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The Lipskys Meet the Salters 93
disappeared and then let the family know he had bummed a ride on a train and was in California. He did come back, but I learned we couldn't count on him.
When I was going to school, my mother, Glady and Harold were all working. When I came home after school, my job was to clean up the kitchen and make the beds, as everyone rushed out in the mornings and couldn’t straighten up the house. I always did a good job, and to this day, according to Janet, I automatically take the dishes off the table after lunch or dinner. I was always busy helping at the house, making money, racing around with my friends. My mother nicknamed me, “Always-in-a-Hurry Sonny!”
After we lost the house on 5th Street, we moved to a house nearby, owned by a Finnish couple. The man of the house was unemployed and couldn't find work, so he and his wife lived in their basement, while my mother, Glady, Harold and I lived on the main floor.
Then, we moved to a nice, two-bedroom, two-bath apartment, also near the beach in Brighton. A bedroom and a bathroom were rented by a Russian couple and their child. The dining room was divided by a hanging blanket. Harold and I slept on one side, while Glady slept on the other. My mother slept in the bedroom, but she was often in the hospital.
Below
I visited our old Brighton Beach house in the summer of 2008. Amazing that it’s still there!
Opposite
Hosting an impromptu lunch, September 2008.