Chapter 1 She Arrives.Chapter 1 She Arrives. It was the summer of 1961. I was 14, a student in junior high school. We lived in an affluent suburb of an upper midwest city, in a big old Edwardian three story brick house. My father was a very successful senior executive with a defense company, and our lifestyle was comfortable in the extreme. I was the eldest of 5, three girls and two boys. My mother was essentially a housewife, but my father's position dictated a very busy social life. They employed an older Irish lady to cook , keep house, and "mind" the youngsters. At the end of the '60-'61 school year, the Irish lady announced that she would be returning to Ireland for the summer to see her aged mother.This threw my mother into a serious tailspin, as the thought of maintaining her heavy social calendar, and having to keep a large house in order was more than she could bear. After some discussion with my father, she persuaded him that a summer replacement for the Irish lady would be necessary if he expected her to keep up with things. He suggested an older spinster aunt from the east coast who was always volunteering to visit us, and she agreed to see what could be worked out. |