Hardwood Floors: I Just Want to Be Me

By Olivia Guy

The book is about a family of a grandma, a young mama with three girls, and a young brother living in the house with hardwood floors. It was a wooded country house. One little girl remembered the floors were clean and the beds were high with very white sheets where she and her little uncle would play with lightning bugs at night when the house was dark. There were no men in the house. She and her mother would go down to their cousins house and dance; thats why she thought she and her mom would be super team dancers. She didnt know anything about the big world out there and what it takes to be a successful dancer. She kept searching for that loving family or the same treatment and has been afraid to have her own place so she can get that kind of treatment.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Jun 15, 2017
• ISBN: 9781543428698

Olivia Guy

Most of my life I felt alone not good enough donot care how many people I was around how good I did my jobs how good I was in school and church in marriage in parenting I left my family in Florida went to Buffalo N.Y. feeling lonely and lost had my 3rd son up there got Post Potum the doctor put me on valum I got addicted to them I left the marriage took me and my 3 sons to my family in Florida when the baby son was 2 years middle was 3 the oldest was 4.

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Copyright © 2017 by Olivia Guy.

ISBN:                   Softcover             978-1-5434-2870-4

                            eBook                 978-1-5434-2869-8

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Rev. date: 08/03/2017

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There was a beautiful little girl, and her name was Mae. She lived with her mother, Jewel; grandmother, Mary; two younger sisters, Sarah and Julie; and one uncle named Joe, who was one year and nine months older than her. There were no men in the house. The house was big with hardwood floors. Her grandfather, named Jeff, who was Jewel’s father, had died before she was born. They told her that he was a good man and had a close relationship with Jewel, but he and Mary had separated.

When Jewel was about seven, he moved to Miami, Florida, and was electrocuted on a telegram pole while working down there. Jeff and Mary had two children together, but by the time Mae was old enough to remember, her mother’s oldest brother had moved out of the house. His name was John.

Her father was nowhere around. Her mother was only thirteen when she was born. Her father, whose name was Neil, had light complexion. So was Mae. Neil was three or four years older than Jewel. Jewel said that Mary used to leave her home to babysit Joe. She was afraid of being alone, so Neil would come over. When Mary found out that Jewel was pregnant, she threatened to kill Jewel, Joe, and herself. Two years later, Sarah was born. Jewel was fifteen when she gave birth to twins—the boy died. About a year and a half later, Julie was born. Jewel was one month short from her seventeenth birthday.

Jewel liked to dance when she was small. She would enter dance contests and win. So when Mae was about three years old, she would follow Jewel around to their relatives’ and friends’ houses and dance. Mae decided that she wanted to dance professionally back then. She liked it so much. When Mae was four years old, she remembered seeing Neil for the first time. He hadn’t done anything for her, but she was happy because she lived in a peaceful, loving home.

Jewel’s older brother, John, was singing in a gospel group. One Sunday, he brought a young man to his mother’s house to meet his family. His name was Carl, and he was from Georgia. He sings in a gospel group too. He seemed real nice. Mary liked him and so did Jewel. He came back to visit again and again. They liked him more and more. He was nice to Mae, Sarah, and Julie. Julie wasn’t walking, so he would carry her around.

Jewel fell for him. In May 1951, right after Mae’s fifth birthday, Jewel and Carl was married at a Justice of Peace. They walked down the street to a club, and someone asked to dance with Jewel. Carl said it was okay. When the dance was over, he slapped Jewel so hard she saw stars. She told him, Let’s go back to the courthouse and undo this right now. I guess that she was just teasing, but little did she know that was just the beginning.

They moved to Georgia around his people right away where he started showing his true self. He was jealous, fought with her, and controlling. Jewel had to go to work in the field. Mae had to keep Sarah and Julie. There were times when she would have to walk about one and a half mile to the boss’s house to get milk. She had to carry Julie on one side, a gallon of milk on the other side, and try to watch Sarah. She told Jewel, Let’s go back home. She didn’t like it there.

About one and a half years later, Mary had a baby girl. While she was in the hospital, they found out she had TB. She had to stay in there for a while. When she got out, she needed to stay with someone. So she and the baby went to Georgia to live with Carl and Jewel.

Mary also had gallbladder surgery. Her stomach was swollen. There was only one bed in the house and some mattress on the floor. Jewel asked Carl to let Mary sleep in the bed, but he was so mean and angry that he wouldn’t,