1940, Traveler’s Water Fountain Achillea and Malama
CHAPTER 15
DOING HER BEST, COPING
The aunt and uncle did raise a daughter they had named Alexandra. They had adopted her as a baby many years ago, when they visited Greece. They had not been blessed with biological children, so they went to an orphanage in Volos, Greece before World War II and adopted a baby. As an adult Alexandra had a beautiful smile with white straight teeth, olive smooth skin, gorgeous dark hair, and dark eyes. She must have been a very beautiful baby, too, a Greek living baby doll!
Now in 1962 Alexandra was already married to John and they had three small boys. They lived in a two-bedroom apartment on top of a restaurant in Brooklyn, New York.
She was a stay at home mom and John went to night school after his full-time job to advance his career as a chemist. The relationship between the young couple and Alexandra’s parents was on the cool side. When Efrossini was about 15 years old the young couple would invite her to their apartment to baby sit their three young boys and spend the night too. There Efrossini was able to take a shower and eat her fill. She remembers big bunches of bananas in that kitchen. Efrossini also used their typewriter to do her so important book reports which she still has. They have grades of A and even some A+++s.
It seemed Alexandra sensed Efrossini’s hardship and knew she did not ever complain.
Efrossini was also paid for her babysitting which came very handy for her growing body’s expenses. At that apartment she watched television and the western show Gunsmoke late at night. What a treat that was!
She would also take the subway from Corona to Brooklyn to another aunt’s home. This was Fotini and she was a few years younger than Efrossini the older aunt. Aunt Fotini was married to a wonderful man Stratos, who was a diabetic. They owned the rides at Steeplechase and the concession stands on the pier at Coney Island. These were very profitable businesses.
Efrossini remembers going there one Saturday. Her aunt Fotini gave her a whole roll of ride tickets for Steeplechase. She also gave her from one of their souvenir shops, a beautiful, tall, red lacquered Chinese pagoda jewelry/ music box with a ballerina that danced to its music. It was such an expensive gift and Efrossini treasured it.
Then her aunt Fotini took her to Macy’s famous department store. Aunt Fotini fully outfitted her from socks and shoes to a red wool plaid jumper with a low waistline and a black patent leather belt. The outfit also included a white blouse with ruffles at the neckline and at the wrists on the sleeves. It was very up to date and so stylish. She also bought her a new lacy slip and new underwear. Efrossini was so thankful that once again she had some new clothes. Her body was growing and she really needed new clothes every year.
The next day her aunt Fotini took her to the Greek Church to show her off to her friends.
Sunday afternoon Efrossini headed back to the subway and walked the long downhill walk to Jackson Heights.
She was carrying a bag filled with her old clothes and the heavy jewelry box, skipping as she walked. She was so happy for a little while. During her walk, Efrossini day dreamed about how much better her life would have been if the other aunt Fotini had brought her to America. Before she knew it, there she was on 72ndstreet.
When she entered the home of her aunt and uncle, they obviously noticed the beautiful new clothes. The clothes were just the right size and they fit Efrossini’s slender body so beautifully. They were very upset Efrossini was given the new outfit and her aunt called her sister Fotini to complain about her purchases. There was a fight over the telephone. She did not want her sister to meddle in Efrossini’s upbringing.
Efrossini went to her bedroom and took off the new clothes. She had learned to live with the punches. Efrossini knew by now, never to trust this aunt. She never confided in her about anything. And she did not bad mouth them to anyone. She kept to herself.
Efrossini’s report cards were always A’s and B’s. A couple of times she had gotten D’s at Physical Education, of all classes. This class was responsible for their students’ health and welfare. The school insisted on having their students monitored by a yearly physical at the family doctor and a dental checkup. Efrossini told her aunt and uncle about the school’s requirement and they ignored it.
One day the school teacher called them up and truly embarrassed them.
When finally Efrossini was taken to the dentist the ex-rays showed thirteen cavities.
When Efrossini was leaving Greece, she had a physical and lung ex-rays. She also had a dental checkup with ex-rays. There were no cavities, none.
Two years later she had thirteen cavities. Efrossini does not remember fresh fruits, fresh green salads with all the trimmings, nuts, pumpkin and sunflower seeds, dairy products at the table like milk, cheese, yogurt or puddings. She was lacking calcium. She was a growing girl without calcium.
At her mother’s house she had a great nourishing diet. Her parents insisted all their children consumed lots of dairy products because they needed that nutrition to grow strong bones and good teeth.
The visits to her cousin and her other aunt’s house were infrequent, not enough to get some much-needed nourishment, on a daily basis. The uncle was supposed to give Efrossini lunch money for school too, but most of the time he forgot to do that also. She was too afraid of him to ask for lunch money. Instead she went HUNGRY. The times she had bought the school lunch, she was elated, and she would clean up her plate with appreciation. She loved the school lunches and could not understand what some children complained about. Or maybe they never experienced HUNGER!
Efrossini basically just stayed hungry. She could not believe when she thought about it that she came to America with all her opportunities to be hungry. She was hungering for bread and love! Yet she had to do adult jobs around the house and stayed up late past midnight to finish her schoolwork. Other than cleaning the kitchen, the floor and washing the dishes, her aunt never let Efrossini in the kitchen.
She did not want her to learn to cook. Before she left Greece, her mother was the official cook and she did not learn to cook there also.
Many years later as an adult, Efrossini understood the reason she was the shortest of all four sisters. Her three sisters were 5’ 8” tall and she was only 5’ 5”. The older sisters had even lived in some harsh years and maybe their nutrition was not perfect especially during the war. Still, they grew tall.
Anna, the youngest sister, was pretty much on a gravy train because those were the best of financial times and she was given everything. She was the baby of the family, the menopausal child, and all the brothers and sisters were now long gone from the paternal home. She grew properly, nice and tall too.
Efrossini was not just hungry the four years she lived with her aunt and uncle, but she was also not given the right foods a growing young girl needed to grow properly. The foods her aunt cooked were well done meats with a starch like a potato or noodles and one canned vegetable. This type of cuisine was more like hospital food.
Her aunt did not cook as if she were Greek. Efrossini does not remember seafood or anything resembling the nutritious fresh Greek cuisine.
Another thing Efrossini did to earn some much-needed cash is to walk a 6-mile round trip to Astoria under some bridges. This did not take place often enough. It was a very lonely, short cut, imagine that! When Efrossini finally reached her destination she was out of breath and truly famished. She would hear her stomach growling!
The poor young girl would climb the stairs to the second floor, with hunger pains in her stomach. This apartment was on top of a restaurant and the scents from the