ShoeShine Kids. Mary Cullen

Both pointed the finger at the other. The woman was still married. The judge sentenced my father to 18 months in prison for fraudulent conversion of funds. We never saw, or heard from him again. The judge put all the money back into Joey’s fund, using his own money. When Joe turned 18, the judge had passed on, but he left it in his last will that Joe would receive the money, and he did.

      I remember a woman coming for me one day. She said her name was Sarah. She took me shopping and said I could have whatever I wanted. I asked for an ice cream soda, and she laughed. We went to Horn & Harnett’s restaurant. We had a big lunch, and I got my ice cream soda. We left the restaurant, and she took my hand. It felt so good to hold her hand. This is the first time I had this kind of attention from an adult. Next, we went to a big department store in center city.

      The city seemed like another world to me, with the hustle of the people crossing the streets, and the big tall buildings. It looked nothing like our court, or any neighborhood that I visited before for that matter. She picked out a few dresses, socks, and underpants for me. I wore these clothes for years until they were practically torn. The feeling I had when I wore them was that I was someone special.

      Sarah took me home. I asked her if she would come back. She said she would, but I never saw her again. I hope when people do these kind things for people that they realize just how much it means to the person they are helping I don’t think she could ever understand just how much it meant to me. I thanked her.

      Gram tried to keep our story in the news, but as time went by, we settled into a life with gram and Uncle Ogie. Helen and Mark worked, and eventually, even Lyda got a job. They all had to walk to work, even though it was far. Gram took their entire paychecks. She would go to her daughter’s house for visits, which would last for days at a time, while we were home with nothing to eat. Our days of fending for ourselves came in handy during this time period.

      Helen began dating a boy named Pete, with whom she was very smitten. Helen had grown into a beautiful young lady. Years later, I would often say that to her, “You're the lady of the family.” She always looked perfect. Even if she wore the same outfit every day, she managed to look perfectly put together. She wore hand-me-downs that we received from our local parish. She could be scrubbing clothes on the scrub board all day and still looked great. Gram tried to keep Helen away from Pete but for the first time in her young life, she disobeyed an order.