Rembrandt Street - Chapter 1

Rembrandt Street - Chapter 1

Silver 

Rembrandt Street

Freud said, "The only constructive defense that we have against our problems, our personality difficulties that does not restrict our existence is sublimation (engaging our energy in creativity)

It was a sunny Friday afternoon and the girls had met for a game of jump rope. They were hedged in by tall stone two flat buildings. The block contained about 20 of them. Most had black wrought iron fences and most of the fences had been swept clear of fall leaves. The year was 1965.

The rope belonged to Cathy. She was leader of the group and was 10 years old. The other girls were aged 8-10. The little sister Cathy was watching was six years old. Cathy’s sister was named Megan. Cathy liked to include her in her activities and Megan looked up to her sister Cathy. Cathy accepted the role of one of the "all-the-time twirlers" and was matched by Sarah who was her best friend on the block and best friend in the whole wide world. Megan stood in line waiting for her turn. She tried to be patient. Megan found herself playing small games. She was practicing to be a ballerina or a Cha-cha dancer. Megan had a hard time staying still. She was not a good jump roper, but the other girls encouraged her to keep trying by doing "lows" for her and counting how many times Megan jumped without missing or falling down.

Megan soon tired of the jump rope game. The other girls had long turns and she’d left duties unattended over by the stone steps. Just past the stone steps was Megan’s and Cathy’s home on the second floor. Megan had spotted her doll’s carriage. She had thought her Dolly could air in the autumn breeze. She now worried that the doll might be chilled. She found Dolly’s blanket fallen on the sidewalk. Megan cooed, "Poor baby. You’ll catch your death of cold!" She chattered, "Are you hungry? Do you need diapers changed?"

The Baby started to cry. Megan placed her carefully back in carriage and rocked the doll. At first, Megan failed to notice the strange new girl who had come out of the building and sat on the top step opposite to where Megan sat. After a few minutes, Megan caught the new girl out of the corner of her eye. She felt curious. She knew that the new girl lived in Mrs. Gentry’s old first floor apartment. Mrs. Gentry had a son and daughter-in-law in Florida. They had talked her into moving south to avoid the cold weather and be closer to family. Megan knew like most others on the block that the new family had moved in a couple of weeks ago and they came during the middle of the night. Megan’s mother was worried because she thought four girls living upstairs might cause too much noise on the new people’s ceiling and become too invasive on the other family’s privacy.

Mrs. Johnston was the new girls mother and she kept to herself. She apparently worked a different shift from her husband. From 5 am until 2 pm, the mother worked at Gronsky’s Bakery. From 4 pm until 2 am the husband worked at the watch factory. There was an older couple in the household. These folks were presumed to be grandparents. They seemed to stay inside except when the older man helped the older woman bringing wet clothes to hang on the backyard clothes line or when the older woman and the mother shopped for groceries after the mother’s work hours.

Cathy and Megan’s family had talked of the new family and had decided the new girl wasn’t much of a talker. She barely said hello in passing and didn’t make eye contact. Mrs. Willobee found that the girl’s name was Silver and Silver was 7 years old. Megan concluded that Silver was the prettiest name she ever heard and that she would like Silver to be her best friend. Megan continued to rock the baby and while shyly daydreaming of the new relationship, she started another game of tracing lines in the plastic handle that kept her fingers from getting cold.

Silver had been watching Megan rocking the baby doll and she noticed that the doll was covered in a small quilted blanket and the doll had shiny black fancy shoes. She noticed the girls jumping rope and thought she didn’t fit in and that was perfectly fine because she didn’t feel like jumping rope. It was a stupid game and she wasn’t good at it. Silver knew that at the old school she didn’t have close friends and they had teased her because her clothes were homemade and not store bought and there weren’t enough clothes to last the week.

Most others thought that Silver had a pretty face, but Silver did not think she was pretty. The teachers had said she was melancholy which made her feel very different from the other kids who played, laughed, and acted silly. Silver reminded herself, she could beat up any girl and beat up a good many of the boys too! Today, Silver felt tired and cranky. Her Grandmother had sent her outside. Silver didn’t want tobe outside and she had to leave her book in the bedroom that she shared with her infant sister Emily. And, although she hadn’t said it out loud, she was pretty sure didn’t like Emily or herself either.

Megan had been raised to be polite. She knew you weren’t to talk to strangers, but after wrestling her mind she figured, this girl named Silver wasn’t really a stranger. She was the girl who lived downstairs. Megan turned around abruptly causing Silver to quickly look away. This startled Megan; because usually when people looked at her they smiled and seemed interested in what she had to say. Megan asked, "What’s wrong?"

Silver didn’t respond to the question. She could feel her body tighten. She could feel her fists curl next to her sides. She continued to look away.

Megan could sense danger, but she wanted to make friends with the new girl named Silver. She said, "My name is Megan. I’m six years old. Did you know that?"

The new girl suddenly stood up, placed her hands on waist and hissed, "You’re a baby! Why don’t you just leave me alone?" She quickly twirled toward the door and marched away as if the last float on the parade. As if ... the beat was very fast.

Megan could feel tears swelling in her eyes and that the tears were running hotly down her cheeks. She became determined not to cry. Megan picked up Dolly and went over to where her sister was twirling the rope. Cathy glanced down and stopped immediately seeing the grief stricken face of her sister. She placed her hands on Megan’s shoulders and asked in her worried voice, "What’s the matter Sweetie? What happened?"

Megan could no longer hold her composure. She held her hands around Cathy’s waist and bawled. The commotion caused the other girls jump roping to circle around the sisters and make guesses as to what happened. Megan couldn’t find the words to express how rebuffed she had felt. She followed Cathy back to the apartment where practical Cathy had said they would find an ice cream bar as soon as the tears were washed away. At the top of the landing, Megan saw the curtains move from the first floor window. She saw the new girl dart out of sight. Her tears started to flow afresh. She let herself be lead by Cathy’s concern.