Montlake - 2021 and Way Beyond by William Goodrich Bellman Chapter 20 - The Murrays

Our next door neighbors to the west were the Murray family. There were four girls: Margaret, Virginia (Dee Dee), Leah (Pinky), and Eleanor. I spent a lot of time at their house, not because of the girls, but because almost every night, they made some type of candy. Their favorite was chocolate fudge which they did a superb job of. When helping the girls in making fudge I was told the secret of its success was, always stir in a clockwise fashion, otherwise it would turn sugary. Saturdays nights we usually made taffy, which took a lot of time, was tough to pull, and had a strange look if you hadn't washed your hands before. The Murrays also had a large library with lots of kids' books, most notably a complete set of the Bobsey Twins Series, stories about their adventures. The Bobsey Twins at the Seashore, the Bobsey Twins at the Mountains, etc., etc., etc. The Murray girls had no brothers and were therefore very interested in the anatomy of a boy. This was true of all the girls with the exception of Margaret, the oldest, who was 7 years older than I. Over the years, at certain times in their lives each one of them would approach me, when the others weren't around, and suggest that we go somewhere and check each other out. I was as curious as they, so they had no trouble in getting me to cooperate.

My brother and Walt Wei had built a little one room cabin on the lot next to our house, so it was a convenient place to go to and explore each other. I was too young to get aroused, and only wanted to look.

One day when playing board games in Phillips house with his sister Jean (who was two years older), and Leah Murray, Jean brought up the subject of babies, and where they come from. Being two years younger, neither Leah, Philip nor I had the answer. Jean said she would show us if we would follow her to her upstairs bedroom. She cautioned us to go there quietly as her Aunt (partially deaf) was in her room, just down the hall. We got to Jean's room, whereupon Jean told us what to do. I was to take off my pants and underpants, while she slipped off her bloomers, pulled up her skirt, and lay down on the bed. I was amazed at what I saw. Previously, I had several sessions with Leah in sort of a show and tell situation, as she had no brothers and was curious about the male plumbing. But Leah's entrance was not covered with pubic hair, and that's what took me aback when I looked at Jean. Being two years older she had an ample bush. Anyway, I was instructed by Jean to get on top of her, which I did, but Jean didn't know what I was supposed to do next, and I didn't have the slightest idea either. All this time Leah and Philip were standing there watching, and Leah finally said "This is stupid, let's go out and play". So we did.

The Murray's had a summer place in Long Beach, Washington and on two occasions, took me with them, so that if they had a flat tire, I would be the one to change the wheel. I didn't know him previously, but usually there would be a guy by the name of George Hamilton on the scene. He was supposed to be an actor. For some reason when Mr. Murray came to the beach, George would disappear. Mr. Murray had offices in Seattle and Everett and would spend several days in the latter city, much to George's delight. In the mid- thirties, the Murrays moved to San Francisco, where the girls, except for Margaret, died one by one, at very young ages; in their twenties and thirties. I was going to sea at the time, lost track of the Murrays and never knew what caused their deaths.