REMEMBERING CHAUNCEY STREET 4.Furniture by Patricia Jones [Pat Aronica]

Back row - Jimmy, Dad, and Billy; Front row - Dotsy, Mary, and Freddy. c 1941

Sometime just after the war, my father was injured at work. The middle finger of his left hand was cut off just above the first knuckle. As a result, the union settled financially with my father for the injury, and my parents were able to buy a new living room set. Before this, the living room housed an iron bed with a feather bed mattress. That is where my brother, Fred, slept. I don’t remember a couch at that time, but there must have been some sort of place to sit. I was still sleeping in the girls’ room in an iron crib. When the new furniture arrived, out (to the Junkies) went the iron bed, mattress, and all. Out went the crib, and out went the stuff I can’t remember. In came a new couch and two easy chairs. Freddy got to move onto the couch to sleep, and I moved from the crib to the two easy chairs pushed together, to make a bed.

Back row - Mary, Jimmy, and Billy; Middle row - a friend of
the family, Freddy, me (Patsy); Front - a friend of the family. c. 1947.

After a bit, my oldest brother, Jimmy, went into the army and was sent to Korea. 

This left his position in the bunk beds unoccupied. Freddy moved from the couch into a bunk bed. I moved from the easy chairs to the couch. This was a good arrangement for me. My parent’s bedroom was maybe ten feet away from the couch, and during scary nights, their snoring was very comforting.

© 2013, Patricia Jones