That is certainly not something I expected when I wondered what the future would bring on the boat coming to New York. And it’s not what I imagined when Carole asked me if I wanted to move to Texas.
I am filled with sadness to think I must send my child away so she can live the life every father dreams of for his child. I feel so defeated. A Father should be able to give his family all the things they need. Not to be wealthy but to be a family together.
Suddenly Marnie wants to know all about my time in New York. That was such an exciting time. It seems so fast, so busy. It seemed to go one forever, the way time used to be when I was young. I pressed so many years into a short time. I came in ’38 and lived [...]
Family is so important. It’s where you come from. It’s who will care about you, no matter what. We all need that. We are lucky when we have that and now, my own daughter to be torn away from me by these terrible times. Why should she suffer and be called names and have stones thrown at her. But why should she have to leave to have a decent life.
I wasn’t at all sure of getting the rules right and (I) relegated myself to a subordinate tier in some popularity system that I sensed and continued to apply to all situations in my life. As uncomfortable as I might have been at school, I treasured my time away from home.
Rudy Bernstein called on me at my family’s house. I had heard of him. He was a cousin—distant, you know. But one of my other cousins knew him because her brother went to school with him. She told me he was very handsome and very smart. He had studied Greek and Latin in school. She [...]
That’s what I learned: you always have to be ready and act fast. I guess I did that with everything that ever happened to me after that time. That’s how I married your father too.
We never looked directly at the people who sat down next to us. I thought all these girls must have that same core of loneliness I did, buried under the layers of wool and nylon. I could see it in the smudges of black liner gathered in on that little bulge beneath the outer corner of each eye on the ride home.
Carole was amazing. She was beautiful—curly jet black hair, a luscious little body and a fiery temper and wit. She was smart but she wasn’t all dried up like those college girls my buddies married. She was full of life and love—really sexy, not just dolled-up. She would talk to me about what was happening in her life. She needed someone to talk to and someone to appreciate her.
I am glad they are girls—they will help their mother. And I would hate to send a boy to war. Already Germans are talking about troops and guns so much–they hate Versailles. Things are a little better in the store. I am hopeful again.