There were three men, the “square”, the biker, and the blue-collar worker. I only remember seeing the square once. He came to our house to take mother on a date. She really dressed up that night so I knew she was going somewhere special. He wasn’t bothered with her having a lot of children. In fact, before he took her out, he gave each of us a dollar to buy candy. Then there was the biker, Sunny. Very easy going, but not much to offer other than an occasional ride on his motorcycle. Even still, he made mother smile. Finally, there was the blue-collar worker, Lynell. He was thirteen years older than mother, stable, and very family-oriented. He was introduced by mother’s step-father. For the first time, mother put her children first, she chose Lynell.
Lynell was a construction foreman who grew up in the countryside of Oklahoma. He made his way to California for work, like many blacks in those days. It was love at first sight when he saw mother. He didn’t see her as the other men did. He saw someone broken and he wanted to fix her. Mother went along with it. She didn’t love him, and she wasn’t used to making many sacrifices for her children. But she did it, as long as she could.
He packed our things and moved us to a middle-class neighborhood. For the first time, we lived in a house with a large backyard. The neighborhood was safe; there were no gunshots and gangs. No raping, molesting, or beatings. Just hardworking families taking their children to ball games and an occasional vacation. He made our house a home.
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