I grew up in a blended family of sorts. It was not the Brady Bunch type of blending with two families merging. In my case people brought their children to my house and we attempted to blend. Some of these children were my cousins. My mother was the magnet. She attracted people with sob stories.  She had a messiah complex.  She felt she was the only one who could rescue them out of their difficulties.

Shortly after I turned 9, I felt like I was an inmate living in the local asylum. That was when Darlene came to live with us. The potential for madness was always there; I guess. t just spiraled downward after Darlene came. Darlene was the first “non-cousin” to live with us but she was not to be the last. Her parents had nine children, all girls, and they could not financially provide for all. 

Darlene was 6 years old when she arrived. She had to be taught every thing. Every thing was new and strange for her. In the rural community where she ived previously, there was no electricity so all the electrical appliances and the indoor plumbing were novelties for her. She was like a fish out of water. Her language and behavior was fascinating but bizarre to me. She spoke a dialect with the intonation typical of the people from her region.

The first really strange thing she did was to steal little things from the house to take to school. Her loot was mainly silly things like my hair clips and my father’s old goggles. As she got older she would steal money and con some school friend out of her money. She would lie even when the evidence was put in front of her. My parents did not know how to deal with her behavior. We were constantly locking things up.That to me was insane. She was a child that could not be trusted. I never ever trusted her.

The cousins started moving in and out again by the time I was eleven. First my cousin Maurice moved in, then; our cousin Sharon joined the household. Maurice’s mother had emigrated to London and left him behind. Sharon had three other siblings and her mother was not coping financially so she was sent to live at our house. Initially Maurice and I were fascinated by our younger cousin Sharon that we never knew existed before.  She had a twisted front tooth that was really ugly and needed braces.