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porches, just as below, which were accessed via French doors. Directly
above the formal dining room was Edda’s bedroom, while mine was directly
above the kitchen. The space between contained a full bath, a long hallway
and the stairways that went downstairs and upstairs. All the rooms were
large by our standards now, and the floors were covered in ceramic tile.

There was a regular stairway that went on up from the second floor hallway
as if it was providing access to a third floor; however, there was no third
floor. Instead, a door opened up to the huge flat roof. The roof was concrete
covered in a tar sealer and could be used as an outdoor observation
platform from which you could enjoy unbelievable views. To the north was
the valley, the river and the central mountain range towering in the distance.
To the east, you could see our school and the town’s high school. To the
west, you could see across to the next hill where “Costello Hall,” the campus
guesthouse, was located. Also visible were another couple of faculty
houses. You could also get a glimpse of the bright blue aqueduct on the hill
where the college president lived.

To the rear of the house was a jungle of trees and vines that covered the
draw separating our house from “Loma Vista”, formerly the president’s
mansion and now a faculty apartment house, the campus swimming pool
and tennis courts. The latter two could not be seen because of the dense
jungle but you could hear people laughing and splashing in the pool and you
could hear the “pock, pock, pock” of the tennis games. Our cook would stand
at the ground level corner of the house that faced to the back and to the west
and would yell at us to come home for dinner. If we were in any of these
areas, we could hear her and would hurry home.

To keep the frequent tropical downpours from cascading water off the flat
roof and down the vertical sides of the house, three-foot high walls
completely enclosed the roof area. They were a welcome safeguard against
walking off the side of the roof; however, they also served to contain the rain.
The tall pine trees immediately adjacent to our house dropped pine needles
and pine cones onto the roof; and as the rain came down, it would sweep all
of them together and clog up the one drain on the northwest corner of the
roof. A small swimming pool would form on our roof and, if we were not
vigilant, the water would back up enough that it would begin cascading
down our interior stairway! This feature of the roof gave us a great idea for
some fun! We would wait patiently until the rain had backed up sufficient
water. Then, we would unclog the drain and race down three flights of steps
to the basement level.

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