The Back Yard and Splinters in Claudia's Butt

We had a huge backyard. OK it seemed huge to a 4 year old. It was fenced in with a standard swing set and wooden slide. I remember the red berries that huge over the neighbors fence and which a was informed were poisonous. I would walk on the other side of the yard just to avoid them. But in spite of the possible poisonous peril, I would often play in the warmth of the California sun in our backyard. I had a small play tub made of plastic that I loved to fill with water and play in it like a bath tub. That was until Donny got in it and broke it. And then there was the time Claudia and I were playing on the swing set and she went down the wooden slide on the edge and got a splinter in her butt. I remember a great deal of screaming and crying as her mother tried to pull the splinter out. This was also the place I saw the biggest spider in my life. I was walking under a work bench of some kind and came face to face with a spider web as big as I was. So all things considered it was small but is filled my world and in the middle was an ugly black and brown spider almost at eye level. I think I screamed and cried louder than Claudia did!

This is the time in my life where the adult in me asks, "why were Carmen and Claudia with us again?" They seemed to ebb in and out of our lives like a familiar tide. I am sure it was because the needed a place to stay and Carmen needed someone to watch Claudia while she was at work.