Annie – Part 2

Once Annie had gotten her job at Penton (in the mail-room, from where she rapidly moved up to an assistant editor position over the next year or so), she moved into an apartment on the East Side of Cleveland, a building where her friend, Karen, was also living. Her friend, Lynn F. lived fairly close by, too, up in University Heights. After I gave up the farm (about a year after she went to work for Penton), Annie let me (encouraged me) to move in with her… which I did. Karen lived right across the hall from us and was a frequent drop in guest.

About a year after I moved in, Karen encouraged us to rent a house together with her, one she found in Cleveland Hts. We thought it could work out, so we all moved in. Karen had her rooms on the 2nd floor and the top floor of the side-by-side duplex. Our landlord, Dave, lived next door with his two children, a couple of years older than Kristen and Ian. Annie and I shared the main bedroom at the front of the house on the second floor. We all shared the downstairs, kitchen, living room, and dining room.

By then, I was working at Eaton’s Airflex Div. on the West Side, W 98 St., about a mile south of the Rapid station. I’d been there for about a year, working as a ‘layout inspector’ and a ‘magnetic brake tester’ in their machine shop.

Shortly after we’d moved in, my ex, Lynn, informed me that she and Larry (her new ‘life-partner’) were moving to Texas to live with Larry’s parents while they searched for property to buy, and there wasn’t enough room at Larry’s parents for everyone. So, she kept Laurel, her and Larry’s new baby with her, and intended to drop Kristen and Ian off on her way west, to live with me for the coming school year. And since we had ‘joint custody’, I could hardly refuse… and I wouldn’t have even if I could have.

Annie and I were ok with it, actually looking forward to it, but Karen absolutely wasn’t. She packed up her stuff and moved out weeks before Kristen and Ian arrived for their extended stay with us. They would stay through the school year, at least. So we enrolled them in the Cleveland Hts. school system. They were old enough that I could trust them to walk the couple of blocks home after school and let themselves in, as Annie and I would still be at work until around 5 pm for Annie and 4 pm for me. They had about 2hrs before we arrived.

To be Continued

–LE