04/28/2023
THE DARK GENERATION by Althea Garner
I remembered the night that I stopped eating eggs, very clearly! Guys and Dolls was showing at the local movie theater and the whole family dressed in all their finery and went to see the movie, after which they had dinner and went dancing.
It was Saturday night and I was alone but even though the family had gone out to dinner, nothing had been set out for me. WHO LEAVES THEIR CHILD WITH NO DINNER? Oh, that would be my mother!
Now, I am ashamed to say that I couldn't cook! How would I know how to cook, when despite my mother being the envy of all her friends with some of the dishes she presented at parties, we always had a cook and the kitchen was not a place for children!
I scanned the refrigerator but saw only raw vegetables and a container of eggs. I decided that I could make scrambled eggs, despite not knowing how. Who knew that you didn't start off with a cup of cooking oil? I was as sick as a dog and didn't eat eggs for a very long time, after that! It would also be some time before I learned to cook!
My mother returned home to find her 'baby' speaking to the big white telephone (the toilet) and deemed that she needed some 'Jewish penicillin' - chicken soup, cooked from scratch! A night out for her, meant that she had been drinking but in the wee small hours of the morning, the chicken soup was served to me in bed and on a tray. Sadly, my mother omitted the skimming of chicken fat from the soup and for the next two days, I threw up to the point of exhaustion and dehydration.
Once recovered, 'Lainie asked if I could babysit baby Michael, who was about 4 years old at the time. Any excuse to get out of the house was a timely and welcome event for me and I jumped at the opportunity. I was told that Michael had a sore throat and probably wouldn't eat much more than jelly (Jell-O) and ice cream, but try as I might, he wouldn't take it! We played the 'One for you and one for me' game, with me eating every other spoonful and within days, I too, was feeling AWFUL! The day care center that Michael attended (and from which I would collect him every afternoon) announced an outbreak of trench mouth. Hardly ever heard of anymore, this disease was common during the two world wars, as the military lived in squalid conditions in the trenches at the front lines. But here it was again and both Michael and I had it!
The roof of my mouth was on fire and I could quite easily have removed every tooth in my mouth, they were so loose! The Health Department quickly closed down the day care center where the outbreak started and I and everyone even remotely connected to the kids were quarantined. My meals were served in tin plates and cups, which were used by me and me only and the tray left in front of my bedroom door for collection, but who could eat anything, with pain like that? The pain was accompanied by outrageously high temperature and headache and I didn't see a single living soul for three weeks!
My teen years were not all bad, though and as Margie and I got more proficient at playing guitar, my mother said that if I did well at school, she would buy me the guitar of my choice. I hasten to add that no-one ever helped me with my homework, so the effort would have to be mine, as I had already seen the guitar that I wanted. I worked hard to bring my grades up - grades that weren't bad to begin with. I made many trips to Manica Road to stand in front of Barry's Music Center, as I gazed at the object currently so high on my 'Wanted' list and the day that I brought that magnificent instrument home, was one of the greatest days in my life! £169.00! A kings ransom in those days!
I held her, stroked her, strummed her and plucked her...... a jumbo Dutch Egmond guitar with three silk strings and three steel strings! Oh, how good she felt and what incredible tone, after that cheap piece of garbage I had been playing for two years! This was not an instrument to live at the bottom of a closet. No! She would be displayed... on the wall, beside the dresser ~ anywhere that I could SEE her!
Margie and I had graduated from The Beatles movie, for which we had dressed alike in our black skirts and white frilly blouses, to seeing the Seekers - was it a movie or a live performance? I can no longer remember, but I do remember being enthralled by the harmony. Being influenced by Peter, Paul and Mary, The Seekers, Joan Baez and Simon and Garfunkel, Margie and I became members of the local folk club which met every Sunday evening. This really was pushing our luck, since it was a 'school night' and folk club ended at 9pm!
In my opinion, Iris Sandeman was the very best singer there and she could sing just as well as she could play! Margie and I had a LOT of practicing to do. One song that Iris sang, resonated for both of us: 'The First Time Ever' and although we had heard numerous variations of this song, we preferred the slow, romantic version that Iris performed. Yes, THAT would be OUR song and feeling confident in our rendition, we entered the school talent contest. Once more, as we entered the stage, I scanned the audience for any trace of my family, but there was none. There was, however, one familiar smiling face of a petit blonde woman, standing near the back - Auntie Claire, Margie's mother! "They're SO good", she nudged the person next to her. "They're going to win!"
AND WE DID!
Even today, tears fill my eyes at the way we felt after that contest! We had worked so hard and this was our just reward!
Though Margie was so much better at both singing and playing the guitar, I enjoyed the ride and took her lead, simply because she WAS a leader and she led well.
Pretty soon, we had secured a gig at a local restaurant, The Cossack, where we would play for a couple of hours on a Sunday night, with other members of the folk club. Nervous, at first, we soon relaxed, as we bashed out songs like 'Freight Train', 'The Times They Are a-Changing', 'Blowing In The Wind', 'Where Have All The Flowers Gone' and the song that started it all: 'House of the Rising Sun'!
