Short Move to Missouri

I grew up as you know if you've read my other blogs on a ranch, very active. I used to eat a lot. I didn't know it then but it was my way of stuffing my feelings. The only thing is that back then I worked hard every day and so the extra calories may not have been so extra.  My Dad would call me "hollow Leg" sometimes. His little way of teasing me about my ability to eat and eat. As I got older and had more responsibility at home because of my Mom's constant absence, I started to eat less and less. At one point my Dad literally made me sit at the table and eat while he watched because he was afraid I was "catching anorexia" as he put it. (I love my Daddy and his funny expressions).

By the time I got into high school I still cooked dinner for my Dad and sister 4 nights a week. 2 nights a week were my baby sister's turn to cook and every single week on those 2 nights we had; hot dogs and french fries and then the other thing she cooked was this stuff my older sisters and brothers and my mom called "macaroni surprise". Basically it is macaroni, tomato sauce and grated cheese. I hated it and still do to this day. The last night of the week for dinner was my Dad's job and his dinner night if it was on the week of payday for him we would go out to eat at a seafood place in Atascadero that had all you can eat shrimp night every Wednesday. If the week wasn't a payday, Dad would make either breakfast for dinner or.... whatever was left over in the frig he would put into a skillet and mix it together with seasonings. It looked gross and I think it was left over cooking skills from his days in the Navy. He called it S.O.S. (Shit on a shingle) as he would put toast with it for us.

I was working at Kragen Auto Parts and actually climbing the ladder there. They had me working at 4 different stores in the same county and all of the supervisor's wanted me to come to their store full time as a 3rd. My baby sister had moved to Missouri to live with my Mom when my Dad remarried my Step mom in 1983. During the summer of 1984 they came to California for a visit. I missed my sister so much. I had been using any kind of numbing device I could get my hands on except food. One of my bosses told me he would pay me to have sex with him. My outlook on mankind was really bad. This was not only a married man but he had a little girl and a brand new baby boy.  He would grab his crotch area and tell me that just looking at me makes him hurt. It was some serious sexual harassment but I felt like it was my fault or I was doing something wrong. I felt like I was not needed anymore anyplace. My Dad had someone to take care of him now that cooked every meal and made every lunch. I was just not necessary.

While I was visiting my baby sister and Mom at my oldest sister's house, my mother saw that I was taking pills and she blackmailed me into going back to Missouri with her by telling me she would tell my Dad I'm using drugs if I don't come with her. I didn't want to break my Dad's heart and I knew that he was being taken care of now with my Step-Mom. So, I went. I knew that it was for me literally like getting into the car with the devil. Not to say my mother was the devil but she and I absolutely did not get along. Even for a minute. We argued about everything and when she said something crazy I would call her on it which would cause a problem.

The drive to Missouri was hell. I was persona non grata in this car. Baby sister didn't want her hair to blow or look bad so we couldn't have  the windows opened. My mother said it cost too  much to have the AC on so we drove in a hot car through the CA, AZ, NM deserts sweating like crazy. When we got to Texas I was so screwed up without my pills that I couldn't sleep. I was wide awake in Amarillo and my Mom and baby sister wanted to stop for the night there. I remember them sleeping in the motel room and I tried to sleep but I got up and like a typical stupid 17 year old I walked the streets around the motel room which was next door to a truck stop. I was so heartbroken and lonely. The rest of the trip got a bit better because the air cooled off a lot as we got closer to Oklahoma. I was really enjoying the scenery and the new places that I'd never seen. I was intrigued by the "Turn Pike" and how you absolutely can't get off of them. It was strange. I remember as we were driving through Oklahoma heading towards Tulsa there were things on the road all scrunched up. Dead animals of some sort. Finally after some heavy scrutinizing, I realized these were tiny little snapping turtles trying to get across the road. I remember asking my mom to stop so I could get one of these darling creatures and save it's life. But on we traveled. No stopping on the turn pikes.

We finally made it to my mother and sister's house in Missouri. It was a mansion. I mean the kind of mansion you would see in the old south like on a plantation. It had huge columns in the front that you couldn't even wrap your arms around. The steps were grand and everything in the front of the house was grand and instead of a living room like we have in CA or a family room they had a parlor. My mother was so desperate to get to know her brothers and sisters that she didn't grow up with in Missouri that she invited one of her brothers and his family to live with her and baby sister in this mansion. My mother and baby sister lived upstairs and the Uncle and his family lived downstairs.

Upstairs was 6 bedrooms, a kitchen, a bathroom and a "sitting room" The first week I had my own bedroom but I was so lonely that I moved my bed into my baby sister's room. Downstairs was 3 or 4 bedrooms, the Parlor, a dining room, a kitchen and a family room. Along the back of this house attached to the family room was a screened in porch the full length of the house.

Within hours of getting to Missouri my Uncle who was a deputy sheriff for that town, took me to a park and asked me to go to a group of young men that were standing in a circle and buy some drugs. I was shocked because I hadn't ever bought drugs. The pills I was taking were over the counter sleeping pills. I told him that I don't take drugs and he told me, "everyone knows that CA is the land of the fruits and the nuts and everyone there does drugs". Thus started a very bad vibe between my Uncle and me. He was obvious in his dislike for me as I am a traitor to his sister by staying with my Daddy. Anything that went wrong in the house he blamed me. I would tell him I didn't do ... but he wouldn't believe me. I decided since he thinks I'm such a pain in the butt, I will be one.

I started to do silly teenage things to get back at him. I taped maxi pads on the back of his police car spelling out "PIG", I would ring the doorbell in the front of the house and run to the back when I knew he was sleeping. I wasn't allowed to eat any of the food there without paying for it which meant I had to get a job. There was no minimum wage in Missouri at that time and I found a job as a busboy at a nice restaurant in town for the evenings. My mother refused to allow me to drive her car the 2 miles to work or pick me up and take me. It wasn't the fact that it was far but it was when I got off work at 2 a.m. after the bar/grill closed I had to walk home in the pitch black night right past some seedy railroad tracks. All time time when I talked to my Daddy in CA he told me he would gladly send me money to come home. I kept telling him nope, I have a job, I got myself into this place and I will get myself back home.

So, my $2.00 per hour job plus tips if the waitresses were nice, landed me about $125 a week. Now my mother wanted rent money from me. She said I can't eat the food anymore unless I paid for it. I whined and fought with her about how unfair that was because Baby sister didn't have to pay anything nor get a job neither did her brother and his family. She wouldn't budge so I started to eat one meal a day at the restaurant where I worked for free.  I refused to pay her rent until someone else in that house started to do that too. Our relationship went from bad to worse and I honestly spent barely any time with her while I was in Missouri. I mostly worked every shift that was available to me and tried to save enough money to buy a plane ticket home.

After living there for about two months time, I asked my baby sister what was inside of a building right next to the house. She told me it was where Buster was kept. I asked her what is Buster and she told me it was my Uncle's patrol dog that he used to walk the beat with. A Doberman Pincer. I went into the garage to see Buster as I love dogs and I was so horrified and shocked at what I found in that garage. Buster was rail thin. Bone thin. He was standing in about a half a foot of dog crap. He was chained to the wall and had zero water in a bone dry water bucket. Zero food. I asked Baby sister where his food is and she said he doesn't have any. We are not supposed to mess with Buster as he is Uncle's police dog. I was furious!!!!! I went into the house and grabbed my mom's car keys with her yelling at me for taking them. I told her I'm going to the store and she better not mess with me. I went to the store and bought a huge bag of dog food, soap because he had flees and ticks so bad and some dog treats. I drove back home and fed him way less than he should get because I didn't want him to get sick. I gave him water, again giving him way less than he wanted but knowing he would make himself sick with it. I unchained him from the wall and pet him and bathed him and let him out in the sunshine. I started the job of cleaning up the crap he was standing in and it took me most of my day off. I was so furious. I decided that this dog needed to escape this house so I called the police dept and asked if animal cruelty is against the law in Missouri. The lady at the other end said it was and she took a report and said she would sent an officer out to the address right away. Lucky me, my Uncle was on duty that day and he was the officer they sent out to the location. He was furious but so was I. I knew that this dog couldn't stand up for himself so I just got ready for battle.

My Uncle gets out of his police car and unbuckles his pistol slot (ya, you may need to shoot me cause I'm gonna tell on your ass went through my head). He walks up to me and says, "Is there a problem here?" (I think okay, he is going to pretend that he is clueless so I will play his game).

"Yes officer, I'd like to file a report of criminal animal abuse. I tell him that I have lived in this house for 2 months and have never seen anyone go into this building to feed or give this dog water or any attention and he was flee/tick ridden and starving and standing in his own crap chained to the wall!"

My Uncle looks at me as mean as he can and says, "you are nothing but a no good trouble making pain in the ass just like my sis says you are!"

I didn't flinch. I gave him the evil eye right back and said, "be that as it may, in the land of the fruits and the nuts we have enough sense to know that an animal is supposed to be cared for not thrown away and starved."

He pulled his wallet out of his pants and through a business card at me and got into his police car and left. I didn't move until he drove away. Buster my new best buddy was licking my hand as if to say... "my hero." I pet him and told him I'm  in for it now bud. lol. I reached down for the business card he threw at me and it had a phone number on it for kennels. I immediately went into the house and called the number. I explained to the man exactly what had happened and he told me he would come and take a look.

I waited outside with Buster playing with him and giving him water and petting him. A truck drove up with an older man in it and when he got out Buster went nuts with happiness. Buster obviously knew this man. The man came over to me and said to the dog, "my God Boy what has he done to you?" I told him the story again and he thanked me over and over for calling him. He said I saved Buster's life and I told him in a joking way, "my name is Annie Salgado and if you read about my death in the next few weeks you will know who to go after." I laughed at my little joke but I was a bit afraid of the anger my Uncle showed. The man took Buster home and I gave him the flea soap and dog food too.

I went into the house and showered and was a bit defeated. I had spent all of my hard earned saved money for my plane ticket home on the dog.  I called my Dad in CA to tell him about the dog and what had happened. Again he said he would gladly send me the money to come home. Again I declined telling him I got myself into this stupid mess and I will get myself out of it. I spoke to my Step-Mom who is really like a mom to me and she told me that my income tax check had come in. I asked her to please open it and see how much it was for. She told me it was for $350 and would I like her to mail it to me? Oh my gosh.... yes please. I knew that a plane ticket to LAX in CA was around $280 at that time. It seemed like forever but I kept working and a week or so later my money came. I was able to go into a travel agency and buy my ticket home to CA. After that I went right next door and bought the a really cute pair of grey cowboy boots. I was going to be going home in less than a week's time!

The day I left Missouri I woke up really early with excitement. I was almost floating with joy. My mother had agreed to drive me to the nearest airport which was in Tulsa Oklahoma. I was packed and ready to leave and I was sitting outside by the car waiting for my mom to come out. My Uncle walked outside when my Mom did and he said, "well kiddo, we're sure gonna miss you around here." I am not a B.S. type person so I looked right at him and said, "you know that is a lie. You know that you are as happy to get rid of me as I am to be leaving this hell hole." He said, "ya, you are right. We don't like you much." I just snorted a laugh at him and got into my mom's car.

The drive to Tulsa was way different then the one when we drove to Missouri 3 months earlier. For one thing, My baby sister wasn't in the car. She stayed home to go out with some of her friends. It was just me and my mom for 3 hours. 3 hours of almost absolute silence. She pulled into the Tulsa airport and popped the trunk of her car. I told her I love her and thanks for everything and I said I'd come around her side to give her a hug after I got my suitcase out. I went around the back of the car and got my suitcase out of the trunk and closed the lid. The second that the trunk closed, my mom drove off like a bat out of hell. I felt tears coming to my eyes but I swallowed them down like I always did. I grabbed my suitcase and walked into the Tulsa airport in my new cowboy boots for my first airplane ride ever to get back home.

When I landed at LAX in California things were different. I got off the plane and my Daddy was eagerly waiting for me along with  my brother in law Ken. They both hugged and hugged me and said they missed me. It really felt like I came home!