The Kalishes

Back in early 1980, before I was a freshman, I babysat for a family called the Kalishes. They were an upwardly mobile, yuppie like family that lived in a high priced housing development called Dunsten Circle just South of 501 off Pfingsten Rd.

Mr. Kalish would pick me up in his always new red Corvette at about 7PM from 501 Pfingsten Rd. and take me to their house a half mile away in Dunsten Circle. They had 2 kids, two girls, Summer that was two years older and the other girl Dani. The kids were in bed when I got there, so all I had to do was watch the house and watch movies, listen to albums and peruse the snacks. They always left me a credit card to order pizza if I was interested. I hardly ever had any interactions with the girls, maybe responding to a cry in the night for a drink of water.

It was there that I discovered the movie All That Jazz and the Kenny Rogers album The Gambler. All That Jazz, with the music and choreography and Fosse’s story fascinated me. I watched All That Jazz over and over, memorizing it completely. The story of Bob Fosse’s meteoric rise and cataclysmic decent into self-destruction fascinated me and fed my self-destructive tendencies. Kenny Roger’s story telling  spoke volumes to me.

Fran and David would come home about 10PM or so to check in on me and to do multiple lines of coke on the kitchen counter. They always offered me a line or two, and I always took it. They would leave again and not come home until 1 or 2 am at earliest. When they did come home, they were always wrecked. David would drive me home to 501, and I remember a lot of smoking tires for the half mile ride home. Common sense told me to walk, but I didn’t want to be walking down Pfingsten road at 2 or 3am alone so I always took the ride. He always paid me with a wad of bills when he dropped me off, sometimes with a small packet inside.

As can be expected, Summer didn’t fare well. By the time she hit high school at Glenbrook North she was acting out and behaving in ways that were frightening. By the time she was about 20, she was dead of a drug overdose. I don’t know what happened to Dani.

Fran and David divorced in the mid-eighties, and she stayed in the house for a few years after that. He passed away at 53 of cancer. To this day All That Jazz is one of my top 5 movies and I still have the copy of The Gambler that David gave me.

To call them tragic would be an understatement. All of their lives were devastated and ended badly. You have to know when to hold ‘em and know when to fold ‘em said the Gambler. Wise words to live by.

My parents finally put their collective feet down and told me to stop babysitting for them citing the late hours I was coming home. I couldn’t argue. Besides, the damage had already been done.