Family Life 1967 — Part I: Landing Hard

By Cliff Potts
Bay Bay City, Leyte, Philippines — October 15, 2026

This is a serialized installment from the autobiography of Cliff Potts.

Impact

We didn’t ease into Chicago. We hit it.

After years at altitude in Cerro de Pasco, Chicago felt compressed and loud — traffic, brick, voices, movement. The air was thick compared to the Andes. Everything felt closer.

We stayed first with Aunt Helen and Uncle Gar.

They were homeowners. In Chicago, that carried weight. Gar worked as an X-ray technician. Helen managed the house. They were not openly hostile, but there was an unspoken hierarchy in the room.

We were renters. Transplants. Not from the block.

We were aware of it.

The Cousins

Kent, the oldest, was steady and mostly fair. Cade split his attention between cars and girls. Kellen carried himself with sharp confidence and assumed center position in most situations.

From the beginning, we were the outsiders.

Sleeping arrangements were improvised. Kids rotated through available space. One morning I woke up turned entirely around in bed, my head at Kent’s feet, with no memory of how I had shifted position overnight.

Another afternoon, while I was asleep, I was pressured into selling my Peruvian coin collection to a neighborhood kid. By the time I fully understood what had happened, it was done.

My Classic Comics subscription met a similar fate. I found one issue in the cousins’ toy box. Instead of retrieving it myself, I went to Helen. She picked it up, handed it to me, and asked:

“Why didn’t you just take it?”

I did not have an answer.