How We Stopped Being Gypsies

We stopped being gypsies in 1948.  I was going to be a teenager the next year and my brother, Ron, was already a teenager.  The two of us got together and decided we did not want to move around any more.  We saw signs that the job in Death Valley was drawing to a close from overheard conversations around our "gypsy" camp composed entirely of employees of the paving company.  We had loved being in the same school for an entire school year, even if it was in Trona, California.  We roped our little sister, Patty, into our scheme.  We wrote up a "legal" petition to be put up for adoption in the best legalese we could muster.  We all three signed it and "served" our parents one Sunday morning after Sunday School. (I will do another post later about our religious education.)  They read it very seriously and asked us some questions about why we wanted to be put up for adoption.  Of course, it was all about not wanting to move around anymore.  We wanted to stay put during our teenage years.  It didn't matter where we were, even Trona, as long as we could stay in one place until we all graduated from high school.  We had never before expressed any objection to our life on the road.  We were always sad to leave our friends at school but our mom kept us focussed on the great new friends we would have in the new town.   It was true that as we got older it was harder and harder to make those new friends in the new town or to feel any connection to anyone but each other.  My best friends were always my brother and my sister.

Our parents listened very seriously. After a brief conversation outside, they told us they were going to go alone on the Sunday drive in order to consider our petition.  They told us they would give us their answer when they returned.  One of the women in our group would be home all day and we were to go to her if we needed anything.  So they left.  They were gone all day.  We had eaten the lunch Mom had left for us and now it was supper time. We proceeded to eat the supper Mom had left for us.  We had talked all day about who we thought might adopt us in Trona.  We thought one of our friends' parents or even a teacher might adopt us.  We were sure we would be split up since adding three kids and a dog at once to a family would probably be too much.  We decided that Rusty, our dog, would probably go with Ron.  We thought there was a chance that someone would adopt both of us girls together, but just in case it did not happen, we began talking about who would adopt Patty and me separately.  At this point Patty began to cry and said she didn't want to be adopted.  We convinced her that since she had already signed the petition she could not back out.  She cried all during dinner and finally went to lie down on our parent's bed.  When we finally heard the car on the gravel outside I was filled with dread about being adopted.  I was scared to admit that to my brother so I held my breath and put on a brave and determined face.

We got Patty up, still crying, as Mom and Dad came in.  Mom held Patty and told her it was going to be okay.  I assumed she meant that they would find nice families for all of us.  It was all I could do to maintain my determination and not burst into tears and pleading.  Thankfully, Daddy did not prolong the misery.  He immediately announced that he and Mom had decided that we would not be put up for adoption and that when the company moved in a few weeks we would all be moving with them.  I was so relieved but instead of expressing my relief I joined my brother in protest, exclaiming we would run away.  My sister was clearly not on our side and was only relieved and happy and just kept saying she was not going to run away.  We then had a lesson on compromise.  Daddy said we would move with the company and wherever that was, when the company moved on again, we would stay in that place until all of us graduated from high school.   That place turned out to be Palm Springs and so it came to be that we did stay there until all of us graduated from high school.  My parents had put down roots of their own by that time and they continued to live in Palm Springs after we all left the nest.

Years later, Mom told me they had decided what they were going to do fairly quickly.  They just took the day to go to San Bernardino, a drive of several hours, take in a movie and have a day to themselves.  I think they also took some pleasure in letting us stew for the entire day.  Mom denied that.