Small world!

So it turns out that my boss's sister worked at the day care I used to go to, across the street from Caltech. The day care is called CEC (Child Educational Center) and defined the better part of my childhood. While my dad worked at Caltech I would run around and do arts and crafts and play at the park a block away with CEC; on the best days during the summer we even got to walk two blocks (a substantial journey to a kid) to the Caltech pool where we'd swim and run along the edge of the pool despite numerous warnings from the lifeguard. Once, I recall, I forgot my swimsuit, and my friend Thea offered me her clothes, saying she didn't mind if I got them wet; well, it was a tie-dyed shirt, and in the pool the dye started to come out, and the lifeguard marched over to stand above me on the edge of the pool with a formidable air, asking me to please get out.

But glorious sunny days at the pool aside, WHAT A COINCIDENCE! I was standing at the register, about an hour and a half into my shift, when my boss's sister came in with her friend; she gave my boss a bubbly greeting and then turned to introduce herself to me. With a pause, she asked, "What's your name?" I told her, and when she repeated it slowly, I added "Same as the street - Holly." "And how old are you now?" she asked. "I'm 17," I answered, wondering why that mattered (that pesky nervous voice in the back of my mind wondered for a split second if she was going to call me on the fact that I haven't got a work permit). "Wow," she said, "I knew you looked familiar. I worked at CEC when you were there, Holly."

Wow, indeed! I racked my brain for memories, and only remembered Diana, the other woman who worked there - and the only thing I remember about her is a rather awful story she once told us kids, of a time when she was wearing gold hoop earrings and some rotten passerby literally ripped one out of her ear. To this day I still have a terrible fear of wearing hoops because of that story.... But for all that I try, I cannot conjure up Elmida -that's her name- in my memory! But she remembered me, she remembered my parents, and -this one's the clincher- she remembered the time that Thea Wade broke out.

That was actually a pretty funny story. Thea's mother was a professor at Caltech, just across the street, and one summer when Thea was bored of the activites that CEC had to offer she decided to run away across the street to find her mother. (I should point out that the street between Caltech and CEC, Del Mar, is pretty busy). Thea developed a very elaborate plan, which began with her breaking out of one of the back windows... which she did. She used a pair of those blunt, plastic-handled scissors you'll find in any preschool, and quite literally cut open the screen, and climbed out. I had promised to go with her but chickened out at the last moment; so I remained behind, the sole witness to Thea's escapade. As it turned out, she just went next door and played with the neighbor's dogs for an hour or two, and I think she eventually came back of her own accord. But it prompted a sit-down talk about respecting school property (ie, window screens), and personal safety (ie crossing a busy street) for all of us, and Thea was closely watched thereafter. Not so exciting an ending as such antics deserve, I know... I always sort of wished she'd been able to successfully reach Caltech and her mother just for hilarity's sake.

But yeah! Small world, that I'd be working for Elmida's family ten years later! It was also sort of wonderful to be able to say, "Hey, do you remember the time that Thea Wade broke out of the window?"

posted by Holly @ 6:33 PM