Chapter 1 From a child’s-eye-view, the decrepit, peeling three-story house looked like a castle. Dormers, stained-glass windows, and a steep roof gave it a lofty appearance. Surely, at some point, a princess had lived… Read more: The Elsenpeter Place

Chapter 2 After Daddy left us in Minnesota to go “help out” his folks down in Missouri, things in Minnesota got rough. With no central heating, the castle got pretty nippy. The first storms… Read more: Colder than Hell

Chapter 3 By Christmas, we were so destitute, Mother waited till the last minute to buy a scrawny tree for a dollar and we girls sat around making paper-chain ornaments out of cut-up magazines or… Read more: Happy Holidays?

Chapter 4 Cindy and I didn’t know we were poor. Andrea, four years older than me and always more observant, figured it out but apparently didn’t tell us.  So we happily basked in our… Read more: Dining …well?

Chapter 5 Mother loved to play jokes. She was the Queen of Laughter, and I learned early on it was better to be part of the joke then to be its intended victim. In… Read more: Scaredy Cat

Chapter 6 From earliest memory my little sister, Cindy, was part of me. I was sixteen months old when she was born, like me, in Oklahoma City. Daddy, who was selling real estate at… Read more: In the Beginning

Chapter 7 In 1953, just as we were getting used to Wichita, Daddy finished his night school to learn plumbing and heating – and decided he didn’t like his boss at Boeing – so… Read more: Cowpie Hoppin’

Chapter 8 When we were little and would get bored, especially on freezing winter days, Mother would tell us, “Make your own fun!” Much of the year, that was easy. Little sister Cindy and… Read more: The Attic and the Big Sister

Chapter 9 For one whole winter I entertained myself by scaring Mother (see Scaredy Cat), and watching her get fat. By spring, when my sisters finished school, I was more than ready to jump… Read more: It’s a Boy!

Chapter 10 It’s hard to imagine life without television now, but we did not have one until about 1955. The small black-and-white TV that daddy brought home soon became the center of our universe.… Read more: The TV Generation

Chapter 11 Who knew we were Catholic? In Oklahoma City, where we were born, we were too young to know that. In Wichita, where we lived when I was 3 and 4, we lived… Read more: The Catholic Thing

Chapter 12 After two winters on the Elseneter Place, including a near-death experience for the entire family when Daddy incorrectly vented a gas heater upstairs where we slept, (and hadn’t he gone to plumbing… Read more: The Place

Chapter 13 If you’ve ever watched The Little Rascals, you’ll have a sense of what my sister, Linda, and I were like when we were kids. I’m not saying we were ‘rascals’ per se,… Read more: We Didn’t Think It Through

Chapter 14 People look at me oddly when I say, quite nonchalantly, “Oh, I grew up with a ghost.” But it’s true. Not long after we moved into The Place, it became evident. We… Read more: Good-Time Charlie

Chapter 15 There are moments in life when the only reasonable response is laughter. I learned this lesson pretty early on. Humor has saved me from experiencing pain, public humiliation, grief, and even facing… Read more: Burr Balls and Soap Bombs

Chapter 16 McCall’s magazine, which Mother bought every month, had a paper doll in it. You could cut out cute little Betsy McCall and her themed or seasonal outfits, paste her on cardboard and …voila! A… Read more: Down in the Dumps

Chapter 17 Mother was never happier than when she was “fooling” Daddy. She loved to pack something crazy in his lunch box, especially on April Fools day. And, of course, Daddy was never happier… Read more: Getting a Charge Out of It

Chapter 18 The Saints and I had a close relationship. Being Catholic and all, it was understandable. My first bonding was with St. Dominic Savio. I had long (a month or two) envied my… Read more: The Saints and I

Chapter 19 We were a family of book worms. Library aficionados. Book club subscribers. Avid readers. You get my drift. Late at night, after the kitchen was spotless and the house quiet. Mother took… Read more: A Bunch of Bookworms