#9 of 52 : THE MILLER AVENUE BOYS

External Photo Clues:
None

Imagine:
I found this picture as I was sorting through my dad’s boxes up in his attic. He’s getting ready to move in with me now that he’s having trouble getting around, so we have some cleaning and getting rid of things to do. But this picture, oh man. I had to put down what I was doing. It was so full of hope. So full of promise.

On the back it said “The Miller Avenue Boys” – Tommy Jones, Petey Jones, Hank Walters, and Royt Banks, that’s my dad.

Tommy Jones, now there was a character. My dad said that he saw ‘Nam, or maybe it’s better to say that ‘Nam saw him. Prior to that he had been somewhat of a wild kid, cutting class, pulling pranks, smoking from not long after this picture was taken. But ‘Nam really worked a number on him. Continue reading The 2011 Imaginary Family Project – Week 9 →

#8 of 52 : TAMMY

External Photo Clues:
None

Imagine:
I was born in 1929 in the NE corner of the state of Oklahoma.  My dad was a McDonnell and he traveled to St. Louis and back all the time for the McDonnell Aircraft Corporation.  He was very devout and didn’t want his wife and daughter growing up in such a big city so he kept us on the farm.  It wasn’t like a real farm, more like a country house, with a little pond and some trees.  My mother wasn’t about to keep a farm, but she could keep a house and instructed me in all kind of Victorian parlor nonsense until the winter of 1942 when she died of pneumonia. 

The depression and the war didn’t really touch me.  For me, WWII was fantastic.  I traveled with my father all over the country.  The soldiers and pilots I met were all handsome, everyone petted me, and in my foolishness, I thought war was just grand.  I even got to go to Washington DC when my dad met with the president.  I didn’t get to meet him myself, but I was there all the same.  I was 16 on V-E Day and in St. Louis kissing and dancing with everyone else.

My dad was awfully busy during the war years, perhaps a little too busy to watch out for me. By 1947, he had left the country house and all pretenses of pious living back in Oklahoma. He noticed I was grown, and decided to get me a chaperone/tutor/governess to get me ready for college. I was 18 and full of my own charm.  I’ve had some kind of companion ever since.  Continue reading The 2011 Imaginary Family Project – Week 8 →

#7 of 52 : J. WARNER CHRISTIE & JOANN CHRISTIE

External Photo Clues:
Handwritten on the back : “Taken at Christmas when her Daddy was home. -1942-”

Imagine:
Mom and I were cleaning the garage the other day and came across my grandfather’s old “mess kit,” or at least that’s what she said he called it. An old, battered trunk, it contains all that’s left of his military service during World War II. It’s not much to memorialize such a full and tumultuous time in his life, but my grandfather tends to mostly live inside his own skin, not needing a lot of external “stuff” to anchor him to the world. You can’t come across something like that trunk, tucked away in a dusty corner, and not want to lift the lid, smiling over the contents as you call up memories of each artifact. Tucked away in the lid compartment, we found this photo taken in 1942 when my mother was a year and a half old.

“I don’t remember that Christmas. Not surprising. I was so young. Not many pictures left of me and Daddy from those years,” she said, cupping the photo in her hands. My grandfather was an Army officer, initially stationed in El Paso, Texas where he met my grandmother. Like all military families, they moved often.

“I learned not to get too attached to things,” she continued. “My toys often didn’t survive our moves. Boxes just disappeared, things broke. Mama always took it in stride, though. It came with the territory. You know, I think she was always just thankful that she still had her husband, what with the war on and all. So many of her friends didn’t,” she said. She smiled sadly, still looking at the photograph. Then she looked up at me.

“I never did like mules,” she began. Continue reading The 2011 Imaginary Family Project – Week 7 →

#6 of 52 : VINA, JIM, & WILLIAM

External Photo Clues:
None

Imagine:
           I took the picture at Little River Bridge on a Sunday.   Just as I was about to take the photo Jim said, “She’ll probably cut our heads off”.  Jim was an asshole, and my brother n’ law.  I don’t know why Vina married him.  I don’t know why she did a lot of things. 

           When she was twenty Vina had the dentist pull all her teeth out cause she didn’t’ want the hassle of getting them pulled one by one throughout the years.  She wore dentures from that day forth… Now, why would someone in his or her right mind do such a thing?  She used to worry about the bills if they didn’t show up on time.  I’d say, “Vina, why’n Sam Hill do you care if the bill don’t show up? Just means ya don’t have to pay them.” 

           Jim asked her to marry him after meeting her one night at a dance that we went to in Seminole. We had gone to see Bob Wills and The Texas Playboys at the civic center. He was 15 years her senior.  She was 25 and he was 40.  Vina said yes.  It was the only person she ever went out with.   I hated Jim and he hated me.  Continue reading The 2011 Imaginary Family Project – Week 6 →

#5 of 52 : EILEEN STEINER, MAUREEN MUELLER, & JOSEPHINE MUELLER

External Photo Clues:
Printed on “KODAK VELOX PAPER”

Imagine:

Photo taken by Imogene Steiner, age 9

When I was 6, my father was killed in an industrial accident.  My mother, Eileen Steiner, received a settlement from his employer plus a life insurance policy payout.  Although we had plenty of money to live on our own, she decided to move us in with her two older sisters, Josephine and Maureen Mueller.  She was too sad to stay in the house we’d shared with my father, and too scared to raise a child by herself.  Aunt Jo and Aunt Reeney were happy to have us, and we settled into the big old house they rented together.  The sisters had grown up on a farm, but their parents had died long ago and they sold the farm for a tidy profit, so although we weren’t rich, we were always comfortable.

The house we lived in was a lovely old Victorian place, but the landlord was terrible at keeping up with repairs, so there were a lot of issues.  But we all loved the house so we put up with it.  That changed the evening the landlord cornered Aunt Reeney in the alley behind the house and made a pass at her.  She refused his advances, so he gave her a black eye and a split lip.  Aunt Jo got a strange look in her eye and said she would take care of it.  Continue reading The 2011 Imaginary Family Project – Week 5 →