Who Lived There Before I Did? More Fairlington Memories

My last post about Fairlington prompted another memory about my year there.

I asked the property manager we paid rent to about the people who had lived in our apartment before we did, and I had a reason for my question.

"It was an elderly couple," the manager said. "They lived there from the time the apartments were built." So, my guess is that the husband was a defense worker; maybe his wife was too as many women worked in the war effort during WWII.

"She died before him, I believe," the man went on, "and I don't think they had any children. I remember him sitting in a rocker in front of the living room windows, looking out at the street. That's about all I can remember, except that they were nice people."

And that was why I had asked. Sometimes, out of the corner of my eye, I would see, or thought I saw, an elderly man in a rocker, or standing by the window. There would be nothing there, of course, when I turned to look. I sometimes felt like there was someone watching me, but not in an unfriendly way. It was comforting in a way, to know I wasn't all alone. Weird, I know, but being alone most of the day when I was used to a houseful of people and children (remember, I came from a family of 13) was nice, true, but also odd. And so quiet when my little baby wasn't awake.

Another funny memory: when we moved in, the neighbors were puzzled. We looked so young! They finally decided we were older brother and his little sister. No one asked, and no one realized I was pregnant until I had my baby! He came 6 weeks early, so I didn't show much. When we came home with him, they were so surprised, and told me they thought I was about 14 years old. Ah me. I did look very young for my age.

I remember the young couple downstairs, too. Rich and ? Apple. They had a baby a bit after we did, and they named her Cristy Cubica. Because, they said, they wanted her name to be different. It certainly was.

And one other memory from there: we were awakened one night by a woman screaming. We weren't sure where the screams were coming from, but remembered the rapes that had happened a few months before. As we started to call the police, a squad car pulled up. Neighbors streamed out of buildings to see what was going on. What was it? Well, a couple in one of the townhouse units had gotten into a little, um, playful love-making, shall we say.

I had a difficult time looking them in the eye for weeks.

Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.