My childhood bedroom was previously the front hall of the house. (My parents had the hill in front bulldozed and put the main floor where the basement used to be.) There was still a door connecting my parents’ bedroom with mine. I guess that was useful when I was still a toddler and they never got around to walling it off.

Needless to say, the soundproofing was not ideal. My parents stayed up late watching The Tonight Show, so I was usually asleep by the time they went to bed, but I remember one time being awake and hearing strange noises coming from their room. I called out and my father yelled, “Go to sleep.” I replied angrily that I couldn’t sleep because, “Daddy is making animal noises.”

I don’t know how old I was, maybe 7 or 8, but I definitely had the impression that I was crossing a line saying that. I just remembered this the other day and wondered what their private reaction was. Knowing them, my father was trying hard not to laugh and my mother was mortified, making it even harder for my father to keep it together. I miss those crazy kids. They would have been in their fifties. Geez, I hope it wasn’t the last time they had sex!