After my mother left and I was on my own again it was sad as I felt all alone. My mother wanted me to come and live near them but I just could not take my son away from his father no matter how bad he was. I missed my own father I could not at the time do it. In hind sight I ought to have put myself first and gone and things may of been different?
As I still could not do housework due to the operation and not able to lift things for a few more weeks. I was looking in the jobs vacant in the paper and saw an advertisement for a demonstrator in Adelaide. This was to demonstrate the first Soda Stream to come to Adelaide. This was device to make your own soda drinks at home. I was lucky as I got picked to do the job in David Jones in Rundle Mall Adelaide. I enjoyed the job and enjoyed getting dressed up and strutting my stuff on the microphone and explaining and showing how this machine worked. Eddie was my boss and he was very helpful and kind to me. Where I was working was a shoe repair shop and a guy called Kevin worked there. I had not noticed him too much but one of the other workers came over and introduced him to me. It wasn't long before we formed a friendship and went to lunch together and and then somehow with in a few months he was living with me.
Up until now I only knew he was divorced and had a son called Ronnie. That his parents lived at Murray Bridge and his father was ill with emphysema. He had been living in a small flat so to come and live in my little home was comfort for him. Little did I know what I had got myself into? The relationship went fast and within 9 months we decided to get married in the Uniting Church in Gawler. I again went through the organizing of a wedding. I had my mother make my wedding dress. This was just a long beige frock nothing too stunning, but was nice. I had brides maid and flower girls in brown and we carried apricot flowers. His mother and father came to the wedding and I thought all was well.
Then little by little the truth came out. Kevin had been to jail on false pretenses and was on some sort of bond.I was shocked and angry when I found out but as usual being my nature I forgave him. Neb liked Kevin and got on well with Ronnie who used to stay with us from time to time. Kevin was a very good shoe maker and also very good with saddlery and after a few months we decided to open the first and only Shoe Repair and key cutting shop in Gawler. The shop is still there today. I feel proud to of being part of opening this kind of much needed shop. The business was going very well and we were making a good living. There were many bizarre stories Kevin would tell me which would turn out to be a lie. He was so convincing you would believe everything he said. One of his weird stories was he came home and said his father had died. I naturally send some flowers to his mother who phoned to say his father wasn't dead. But no Kevin insisted he was dead and we made a car trip to Murray Bridge and he refused to take me to the house where his mother lived and we ended up going around to the cemetery and of course not seeing a thing. I could never work out what this was all about, and still don't. Another day he came home and said he had got a contract to do all the boots for the army from Bridge water and I would be able to and pick them up and take them back. This was another convincing lie that never happened.
The business was going well but Kevin wanted a bigger space in the shopping center we were in and he wanted to start and do more saddlery work. The area we lived had many farmers and horse breeding places so I relented and we rented a bigger place. At the same time we decided to sell the very small home I owned and we bought a much bigger place at Paralowie from the South Australian Housing Trust. This meant a longer travel time to Gawler each day but was Kevin's way of keeping me out of the business as I had 2 boys to get to and from school every day. So I would only go to the shop once or twice a week as was told everything was doing well. I had been doing the books before this time but Kevin decided to handle the book work as well. I was none the wiser to know all was not well at the business. It was Kevin's grand alto ego to be a big business man. The money was coming in for groceries and the mortgage was being paid. So I became a home house wife looking after Neb and Ronnie. I at that time enjoyed being a mother and wife. Neb was getting bullied at school and I was forever having to try and sort all this out. Ronnie used to protect Neb at school. I made some more new friends and also was trying to find out what was wrong with Neb as looking back now I know he has Aspergers or some syndrome like this as he was not doing well at school and established he was also dyslexic like myself. But apart from Spelt ( an organization for children with learning difficulties.) I got no help for his problems. I took him to Dr, Psychiatrists, and special gym for his coordination and I did so much running around for him trying to get help. But in those days help was not readily available. His father was much of the problem I was told as he got spoilt each week end and came home with money, toys and what ever he wanted he got. But his father never helped in his problems. It was a hard struggle seeing my child getting bullied at school and not liking school. It was terrible and I wished we had never moved from Gawler.
Then one day I got a phone call to say Kevin had stolen a car and was now on the run. Well I got into my car and tried to stop him but I was too late. I got stopped for speeding on the way to Gawler and the police thought I was weird as I was saying I am trying to stop my husband stealing a brand new car. I got off with a small fine.
When I got to Gawler he was gone. The guy we had employed was busy mending shoes and got a surprise when I walked in with this news? Well from there on Kevin just disappeared and I was left with two children to look after and a business to run. After four months around 1981 he was not found and I had to go bankrupted and lost everything, house and all. Fortunately I was able to rent the house from the housing trust so did not have to move. The day the Bankruptcy came through I collapsed and fainted in my kitchen as it all got too much for me. Remembering I had no family to lean on or to help me.
The neighbor called a Nun in the area and she came to see me and comfort me and Clare became a good friend. I am not Catholic and was expecting a nun to arrive in her black and white, but no she came in jeans and riding a bike.
This again got my immune system went down and I was constantly in fatigue and pain. I went to Dr for help telling my story and was just put on Valium and sleeping pills.I ended up in a hospital for the mentally ill for a few weeks to recover and Ronnie had gone back to his mother and Neb was with his father. I just managed to get through one day at a time. It was tough.
Around the end of 1981 Kevin was found on Magnetic island in Queensland and was bought back to South Australia and was jailed for around one year.
.
No comments:
Post a Comment