Trailer park boy

My mom and step father got married when I was three and for the first two years of their marriage, we lived in a broken down and decaying trailer park. It was filled with either rednecks or junkies and sometimes both. It was one of those places you see while driving down a back country road and you either ignore, make a joke or shudder to think about living there. When I see one, I feel some much more. It was only two years but they meant so much to a four year old.

I remember sitting on this God awful maroon couch pretending to read a newspaper with my step father and wanting to be like him, not know he was everything that I didn't want to be. I remember my sister Lynnae being yelled at a lot. She was a rebel and rightfully so. She would sneak out at night and sleep with cops and score drugs from them and she ended up being one of my hero's, a love of my life and one of my best friends. I remember seeing a Wolf spider in the shed and my fear of spiders started. I remember seeing and helping to destroy a giant wasps nest. I remember our two giant dogs, Nicholas and Clyde. Clyde was a Bullmastiff. He showed up at our door one day and we took him in. His owner found out that we had him and went ballistic on my mom and step dad. He took him back and beat him on the way home. My step dad went over to the owners house and somehow convinced him to let us take him. Clyde didn't last too long with us, he was just too big. I do remember riding him. We gave him to someone who had a farm but I don't remember who. I hope he had an amazing life. Nicholas was a Rottweiler. I don't recall how we got him but he lived with us until we moved out of the trailer court. We gave him to a family friend when we moved. He was an awesome dog from what I remember. He was later hit by a car and died. I still know where he is buried.

I had a few friends in the area. Up the road was Bobby. He didn't live in the trailer court. His family lived in a ranch style home that had a basement. That basement had the coolest toy I have ever encountered and have forever wanted. It was the Lego Castle Set. Bobby and I showed each other our penises and we also had a pissing sword fight in his bathroom. The other friend that I had was Shawn. He had a younger brother Devin. His father was Bo but I can't remember his mothers name. They were as redneck as they came. Pick up trucks and confederate flags.

There are only three things I remember with all the time I spent with Shawn. We loved going into the woods because someone had dumped a ton of old car parts back there and Shawn and I would always try to build a plane out of them. It was a perfect blend of imagination and niavity and it was as close to perfect as you can find in life.

I also remember riding my scooter around with Shawn. We went to the biggest hill we could find and we tried to go as fast as we could down the hill. On my final attempt, I went down the hill but somehow lost control and the scooter went out from under me and I smashed my face into a rock. One of my front upper teeth was pushed backwards so the bottom of the tooth was touching the roof of my mouth. Blood was gushing everywhere but I don't remember crying. I ran home and my mom shoved me and my sister Jeannette into the car and we drove to the hospital. My mom had told my sister to grab paper towels to help soak up the blood. She grabbed one sheet. It's the first time I saw my mom hit my sister. The tooth would be saved but a few years later an infection grew and I lost the tooth.

The last thing I remember about my time was Shawn was that we were playing down the street near Bobby's house. I think we were playing football. I saw my mom speeding down the road in her car with my sister Lynnae. Lynnae rolled down the window and she screamed out the window, "Grammy had a heart attack!" and off they drove. I didn't see my mom for the next few days and I wasn't allowed to go to the funeral. My grandmother worked at Johnson And Johnson for many years until she died. I didn't really know all that much about my grandmother. From what I can gather, my mom did not have a good relationship with her. I do remember her buying me a He-Man action figure but my step dad took it away because he believed that He-Man was evil. I never forgave him for that. It was the only thing I would ever have to remind me of my grandmother and it ended up in some landfill. My grandmother left my mom her car and some money which my mom used to put a down payment on our future house.

We also took in my grandmothers cat, Michael. We had one car already, Snuggles. My sister Lynnae found Snuggles outside our church when I was three. She was a beautiful fluffy Red Persian. That damn cat lived for 21 years. Michael was just a cat. He had a bad attitude and I was the only one he liked or kindof liked. He spent most nights under my bed. I would talk to Michael when he was under my bed. I had a connection with him. I remember crying to him one night because I could tell he missed my grandmother and he was scared and hurt. We had to give Michael away. I cried when he was taken away. I hope that he had a good life and found some peace and was no longer scared.

The funniest thing about the whole trailer park was that over twenty years later, my mom and step dad ended up back on the same exact lot we lived on just in a ranch style home now. The trailer park is still there but it's a lot nicer than when I lived there. My sister Jeannette ended up moving in there as well. The car parts aren't in the woods anymore, I've checked three times.