Lisa, Episode One

[fflo]

I started to think about who would play whom in the movie of my life, but I'm turning into Cecil B. Freakin' DeMille, fer cryin' out loud---these are the (major) roles I have to fill for just the part before I leave Kansas (the first time) (at age 10):

me
Mom
Dad
Robbie
Grandma
Jenny Powers
Jenny's hip mother
Brad Eads
Clinton Eads
Linda C. (who STILL doesn't know she's a dyke)
Lisa S. (who does know she is)
Tom "Rubberbones" Strafuss, and maybe his sister Paula
the Garrett boys
Scott, who introduced me to magnets & iron filings
David Crumm, who flunked kindergarten
Mr. Trenapole, the mean guy across the street
Lisa Anthony
her older brother Chris, who seemed like quite the hippie (and was probably 12)
Lisa Engler
Pete Engler
Steve Engler
Leo Engler
Marty Engler
at least another Engler or two
that grad student who was always around helping Mom with the groceries & stuff---Pete?
Vince Gillespie
Don Stewart
that other friend of Dad's from the faculty who lived up toward Tuttle Creek & could pick things up with his toes---what the heck was his name (I remembered it still last time I lived there)--John? I'm thinking "London" but that's wrong
Mrs. Begnoche, my first favorite teacher
Mrs. Sweet
Mrs. Stuckey
Bob, who spoke only Spanish
that kid on strange crutches, who later died
Mrs. Wilcox, my next favorite teacher
Mr. What's-His-Name, the drum teacher who threatened to boil one in a picklebarrel
Vernon Switzer and his mother (essential in the Fort Riley incident)
Uncle Orville, Emporia campus cop (all of these are GREAT aunts & uncles---got no regular ones)
Aunt Dora
Uncle Ed
Aunt Dorothy, with the hilarious laugh
Uncle Fletcher
Aunt Marea, Merl's silliest sister
Uncle Johnnie (who had been a drunk)
Aunt Zoe, in Council Grove
Uncle Henry
Aunt Myrtle
and of course my namesake, in KC (on The Paseo), Aunt Louise, and
her husband whose first name we never knew, Uncle Guthrie
Adelaide, Merl's buddy
Julie Graham (Robbie's first love?)
the Kirks
and
the babysitter who lost her shoe while sitting us & we had to buy her TWO to replace it

And speaking of that, Robbie, the time has come to fess up: did you steal her shoe? I personally never bought the theory that the dog buried it in the compost pile. After all, it was during that same babysitting experience that you chose to EAT the Community Chest card rather than suffer its consequences (a move I still don't accept as legit). Yeah, and you FLUSHED one of the Chance ones, too, right? Clearly you were in a "playful" space, to say the least . . .

Comments

[groovesinorbit]

Yeah, this is looking like a multi-part epic!

The Mystery of the Babysitter's Shoe: Lisa, Part One.

[(Anonymous)]

Since I'm not signed up officially, it's anonymous with a wink, but you know who this is. It is with a clear conscionce that I can reply "counsellor, I honestly do not recall" to the question of whether it was I who disappeared the babysitter's shoe. But I probably did it. And nobody has ever been able to show me anywhere in the Monopoly rules where such expedient disposition of those pesky cards is specifically prohibited. You recall about six times as much detail about those Manhattan years as I do. I did think that Mr. Trenapole (Harlan) was the coolest neighbor we had, with his multi-stage timber sided compost pits and his positively glorious Christmas light display that included a separate New Year's update. Plus, his house faced south and so he could always manage a dry driveway after shoveling snow while I had to contend with those nasty ice patches and trickles because our drive was shaded by the house. So who spoke only Spanish, what kid on which crutches, and what Fort Riley incident? We were up to our asses in Lisas weren't we? Who was the Lisa that everybody named their kids after anyway? Ah, Julie Graham.

[fflo.livejournal.com]

Funny---I always think I remember very little of life in Kansas as a kid---certainly compared to my friends' recollections of their early years. Most of what I remember now is stuff I've told stories about through the years. (It helped to go live back there, too.)

So here's another reason you need an lj account: if you had one, and you left the default settting, you'd have gotten an e-mail from me with this message in it, telling you I'd responded to your comment. That's secondary, of course, to the potential for Robatorial ranting...

Mom swore they knew nobody named Lisa the year they called me that.

[vjsmom.livejournal.com]

I still think you should write Robbie's stealing of the shoe into the screenplay. I mean, what's he going to do about it? He can't exactly disprove it, can he? Especially after his acknowledgment that he did, in fact, dispose of the Monopoly cards in such a highly unorthodox manner.

Hey Rob(bie)--you should get an account!

I was originally supposed to be named Caroline, after my great-grandmother, but my mother was "afraid people would think [she'd] named [me] after Caroline Kennedy." I'm perfectly happy with my current name, but I do think that it stinks that she was that concerned about what people might think. The real shame is that she'd still that concerned with what people might think.