Why?

We moved from Brackenridge after my freshman year at St. Joseph HS.  I don't know why as there was never any discussion.  As a matter of fact, I cannot recall any family talks, etc.  There was no weekly family counsel and calendering of events; no family prayers morning or night and never a blessing asked before a meal, though the Catholic Church had a "standardized" one to use. What My dad earned working in three different factories is  a mystery as any sales/profits earned from 'Frank's Boat Work's," or the "stand"-which is what the little drive up food place was always referred to. When we moved to Espyville Station, PA., I have no idea of how the address was located. When it was purchased the house stood close to a 'T" in the road, with the wrap around sun porch the existing eatery.  The lady?/owner was quite a liar saying she made $150.00 alone, just on selling french fries on a Sunday. Of course it was a lie, since her crappy parking lot could only hold 3 cars at a time.  After we "modernized" by tearing out the bushes and putting in draining pipes to fill in the ditches, we could hold about 15 cars.  I think the first week day we were opened, we made $7.20 in sales.  Pymatuning Lake was a must come and visit tourist area and only really busy during the summer months. Today, it is a ghost town and no one even fishes the Lake anymore.  As I said before, we painted the brown sun porch white and put in 4 'x4' windows, replacing the old panes.  The entire house was brown wood shingles.  We found out that when a section started to fade, Mrs Early "Re stained it," with used motor oil-just hand me a match, please!  Away from the house was a two story barn-cement block on the bottom and vertical wood boards on top.The first time we went up (with Mrs Early), the floor was about 6" deep-with bat droppings-she"kept meaning to clean it out"  At night, 100's and 100's of bats flew out of their perches which were spaces in the wood boards. We tried everything to kill or get rid of them: shooting them with 22 buckshot, sulfur candles, and all kinds of sprays. It is a wonder that none of us ever got bitten and had to get a rabies shot. About 1972, my dad decided to move the house and stand and have a normal looking small sit down eatery built. called the "Duck Inn."  Mistake, as in a very expensive error. I remember an 80 year old man came and jacked up the house and put roller logs underneath so it could be pushed to it's present location.  The nearby Amish community came and completely removed the barn for the price of keeping all the wood and blocks.  They didn't let the bats bother them one bit.  The other pests: mosquitoes. Attracted by the stands lights at night.  We had two electric units with black lights and it would attract and zap them-about 5 lbs/night.  we should have just let the bats alone to eat them. The house and barn stood on 5 acre's of land, mostly overgrown, with a section of a creek passing through where we would spear suckers in the spring spawning season.  Total cost for it all:$15,000 or 150/ month.  The dinning room had wall paper-turquoise background with giant sea shells They say that Mr. Early(I think they were divorced or separated) drank a lot. I would too, looking either at Mrs Early(bath water? What's that) or go in the dinning room, which is where he slept when around.  A banker in Pittsburgh told my dad to have enough cash to live on for 3 years and my great uncle Balash(grocer), said 5 years.  They were right; he didn't. We about starved the first winter and the house had no insulation and it was heated by oil, which we went through like water-even with hanging blankets on the windows to keep out the cold winds The inside of the house was like living in a ghetto.  When dad finally got a steady job, in a couple of years, he, Bill, and me completely gutted the inside of the house smashing down the walls with sledge hammers, iron bars, and keeping a rag over our mouth and nose so as not to breath in the 75 year old plaster.  Then it was insulated, rewired and plastered with new thermal windows.  Guess how much Bill and I got paid? That's right, nothing-and we worked till the blisters on our hands bled and we constantly blew the plaster dust from our noses.  I worked in the stand-for free.  When the new one was built, Bill, who was now an electrician, completely wired the place-material and labor?  Free.  It annoys me as I look back at those first3-5 years because my parents were going to lose the house several times for non payment of the mortgage.  They didn't, because grandparents came to the rescue-paid the mortgage and drove the 135 mile trip loaded down with food..I only bring this up because I asked my parents for money-once.  I lost my job and needed $40.00 to make the rent payment. No kids yet. So I called home. Mom answered and when I asked, she gave me a lecture and then hung up on me, not even saying good-bye.  We lived in our car that week until friends gave us shelter and I landed a new job. After that phone call, I NEVER AGAIN asked my parents for anything, despite the 1000's of hours I worked for free for them from the time I was 7 years old-first the boat works and then the "stand." That incident always hurt me to the core, because without my granddad's money and grandma's help, my folks would have never been able to build or buy three houses-that, and my granddad hacked down almost all the weeds and tall grass at the Espyville property for free and by hand-he used a cy-cycle(sic) just like he learned to do in the "old country" of Europe. Then a push mower.  Side Note: From my great grandparents and on,(and probably way before that) it was the pattern that the previous generation help by working hard and saving what they could to help the next(their kids) when they married, to buy a house and some land.  That custom ended with my parents, who refused to help out their children even with a loaf of bread.  And I can prove it.  Because, if I needed something to eat, I would ask grandma, not call home. Their choice: A 600,000 house (worth about 90 now), on the lake, a Lincoln in the garage, thousands spent on fur coats and the best woman's clothing and shoe's, their championship bred cats and dogs-so I guess it is no wonder they were to broke to help their children out if needed.  Bitter? No, just reality and we decided if OUR children needed some help-if we had it, we gave it.  Like the lady who gave me a ride home as I stood helpless on I-74 with braces and holding a cane, in the bitter cold wind, 2 days ago, with a flat van tire), said: "it's what I do and I won't take any money"-just "pass it  on."(YOUR turn to help someone if they are in need.)  In closing, always remember the number "5" What(1) would(2) the(3) Master(4) do?(5)