Neighborhood Docent

This is Sarah's house.
Her bedroom was on the top floor.
She had her own sink right in her room.

This is Nancy's house.
Her family had no furniture,
like they were in a play with no budget for scenery.
I turned on a light switch once
and turned it off again quickly.
Nancy got upset, turned it back on and looked at her watch and counted to some number.
It was a waste to have turned it on and off, she said, so she turned it back on and counted.
I never forgot.
I also never knew the magic number that would make the cost go away.

This is where Miriam lived.
Her sister was so old and shrugged at us as I brought my dolls
and my dollhouse up to Miriam's room to play.
Her mother drove sitting up with her arms bent,
her back not touching her car seat.

This is Carla's house.
We played dress-up on her front walk.
We had a bag of clothes with two hats and two purses.
The good hat and the good purse, the bad hat and the ugly purse.
When I would get to have the good purse, Carla would cry
and I would yell across the street for my mom to come get me.

This is Julie's house.
I went to a party there.
I didn't want to go.
My mother told me that only I could make it a good time or a bad time.
If I smiled, I'd have a good time, she told me.
I smiled.
Julie had a jukebox that worked.
It had records in it and we could push any button and listen to any song.
Smiling doesn't always work.

I'd never been in Mr. Chapman's house
and never wanted to
since his rooms were all piled high
with stacks of old newspapers that blocked the windows.

This is Gary's house.
He had a photographic memory.
He is my age and played the piano at Carnegie Hall when he was 11.
I played piano too with the same teacher.
I played in recitals with him.
The ones that were local.

This is Mrs. Thomas' house.
She had toy poodles.
She never let me touch them.

This is Mrs. Dyro's house.
She had a dog I could touch.
Barney.
But he had wiry hair
and I didn't want to.

This is Gisi's house.
I stayed there when my parents would go out of town.
I had my own room, my own section of the house.
I would leave the shower running and then sneak out the back door
to go meet a boy.

Not one of these people still live here.