I was born in Southern California. When I was 22 months old I fell off a 2nd story apartment balcony. Landed on my head and fractured my skull. Apparently I was in the hospital for a day or two and everything supposed healed okay. Skull swelled up but went down over time. Mom and Dad were divorced when I was about two years old. As I previously wrote, my Dad was an alcoholic at this time in his life. He was also having an affair with another woman prior to the divorce. She would end up marrying him later.
Sometime in the next few years, my mom took us boys and moved up to San Francisco. Our maternal grandmother lived there and had a gourmet retail store business. I can recall living at two different houses in San Francisco while my mom tried to get her feet on the ground. Don't believe she ever really did.
As a kid there, we were left alone quite a bit. I can recall being downtown, while she was working, and having a firecracker blow up in my hand. Seems strange today, but as a kid, it didn't seem unusual to be doing things without parental supervisor. I can also recall regularly go down to a supermarket and stealing candy with my younger brother. One time he got caught. I lied to my mom about my involvement and he never said I participated. Another time two of brothers and me went down to a Goodwill dropoff spot and stole some paintings. Took them down to our corner and had a sale. Just like your regular old lemonade stand in the neighborhood.
Before we left SF for Chico (a smaller town in Northern California), we ended living in an apartment with a friend of my mom. At this time, my oldest brother decided to move in with our Grandmother. We ended up living in the Haight Ashbury district for a short time and then headed off north to Chico.
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