Page 58 - DAPHNE HART - MY MAMA STORY (AUDIO VERSION)

We struggled for what seemed like years. The difference was that I
would clean a house or office anywhere to get a day’s pay. If I was

smart, I could have started a cleaning business. But not my husband; he

was waiting on that big break—the perfect job—or until he made it big
in the recording industry, which never happened. We couldn’t do it

anymore, so we lost the house. I mean, we just walked away. So,
needless to say, it was downhill from there on.

REFLECTIONS

I REMEMBER THE SEVENTIES—the very first factory job I got. It
paid a whopping $99 per week after tax. I always wished they would

just give me an even $100. But it never happened. The company was
called Gendron. They made baby carriages. I worked there for over

three years and never got a raise. I left that job because General Electric
was hiring; their starting pay was $4 an hour. In those days, that was

good pay. That’s how we were able to purchase the house. The value

of the townhouse was, I believe, $84,000. Ah, well—so much for the
good old days.

So, we lost the house and moved back into an apartment. Things went
from bad to worse. I came home one evening and found my husband’s

midsection burned and blistered from hot water—that was poured on

him by my daughter. There were two versions of the explanation. After
I took him to the hospital, I had to give him an ultimatum.

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