Every now and then growing up a woman with the first name of Guadalupe would come into my life. This is a story of one of those times.
She was always refered to as a "friend of Grandma's." That was why we were supposed to overlook the crazy things she did or at least I guessed that was the way it worked. Our family actually refered to her as "Loopy."
Loopy was an odd mother figure, at least from my preteen perspective. Her sons were "my friends" because we were all Witnesses. Her sons were scared of their own shadows almost literally. I soon found why this was so when I observed their mother's ways. Fear was her weapon of choice and she yielded it with a honed expertise. Water? Water can sufficate you and you will die horribly, yes you'd best stay as far away from it as possible. Yeah, that was Loopy's parenting. In retrospect I'd have to give it a 0/10.
Sometimes Loopy took me with her sons to do errands around town. That was "OK" because she was a "grown up." I remember, as a little kid, questioning that when she was telling us that she was leaving us at a park while she went grochery shopping. I live close to that park now and you don't just leave sub 10 year old kids at any park, but especially that park, while you go get some avacados... right? Was I a crazy to think that?
So her two sons and I strolled around the park looking for stuff to do while we waited for Loopy to return. Naturally we were drawn to the slides and jungle gyms and the like. As a somewhat normal kid I enjoyed a good slide now and then and luckily there was one there to take advantage of. It was maybe 8 feet high, very small for a slide, and it had a latter on the back to climb on top. I climbed up it with ease and, in a jiffy, down I went! It was actually kind of disappointing since I had been on slides much better and bigger, but it was all we at the time had so I made the most of it. Loopy's youngest son refused to go on this tiny bump of slide and I wondered why. I remember asking him questions; I was civil, but he still refused to go down it because of a dreadful fear; I could see it in his eyes and it perplexed me. After some serious mental coaxing I managed to talk him up the latter to the top of the small slide. He got in the sitting position, but froze from fear.
I remember being truly dumbfounded at this kid's reaction to such a tiny slide. He was white from fear I tell you! So I figured I would give him a nudge. With the precision of a surgen I nudged him a few inches forward forcing him down the slide. Immediately he grabbed the side of the slide and stopped himself just after the top. I stood in horror as he was not able to keep his balance on the far end of the slide and fell down eight feet, which, for falling, is actually pretty far.
Of course his arm was snapped bad. I called it on the way down. I remember Loopy was sweating when she came back from her avacado run. That day, and to this day, I took no responsibility for that broken arm.
-Sab