay them, some day.
I took the remainder of the money and stashed it, assuring that I would be able to enjoy hot lunch until the end of the school year. I didn't mind doing the extra work at home if it meant I would be able to continue my weekly visit George Webb's with Laura.
I went home and found a bunch of things I no longer wanted from my bedroom and 'paid' my friends with stuff, mostly things I had found in the garbage piles in my alley. Things my mom had been yelling at me to get rid of - killed two birds with one stone. Most of the things were clean and the kids that accepted this form of payment really liked their choice. The remaining ones missed their chance. They weren't going to be able to be paid back.
I had my priorities and needed to protect my future Webb's visits.
A few months later we moved to Oak Creek and my debts to the kids in Cudahy would forever be unsettled.
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