Thought we Lost the Old Woman!

One of the most difficult adjustments we had to make as a family was owning a 24/7 business. You couldn't just close or leave, we had to be there. Life before Fred's News was usually adjusted to fit the kids' schedule. There was basketball at St, Joseph's School, Little League in the spring, men's softball in the fall. Bill was coach of the boys basketball team as well as little league coach for youngest son Mark. In his "spare" time he coached girl's high school basketball and softball for the Academy of the Holy Family. I worked as a vocational director at an agency for the developmentally disabled. We had talked with the boys about purchasing Fred's News, everyone was quite excited. What made the transition so difficult...we had to wait two months to move into the house above the restaurant. When the time came to move, it was immediate. The big move was only about four hundred feet up the street,15 West Main Street to 51 West Main Street, but it might as well have been four hundred miles...what a mess. It took forever to sort out the address change with the Post Office. In all fairness to the Post Office....the change of address forms we sent to all the places that needed them, thought it a joke. On top of everything, at the precise time we decided to make the big move, Southern New England Telephone went on strike. There were no cell phones or ordering you own product via the computer. How the hell were we suppose to run a business? No phone in the restaurant, no phone in the new house. Between the grandparents and "Loose Wheel", who lived behind us, we muddled through. Any orders placed with our vendors had to be called in before midnight the previous day.

Every afternoon I headed out the back door to "Loose Wheel's" house. Usually she'd answer the door, or yell "door's open, come on in." That damn door was always locked and she'd have to stop what she was doing and let me in. She was always afraid some nut would walk in if she didn't barricade herself in. By the way she was in her early eighties by then and still very spry. On one afternoon I headed over to her place, as I started to knock on the screen door, I noticed "Loose Wheel" laying on the couch with her hands across her chest. Not wanting to scare her I softly called her name. She didn't move, I tried again and again. By this time I'm thinking..."not a good scenario here!" "How am I going to call 911 when I can't even get into the house and we haven't got a God-damn phone in either the house or the restaurant." I decided to try and remove the screen, but to my amazement, the door WAS NOT locked! OMG not good, she looked DEAD. Slowly I walked forward to see if she was breathing. Tough to tell..um, should I try to shake her? If she isn't dead, I'm going to give her a freakin heart attack. My decision, was to move very close to her and see if I could hear her breathe. Bad decision, very bad!!! I was about two inches from her face when she opened her eyes and screamed. I damn near had a heart attack, she's trembling and screaming "Jesus Christ, you scared the shit out me!" "What?" "I scared the shit out of you, take a look at my panties "Loose Wheel!" After I calmed her down and demanded an explanation just as she had demanded one from me, the real story unfolded. "Ms. Loose Wheel" wasn't feeling her usual chipper self that afternoon. She couldn't call and let me know, (thank you SNET), she had decided to wait for me by laying down on the couch. She'd left the door unlocked because she felt too weak to get up. As for falling asleep, it wasn't part of her master plan. Following that story with a happy ending, I placed my orders, gave "Loose Wheel" strict orders never to leave her door unlocked, some one could of walked in and hurt her. As I walked back down the driveway, she yelled "Thanks...I feel better, you got my heart ticking faster honey!" Me, I felt like shit...and I still couldn't hear a thing as a result of her God-awful blood curdling screams! Nice!!!