A funny short story

My family lived all over the United States, so I'm quite lucky, I suppose. I have lots of memories that are divided into regional segments. For example, if I think about the time we lived in High Point, NC, I think about the next-door neighbor who had a 16 year old daughter with "water on the brain," as my mom called it. Their other daughter was a friend of mine. When I went into her house, the disabled daughter was in a crib in the front room. Only her eyes moved. She was about 3 feet long, I suppose, with a tremendous head. When I think about Oklahoma City, OK, I remember riding a tricycle down our long driveway and crashing into the garage door. When I think about Vancouver, WA, I remember playing in the woods for hours with all of the neighborhood kids. We lived like we were inhabitants of the woods for an entire summer. When I think about Columbia, SC, remember we had a fort in the backyard that was a 2-story log cabin. The upstairs was really cool, with windows that had real glass in them. An older neighbor boy convinced me to go inside with him and kiss him. I was 5. He was probably 10. Ick.

But, the memory that gripped me this morning is pretty good. For a short time, we lived in Salem, OR during my 1st and 2nd grade years. My parents loved Oregon, so, after we moved back to the East Coast, they yearned to return, which we did, 4 years later. While we were in Oregon, we traveled every single weekend. My dad loved driving our huge Olds Delta 88. I hated riding in the car, as my parents smoked and I was the carsick kid. On one trip, however, we didn't go in the car, as dad bought us tickets to ride the train from Portland to Pendleton to visit some friends out there. We drove to the old train station in Portland, which has now been completely renovated. Back then, about 1972, it was just icky. As we were boarding the train, Dad asked the porter where our seats were. He said, "When you go inside, turn left. Your seats are in that area." So, that's what we did. We were SOOOOOOOO lucky! We had a private room! The door was opened as we approached and we went right in! It had a small couch, 2 overstuffed chairs, a huge mirror and a big window! There was a doorway in it that led to a private toilet and sinks. My younger brothers and I were so happy!

Dad is always an antsy man, and as soon as we had settled in, he left us and went to get cold drinks. The train had just begun pulling away from the station. As he left, he pulled the door to room closed. A few minutes later, he returned, looking a little harried. He said to my mom, "Hurry up. These aren't our seats! " then, hurried us kids to gather up our things. As we left our cool room, complaining, I saw a sign on the outside of the door that said, "Ladies' Lounge."