Ma`s Good Old Neighborhood

Things always change-but I sometimes wish they didn`t...What a place I grew up in. -Everyone knew what everyone was doing. And sometimes, I wish they didn`t. I was so embarrassed, when I knew, just what Ma would do, with a certain circumstances.All except one. There was no holding her back. We had a tight relationship, with most neighbors. Except, some that were not her cup of tea. We use to call some houses, that were set on the back of a small lot "garage homes". There were about five to a block. They were cheap to maintain. Each room, was set side by side, one room may have been divided in half to make a bathroom. ( We weren`t fortunate enough to have a tub. Our baths resembled a house on thr prarie,at best), except that we had running water, & a huge tub we saved, that used to be filled with coal, for our pot belly stove, that we later changed into an oil stove. Everyone took a bath on Saturdays, in the same water. Most times, we didn`t have a car.Except for the earlier days, when cars were "Model T`s"... After a while,We`d take a bus, maybe use a transfer ticket & get where we had to go. Then there were the street cars, that were hooked up to the electric wires overhead. We had block parties, & dancing in the streets, until the cars got to where they were too modern & too fast., & couldn`t be fixed with a screw driver. I played marbles, with some kids, on an empty lot next to the church, that was actually , later, moved to another community. Most of the time, when Ma wasn`t cooking stuffed cabbage or baking Babka bread to share, she was really bored. The man from deep down south, next door, irritated her no end... shaking his overly huge naked belly, & bragged about his young wife`s "southern fried chicken". While it was a steady thing, he repeated that over & over, for Ma`s behalf, (or so she thought)...I`d glance out the four large window panes in the kitchen,once in a while ,wondering what Ma was thinking, & then she did figure out something she would say, to shut him up. As for me, I could never, ever figure out what she`d do!! Only the one time that, when I had glanced out the window , maybe for the third time,she had enough... suddenly, the back of her dress flew up... & she MOONED him!!!!! Oh,m` God....Ma!!!!! What in the heck did she do.?! (No one did anything about it). And I was too ashamed to go out there, when THAT mood hit her, by gosh!! To say anything was best, I guessed, while the guy retreated like an enemy, from defeat,in total surprise. (And that wasn`t popular, then)!! Well, like I said- that was the old neighborhood, only with Ma`s "trimmings"......H-mm-mm-m!! Problem solved.??!!!