GETTING BEAT UP IN NAPERVILLE

Fashion trends had changed.  Now everybody in my eighth grade class at Granger School was wearing sweatshirts to school in 1963.  I didn't often ask Mom for anything, knowing it wouldn't be of much use, but this was important.  After a week of repeatedly asking for a sweatshirt, Mom's response was that I should get myself a job.

A job for a 13-year-old out here in the country?  Mom and Dad were always at work, leaving me stranded over eight miles from civilization.  While that never seemed to bother my brother Kurt, who would ride his bike just about any place he wanted to go, I doubted my bike riding ability to that extent.  Then one day I got a break.  The one-and-only local family with children asked me to babysit.

I didn't have any babysitting experience, but I liked little kids so I knew I could do this.  The chance of making the going rate of fifty cents an hour was exhilarating.

They had three kids, but I was primarily going to be responsible for their one-year-old boy.  The girls, ages 9 and 11, were said to be able to take care of themselves.  I would only need to oversee what they were doing.

By eight o'clock I had the baby in bed and the dishes washed.  I trudged upstairs to check on the girls to find them in an argument on the verge of getting physical.  I stood between them.  The oldest girl became outraged by my authority.  By the time she pushed me, I knew the chance for reason wasn't an option.  The next thing I knew she was on top of me and we were rolling on the floor with her hands reaching to hit me.

Growing up with a younger brother had well prepared me with some wrestling moves of my own, but this time I couldn't just brazenly throw out punches of my own.  It took awhile, but I finally was able to get her pinned to the floor to talk some sense into her, basically threatening to tell her parents.  She stormed into her room, slammed the door, and never came back out.  

My first, and last, night of babysitting ended with a few dollars short of getting myself a sweatshirt.

If you like reading Books about Naperville, you're going to love reading more harrowing tales from Kathy Keroson's "My Hometown - Naperville" listed on www.myhometownnaperville.com and be sure to come to the Book Launch Open House on Sunday, April 27, 2014, from 1-4 at Naper Settlement.