the royal stone street 42

The Royal Stonestreet 42

In the house in Stavanger, Norway, where I grew up four families were living in poverty after the war in 1945, well, poverty was relative as we were able to survive without social interference

In the basement, an elderly man had two bedrooms and a kitchen he had to share every Saturday when the women were washing clothes and ironing

The elderly man was mysterious he had female visits every so often, who drank and fought when the police were called the women had to leave, but the old man was not arrested, it turned out he had been a hero no one knew why, since he was mother’s uncle she didn’t know either

On the first floor lived two families, one had only one room and shared a kitchen with a family that had two rooms, but no one had a bathroom there was a toilet on their landing that was for the whole house, and filthy dirty on the second floor a woman called Sunway lived with her two sons she shared a kitchen with us who had two rooms when Sunway had male visitors, her sons had to sit in the hallway, not that her guests stayed long, but the hallway was a bit cold on winter days, but they were always well-dressed and polite

 The father of the youngest son was a German soldier, he believed his mother drank coffee and talked to her friend the door was looked at as they didn’t like to be disturbed by children running around, and the oldest son wore a smirk like he knew what was going on

When a rumor circulated that Sunway was a prostitute, my mother who at the time worked at a fish factory, defended her, the woman had

no income and had to look after her sons Sunway eventually got a bigger flat with two bedrooms for her two boys, the youngest one went to university and did well, and the oldest one didn't work lived with his mother, but was arrested for raping his mother and beating her was sent to prison.

I wonder why it is when time was hard some survived intact while others became a burden to themselves and drowned in shame.