family story, again
thinking about babies and adoption –
when I was a kid we knew those in our
classes adopted it was a matter of no
significance – I did hear later a boy in
the class behind me who I hadn’t known
was adopted – had come at birth to a
large catholic family immediately after
they’d lost a baby they didn’t miss a
beat leo was their number five or six
I admired them john eldred buddy of
my brother was adopted he grew up to
succeed his dad as president of beloit
savings and loan – as kids my brother
and gang camped at our woods and
sometimes at the eldred cabin john’s
folks gladys and burdette named their
hideaway “gladette” by joining their
names but my brother’s bunch took the
other two syllables to make “bird-ass” –
the eldred seniors liked that not one bit
©2017 Jacqueline Jackson
This article appears in Jul 6-12, 2017.
