Flashback Friday - Babysittin' Blues!

Another blogger, Scary Mommy, has inspired me today... As you all always do!

Babysitting... Ok - I was babysitting in the late 70s and early to mid 80s. My formative years... My very first babysitting job would have been the summer that "When a Stranger Calls" movie had just come out. 79' or so. I was 13.

I had hung up an ad in our local laundromat for house cleaning or babysitting jobs, the equivalent of Craigslist at the time... And got my first call! It was a woman who had 2 little kids. The little girls name was Angel, that's all I remember of the names. I cleaned house for her the first couple times, then she decided I'd do for babysitting too.

The first few times I babysat for them were kind of fun! We played in the little wading pool on their yard and they were the sweetest kids. After I put them to bed, I'd stay up and watch SNL. Ahhh, the good years of Saturday Night Live!! And I remember they had a record player with some funky classic rock on it. So I'd play them late into the night until they got home.

Usually the mother was kind of tipsy when they got back and I remember clinging to the door handle as she swerved around corners driving me home... Oh my! Looking back now, I should have told my parents about this, but then... they wouldn't let me for babysit them again.

The last time I babysat for them, I remember it was late on a Saturday night. I was sitting on the couch watching SNL and the phone rang. I went to the kitchen to answer it and someone was breathing very hard into it. I thought it must be the mother. Maybe she had rushed to the phone and couldn't catch her breath. Come on! I was a naive 13 year old! But when she didn't say anything outside of the heavy breathing, I hung up, a little unnerved and went back to the couch.

The phone rang again a few minutes later and I answered it. Someone whispered, "Have you checked the children?" I hung up. The next time it rang, I let it and slid down on the floor with my hands over my ears, slowly going mad as it rang and rang. The mother had said there was something funky with the kitchen door and it wouldn't lock, so I was even more freaked out. I tried to wedge a chair under the knob and realized that it looked much easier when people did this in movies and I couldn't figure out how.

Oh - and NO WAY was I going to check the kids!! What?? And find their faces a pool of icky goo? No way Hosay! So if I wasn't huddled on the floor in the kitchen, I was curled up on the corner of the couch, pretending this wasn't happening. I didn't go anywhere near those kids room. I know... I'm a terrible babysitter...

So the parents, FINALLY, came back and confirmed that they hadn't called me all evening. Oh boy... AND the mother asked me if I'd had some friends over that evening. No, why? When they pulled up to the house, she saw someone in the alley peaking in the windows...

I never babysat for them again.