Once upon a time in a land far, far away from here lived a little girl named Susie. She looked similar to all the other little girls in the neighborhood. But she was different in many ways. She had a different perspective on life than the other girls her age in her neighborhood. She had several girlfriends on her street. But her true friends were all the cats and dogs, squirrels, and birds with whom she spent many hours sitting out in the backyard, observing what the animals did. And sometimes she pretended to be a bird and attempted to fly, but unfortunately, she could only fly in her imagination.

Her parents would often ask Susie what she had been doing all day, and she would tell them she had talked to all her animal friends and told them stories. Her parents would look at each other, and her mother would say,” Don’t worry, she just has an active imagination. She will outgrow all these crazy ideas that she can talk to the animals. Susie especially liked talking to her neighbor, Mrs. Collins, who had over twenty cats as pets, and they would climb out the cellar window into a fenced-in area that went the length of Mrs. Collins’s large backyard. Susie would often spend all day talking to the cats and Rudy, Mrs. Collins’ dog.

Mrs. Rice, who lived in the house next to Susie’s home, often asked Susie, “Who are you talking to, Susan? And Susie would say, “To the cats, of course.” Mrs. Rice would shake her head and say,” What a strange child.”

Susan didn’t care what Mrs. Rice said about her or what anyone said about her. She loved animals and she always would. She didn’t care what anyone said about her. Even her sisters thought she was weird. But, Susan didn’t care what they or anyone else thought about her.

Susan liked to tell people stories, sometimes she made up the stories, and sometimes they were things that happened to her. Susie was truly a unique little girl. She had a wonderful imagination. And she often told her family far-fetched stories. Sometimes the stories were true, and sometimes the stories were a product of her imagination. But it seemed real to her.

In addition to Susan’s imagination, she had a sense of humor and was always telling jokes or making up wild stories of things she had done or wanted to do in the future. Susan loved to hear stories, and once she learned to read, she would visit the town library and borrow as many books as the librarians would allow her. Sometimes, when she was in her classroom she would start daydreaming and not pay attention to the teachers (who were nuns.)

And they would call out her name, and if she didn’t respond, the nun would come down the aisle and tell Susan to put out her hands, and the nun would hit Susan’s small hand with the sharp metal edge of the ruler. Susan would never allow herself to cry in front of the class or the nun.

Susan was a highly imaginative child; she tended to make up wild stories about all of the adventures she had when she wasn’t in school. Everyone would laugh, but the fact was that many times her stories were true. But her friends would listen to her stories, transfixed, but unsure whether they should believe a word she said. But, still, they were attracted to her because of her wild imagination. And they never got bored because Susan would suggest going on a bike ride where they had never been, or going to the clay pits on the outskirts of town, and they would dig in the clay and find really weird and interesting objects in the muddy clay.

As Susan grew older, she began to ride her bike farther and farther away from her home. Even crossing a highway. One hot summer day, Susan decided she wanted to go swimming, and she remembered that there was a hotel right off of Route 73, only about a mile away from her house. She talked her best friend into going with her, and they both rode their bikes down to the hotel. Susan had told her friend to wear her bathing suit under her shirt and shorts.

And after a twenty-minute bike ride and crossing Route 73 to the hotel, they arrived, and Susie and Joanie opened the gate to the built-in pool and spent the afternoon swimming in the deep end of the pool on floats. Neither of them was an excellent swimmer, and at one point, the lifeguard told them they had to get out of the deep end because they were in danger of drowning. So, they did. And they still had fun, until they realized that both of them were sunburned from their heads to their toes. And they knew that the rest of the week, they were going to experience some sunburn pain, not a good thing.

Neither one of them went outside for the rest of the week unless it was dark out, since they were sunburned from head to toe. Their parents didn’t even ask them where they had been. As long as they got home on time for lunch or dinner, their parents never asked them where they had been or where they went. They just said, “Don’t be late for dinner or lunch.”

Susan’s parents never questioned her whereabouts. If she got home in one piece, that was good enough for them. Susan had a childhood filled with friends and adventures. No one ever questioned where she had been or what she had been doing. She must be home for lunch or dinner on time. And she always was on time.

Susan was quiet at home and rarely got in trouble, although she and her sister didn’t get along too well and avoided one another. Her older siblings pretty much ignored her as well. And told her to stay out of their rooms.

Susan’s childhood was generally fun, as she had many friends in school and the neighborhood. She tried not to get in trouble at school. However, she didn’t put much effort into her homework or classwork. Nonetheless, she moved from one grade to the next with little difficulty. Over time, her teachers recognized that she was a gifted child who excelled at telling stories, drawing, and coloring better than her peers. They knew she was capable of doing better in her classwork, but didn’t try very hard.

As Susan grew up, she realized that she truly loved reading books. And she loved to tell stories.

And as time moved forward, Susan did as well, by the time she was in high school. She put more effort into her school work, but no more than she wanted to. Susan graduated from high school with no clear idea of what she wanted to do. She was offered a job as a dental assistant by Dr. Edward G. Wozniak, whose wife had attended St. Mary’s of the Angels Academy, where Susan had also attended high school.

And sure enough, Susan was hired and spent the next five years of her life working as a dental assistant. She was quite good at it. And she made enough money to put the down payment on a 1970 Volkswagen, which she drove for many years. And that yellow Bug was one of the first loves of her life.

At some point, Susan decided that although she liked working at the dentist, she didn’t have any time left to have fun, go out with boys, go to the beach, and so on. She applied for another position selling high-risk auto insurance at the Ellis Brothers in Haddon Township, NJ. And a new chapter of her life began.

Stay tuned for part two. I will post the next chapter of Susan’s life next Wednesday.