HUMBLE ABODES IN CHICAGO

       This post will be in two possibly three parts, having lived in so many humble abodes during my upbringing in Chicago it will require a short story edition.                                                                              Growing up in the city, people did  ask me what it was like growing up in chicago, since i had nothing to compare it to until we moved to the south suburbs when i was 14, i just did not know how to answer that question.  I know moving to a suburb coming from the city was quite a transition shock. How could i maneuver the streets out here with no buses ?  How could i take a walk with no sidewalks?  How could i go to the park to visit the library or sit by the lagoon when there wasn't anything comparable to it here? There were no corner stores to go to to buy my penny candy when i cashed in my pop bottles, mom had to drive us everywhere and it had to be at her convenience, I was so use to just hopping on the CTA or walking so that was an unhappy adjustment for me.                                 My first home that i remember was on 47th st just west of wallace ave. "canaryville or back of the yards", I was use to either name, we lived on the 2nd floor we were not allowed to play out front because of the" busy street" and there was a grocery store right across the street from us. I can remember we had a wringer washer, and on washdays mom would drag that behemoth of a machine into the kitchen from the backporch to put next to the sink. I remember my little sister getting her hand caught in the wringer one time, boy did she scream, no safety shut-off on that dinosaur, don't ask me how it happened but it did after all a 4 yr old can get into a lot of mischief, She was ok, no broken bones, just bruises. I also remember watching "THE MICKEY MOUSE CLUB" show every day when it was on. I even had a mouseketeer t-shirt and of course the mouse ears hat to match. Sister had one too, of course we were always dressed alike when we were little, like twins, we were only 10 months apart and very close, we still are. I know brother was a baby while we lived here but i don't recall much about him, as a matter of fact i don't recall much more about living here due to the fact i was about 5-6 yrs old.                                                                                                                                Our next abode was on 47th st. again, further west near Morgan st, this home had a fenced in side yard, a great place to play, even a clothesline for mom to hang out the freshly laundered clothes. I remember looking out the fronchroom window and directly across the street i could see St. John The Baptist church and school, a rounded dome with a bell ( if i recall correctly) that i could hear peal @ noon everyday and other times as well, I remember attending kindergarten at this school also.                   In our kitchen here we had a huge white porcelain sink I can remember mom giving baby brother baths in this sink, to me that sink was huge. I don't recall how this house was "laid out" though, but we did live on the first floor. Most of my memories are about the yard here, to me it seemed like a mini park, I guess due to the side yard, there was a sidewalk that ran along the side of the house in the yard, a manhole cover was on the sidewalk too, one day sister and i were playing in the yard and i heard her yelling  'HELP ME, HELP ME", but it sounded odd, like an echo, I went searching for her and OMG she had fallen into the sewer, I guess the cover was loose and she decided to jump on it because she liked the sound it made, this cover was the type that had holes on top and we were always throwing things in it, rocks, paper, it was full of all kinds of debris and here she was underground on top of it all, I ran in and retrieved mom to help her, poor sister was crying and screaming in that abyss she was also cussing up a storm, later mom said she wondered how her daughter learned how to talk like a "sailor" something i did not understand til i was older,  Our upstairs neighbor who was retired came down wondering what all that screaming was about, the Chicago Fire Dept. showed up and retrieved her. No broken bones, only bruises again and she did not even get into "trouble" for swearing that day. Needless to say we never, ever went near that entrance to hell again.                                                                                                                                                                  From this house we often walked to Gram's house when the weather was nice, brother being pushed in the buggy by mom, me and sister holding hands, walking or skipping ahead, always hearing, "Stay away from that busy street" or "Slow down, you're getting too far ahead of me". I recall one house in particular on our way to Gram's, it was on the other side of the street from us about 10 houses from ours, going up the front porch maybe two three stairs to reach the landing when the door was open you saw directly into their bathroom, what an odd place for that to be, but it was right there for all the world to see. As we were walking by one day, there was a man sitting there on the toilet, reading his newspaper, I knew what he was doing as his pants were around his feet on the floor and you could see his bare legs, poor mom was all upset rushing us ahead yelling at him to close the door, how rude he was she had little children with her, mom also used her sailor language that day.  Jeez, what a memory that was for me to be burdened with for the rest of eternity, now i just laugh and laugh when i recall that one. After that day mom told us to never ever go by that house alone again, little did she know sister and i would "sneak" down there to see what we could see, but we were never entertained by that sight again.                                                                                                               I also recall while we lived here it was my first trip to "RIVERVIEW PARK", my first encounter with a roller coaster did not go well, going on this ride with my dad i got "deathly ill", my hot dog i had for lunch was ejected from me immediately, this was my first time that i have ever encountered vertigo, which to this day i still deal with. I can recall being "sick" for several days after that so called fun filled day.  No other memories to recall about this abode, I don't know how long we lived here, but there were many other homes to come.  On that note i will continue chapter two another day my 'SPECIAL READERS'.  Ta-Ta for now !!                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                CORRECTION  51ST. ST NEAR MORGAN NOT 47TH ST.  IT'S MY AGE PEOPLE, THE MEMORY IS GOING !!