Pryor babysitting rule: assignment outside the Pryor apartment was only accepted by grandparents and two sisters of Patty, the anti-christs' mother. All other houses begged off.
There was one unbreakable caveat with the aunts, Ryan & Pryor-Rode grandparents: No one would watch the two of us together. The extended family agreed, "Tommy & Rory were not allowed in the same house without parental supervision."
Rory and I fought over any spot on the couch the other was in; battled over who licked the tuna bowl after Mom made sandwiches.
When Bob & Pat went out, Rory stayed with the Ryan grandparents or Barbara & Mickey. I stayed with the Pryor-Rode grandparents or Joan & Georgie.
Rory & I had our needs met at all households, but Joannie had bongos, an FM radio and a bullfighter poster on her wall. She had a bar with high stools wore clam diggers as she danced & sang around the living room. I kept expecting Trini Lopez to drop in.
Joan & George took me to the beach, and it was named after Joan. We had no family car.
I loved all my grandparents, aunts & uncles, but my favorite babysitter was Mom. Sometimes, it was just her & me. She called me her “Cow, Cow Boogie,” and I called her "Uncle Mommy." We snuggled on our tiny 83rd Street couch watching The Twilight Zone & Hitchcock on Friday nights. Her smile stopped my clock.
I was a lousy artist, a stinky poet, and I had a stutter. None of this disrupted me from trying to make Uncle Mommy laugh. She loved Rory and me like a freight train. Mom died July 24, 1998. I'm still working on stuff for her.
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