When Paula and Tami Went to Chicago in a Stolen Car Part 4

When Barry left, he was only supposed to be gone an hour, so Barb had no money, and no nothing. That meant that the babies had no food or, even worse, diapers. Don't forget, we were in a one a room partment that had the bathroom down the hall. Those babies stunk.

By now, Tami and I had about ten dollars left between us and we weren't giving it up. We didn't tell them we had it, so we had to sneak off to eat. What I remember most was eating Vienna hot dogs, not to be confused with the sausges of the same name. If you've never had a Vienna hot dog, you've never had a hot dog. The great thing about these little restaurants in Chicago is that they have a "fixings bar" where you can load all kinds of crap onto your hot dog for free. That really worked for us.

I also remember what we spent our last dollar on. Tami had her sixteenth birthday that week, so we spent it on a Snickers bar, and I sang happy birthday to her. We sliced it like it was a cake. It was the best Snickers bar I've ever had. That's why it's good to be deprived sometimes, it makes everything so much more meaningful. Try leaving the house one day with nothing but your car keys, no wallet, no cell phone, and rough it through the day....it's good for you.

While we were sneaking around eating, Barb decided that perhaps Barry wasn't returning. He left her with nothing. All of our clothes and everything were in the car because we didn't think we were staying, we thought we were just visiting. By then, Barry had been gone for two days.

On that third evening, Barb and I left Tami with the babies, and went to the corner pay phone. Barb made the wise decision to call the Salvation Army for help. By the time we got back to Tom's apartment, and we're talking four minutes tops, the police had already arrived. We look down the hallway and there's a whole gaggle of Chicago's finest at the apartment door. We were trying to figure out if it was our door when suddenly Tami's head popped out of the gaggle. Tami is super blonde with huge blue eyes so the contrast was almost stunning and I can still picture it today....hilarious.

It turns out that the police have to come first before a social service will. Once the police determined that there was nothing in there but two stinky babies and Tami, the salvation army came. They were able to help Barb with food for herself and the babies. The next time you clean out your pantry to give to a food drive, be kind, because most of the shit they get is nasty. We're talking canned fish (not tuna) and powdered milk.

However, since Tami and I had parents we could call for help, they wouldn't help us. Me and Tam Tam were rejected by the Salvation Army. Not many people can claim that. Looking back on the whole episode, I can't believe the police didn't arrest us. I mean, what the fuck? We were fifteen year old girls from Cincinnati. We were still too stubborn to call Myra and Marilyn (I like the way that rolls), we would have to suffer a little longer before we would even consider calling. TO BE CONTINUED