LOVE or Insanity

AuthorHouse

Chapter One

Ella's mother, Mariah, was five foot nine with long, wavy hair, a Mae West figure, and a mild personality. Her father, Anthony, was six foot five, bald, built like an Atlas body builder, and had a jealous attitude. They were sharecroppers living in Crawford, Mississippi. They had five children: Carl, fourteen, was the oldest son. He was tall, slender, and easygoing. Frank, twelve years old, was tall, muscular, and honest. Eddie, five years old, was short, stocky, smart, and alert. Francine was ten years old with a short and curvy build and a lot of energy. Ella was seven years old and was tall, slender, quiet, and withdrawn.

They called their father's mother Big Mama. She was five foot five with short, grey hair and a medium build. She was a bootlegger with a tough attitude. His sister Elma was always willing to help someone when she was sober.

Ella's parents decided that they would move up north for a better life. Big Mama and Elma separated from Ella's family and moved to Cotton, Illinois. The rest of Ella's family went to Kane, Illinois. After arriving in Kane, Ella's father found a job working at the steel mill, and her parents bought a house. It wasn't a fabulous or modern place like the neighbors', but it was a place you could call home, and their parents showed that they loved them.

Their father would go to work and come home, always leaving something in the lunch box for Ella and Eddie. He would give them hugs and kisses. He also helped his wife by doing the girls' hair and making sure the boys did their chores, and he spent time with them. He made sure none of his family went hungry by keeping food in the house, and he made sure they had enough clothes. Their father died at the young age of thirty-three, leaving their mother to take care of them alone.

Their mother had to go the big city to work; she had two jobs fifty miles away. This caused her to work late, and sometimes she couldn't get home. At times, she would be gone for two to three weeks at a time, leaving the children to be checked on by neighbors. Most of the time, they would take care of themselves. Their mother would come home exhausted, but she didn't have to do anything. They would have the house cleaned and her food ready when they saw her coming; all she would have to do was rest. They were a loving and happy family working together.

About two years later, their mother fell in love with a man name Earl from Chicago, Illinois. He was nice and kind to all of them. Their mother and Earl got married, and they started looking at him as their new father. They called him Poppa. Something changed about six months after they got married. Their mother got sick, and the doctor told her she couldn't work anymore; if she did, she would have a heart attack, so she had to quit. It didn't please their Poppa that they all had to depend only on him. The food cabinets were sometimes empty, and then they would see him coming down the street with two bags of food on payday. Their mother would be happy, and they would be singing, "We got food, and we are going to eat!" Poppa would come in the house and take all the food into the bedroom. He took out enough food for their mother and him to eat and then put the rest in the icebox he kept in the room. The door would be cracked, and they could see them eating. He would be rubbing his stomach and saying, "Stomach, look out! Here it comes!" as he looked out at the children, taunting them. They could see the sadness in their mother's eyes. The children got the leftovers, hardly enough to feed a cat. They would go out on the front porch and try to sing their hunger pains away.

This happened constantly, so their mother would try to sneak food to them when Earl was asleep. When the neighbors heard them singing as they walked by, they would stop and listen. They sang in such beautiful harmony. They told their mother that she should get them in a singing career. She never acted on their comments, and they believed it was because she was too wrapped up in her personal problems. As time went on, they went to school with pants too short and patches on their clothes, but they were always clean and ironed.

When everyone got older and couldn't take anymore, they started to move out. First it was the oldest brother who moved out and got married. At sixteen years old, he worked in a record shop until he got old enough and made enough money to buy it for himself. Then it was Ella's second oldest brother who left at the age of seventeen. He joined the army and later became a singer. Ella's older sister got married at the age of eighteen and became a psychiatric nurse. That left her younger brother and her to make do for themselves. They put their heads together and created some side jobs working in the neighborhood, particularly for the elderly who couldn't do things for themselves. That's how they made enough money to eat and buy their clothes to make it through school. Her younger brother finished high school at an early age. He joined the navy as a pilot and later became a lawyer. This left Ella alone working for the elderly. They saw how tall and shapely she was growing up to be and told her she should be a model; that's what planted the idea in her head.

One day, Ella's mother whipped her in front of her father when she was naked at the age of fifteen. She was fully developed and thought her mother was wrong. She then left her mother and father's house to stay with her sister across town. Ella swore she would never marry a man like him.

Ella was now sixteen years old and living in Kane, Illinois. She liked to go out and have fun like most teenagers in town. One particular weekend, she and her friend Paula went to the Wagon Wheel, a place where all the teenagers met to have fun dancing, playing games, and buying their favorite junk foods. The place was sectioned off, with dancing on the first floor and a game room located in the rear. You ordered food on the second floor; it had a bar and stools along the wall and then booths on the other side of the room. Ella and Paula decided to go and get a cool drink. That's where they saw the guy from a nearby town. He looked to be about eighteen years old and was tall, muscular, and handsome. They saw him sitting with some friends at a nearby booth, and they both wanted him. They decided that they would both flirt with him, and whomever he chose, neither one of them would be mad with the other and they still would remain friends. Paula started winking at him, and he sat there smiling, and then Ella would blow a kiss at him, and he smiled again, sitting there like he was confused, wondering whom to choose. Then something happened to help him make up his mind. Melvin, Paula's brother, came walking in the place, shouting for her. "Paula! Mother said to come home! It's your curfew time!" Paula was trying to ignore him so the new guy wouldn't know that her brother was talking about her, but Melvin got louder.

Finally, Paula called out, "Wait a minute!" Ella sat there trying not to laugh at her friend, but she couldn't help sniggering to herself; she knew that once Paula had left, she would get the boy. Paula got up, embarrassed because her brother was so loud. When she reached him, she hit him on the arm and said, "You didn't have to be so loud. I heard you the first time."

After they left, Ella turned to the new guy and...