I've been thinking of writing an autobiography or memoir but it just never comes together for me but I figured if I write one story at a time and post it on my blog maybe once a month, I can do that. Maybe one day I'll pull all the stories together and put them in a book but for now I'll just share some stories with you about my childhood and into adulthood. Some of the stories will be happy, some sad and some horrific because that was my childhood. But they will all be real, things that actually happened. If it seems like something that people enjoy reading maybe I'll keep it going. These stories will not be in any kind of order, I'll just write them as they come to me.
Riding The Greyhound Bus at 16
After my mom got out of prison for drugs and child abuse, Buster (my grandma's husband) asked her if she would move to West Virginia and help him take care of grandma. At that point my mom was clean of drugs and alcohol and hadn’t gotten back together with her ex boyfriend, Jose. I talked to my mom quite often on the phone and kept telling her what was going on where we lived with my dad and step mother. Things were bad as I've said in past stories.
She and Buster both told me that if we wanted they would send us a Greyhound bus ticket for both me and my brother. I was 16 and my brother was 14 at the time. Anything sounded better than where we were at so I told her to send it. But I asked her if she could send a little money too so I could buy stuff to make sandwiches for us for the seven day bus trip. She did so I made my brother and I three sandwiches a piece for each day of the trip and bought some sodas as well. My dad let me use one of his coolers to put it all in and even bought a bag of ice for me. My dad actually told me how sorry he was for how they were while we lived with them and blamed it all on the meth but I knew that while the drugs played a big part of the problems, his personality was a big part of the problem too. I was surprised that he apologized at all but it was nice that he did. My stepmother never did but I’m not really surprised by that.
So my brother and I took a Greyhound bus from Van Nuys, California to Guyandotte, West Virginia and it took 7 days and 6 night in all to get there. But because we had the sandwiches and sodas, we never had to get off the bus except for a couple of layovers. The layovers were never too long, one was in Chicago but we were only in the bus terminal for about 2 hours before we were able to get back on the bus and get going again. But I had a 14 year old teenager with me that I had to look after and my brother found another teenage boy in the bus terminal and just went exploring with the boy for 2 hours. It was hard making him stay with me and stay out of trouble for those 7 days and nights. Thankfully we were on the bus for most of the time.
If you’ve never ridden the Greyhound bus, they stop three times a day at restaurants for meals. Most everyone else got off the bus so we were able to eat in peace and no one ever said anything to us about not going to the restaurants. For the most part it was a really quiet trip. I had no idea how bad things were about to get though. Buster picked us up from the bus terminal and took us home. My mom was really happy to see us and I was happy to see her and my grandma.
That night I was helping my mom make dinner. She handed me Buster and my grandma’s plate and asked me to bring it to them. They ate in the living room in front of the tv while my mom told us we would be eating at the table in the kitchen. When I got back in the kitchen I heard a loud crash from the living room and then Buster started screaming about me not bringing the salt and pepper shakers in with the plates. The crash was him throwing his glass of water against the wall. I looked at my mom in total shock because she never mentioned that things were going to be bad living with Buster. Had I known, I’m not sure I would have come but that’s probably why she didn’t say anything. After I brought the salt and pepper shakers to Buster he said he was sorry about the outburst but that was just the beginning. Buster was drinking a lot but he tried to take care of my grandma who had brain damage from oxygen depravation from complications due to having a stroke after open heart surgery. I've talked about Buster before, he was a real piece of work.
Links to past stories
2023
2024
Another short-tempered abusive freak! You've certainly had to deal with them a lot.
ReplyDeleteYes, he was a jerk.
DeleteOh gosh, re Buster.
ReplyDeleteYou did a wonderful job travelling all that way.
Thank you.
DeleteYour writing feels very real and raw. Telling one story at a time is a powerful way to share your life, and this one shows both your strength and how much you had to carry at such a young age.
ReplyDeleteThank you.
DeleteI can't imagine travelling all that way at the age of sixteen and having a younger sibling to take care of too. Buster sounds a piece of work!
ReplyDeleteMy brother wasn't too bad so that made it a little easier. Buster was a jerk.
DeleteThe life you and your brother LED as children was entirely too cruel. I cannot say that a bus ride across the United States was anything that would have been exciting and you two pulled through it quite well.
ReplyDeleteYes, it wasn't easy at all. We did a good job staying out of trouble for the most part.
DeleteWhat a dreadful shock that was for you. Out of the frying pan into the fire, really.
ReplyDeleteYes it really was.
DeleteAfter taking great pains to make such a long journey...yikes. As they say, from the frying pan into the fire. The good part is that your dad went out of his way to apologise...
ReplyDeleteI think that was the only time I heard my dad apologize to me for anything.
DeleteHorrible about Buster.
ReplyDeleteHe was a jerk.
DeleteI've only done a shorter bus journey, but it makes me appreciate your seven-day as a teenager looking after a teenager all the more. What a time of it, you had.
ReplyDeleteI never want to travel by bus again that's for sure.
DeleteWhat a fascinating glimpse into a very difficult time of life. You were so young to have navigated that trip the way that you did while also taking charge of your brother.
ReplyDeleteSeems like I was always the one in charge. I raised my brother from the time we were young because our parents didn't care.
DeleteIt sounds like life made you strong at an early age.
ReplyDeleteIt did.
DeleteI'm glad nothing bad happened on the bus ride. There can be sketchy people at those Greyhound stations.
ReplyDeleteOh absolutely.
DeleteGirl, this story got me hooked. Scary.
ReplyDeleteThank you.
DeleteI'm happy you got across the country okay, but wow that would be a scary trip for a 16 and 14 yr old! And then to step into another nightmare! I'm sorry for you and your brother!
ReplyDeleteThank you. Thankfully things with Buster didn't last more than a year before things changed and we all moved out.
DeletePoor Buster he was obviously a nervous wreckage.
ReplyDeleteHe was a mean drunk.
DeleteWhat a life you've lived.
ReplyDeleteThankfully I learned what not to do.
DeleteSounds like the bus ride was the quiet between two storms.
ReplyDelete