Fly in the ointment

Life in Princeton was safe and enjoyable. The work was hard and constant. There were so many potatoes to peel and so much parsley to chop and when the rush was over so many floors to wash. Ulla became nervous and who better to get mad at than me. She always apologized when things settled down.

One day when Angelo came to pick up the chopped food for the parrots I asked him when next he would go into town. Could I ride along for I needed a few things. He said he would take me wherever I needed to go. I want to get two orange boxes and I need to go to a fabric store. He said 'you really should ask Tom to take you'. I said he scared me and I would rather go with him. Angelo said 'I think we better synchronizee it with Urban and Ulla.

So we had a little meeting, the four of us. Of course the question was: Why was I scared of Tom. I huffed and I puffed and before long I had to tell them that Tom had showed me a horrible comic book. Nowadays we would call it PORN. I had never seen anything like it and I didn't like his leer and his getting closer. All I wanted was get away but he had me cornered.

They let me go with Angelo and next day I had new and beautiful curtains and a dressing table made of oraange crates. As far as I know Tom was never spoken to, and he forever terrified me.

One Sunday when the family was away, Ulla asked me if I wanted to go to church on Sunday. I said yes and since we came from many different countries we wanted to go to different churches. Elsa was an Episcopelian, Inga and I were Lutherans. Ulla and Urban would remain in the house. That meant Tom would drive us. But I didn' have to be alone with him for Inga and I were going to the same church.

It was a lovely service with coffee hour following. As the woman served us coffee she asked me if I was new and Inga answered 'That yes, I was new, and I had just come from Sweden on the ship with Greta Garbo. She took a long and looked very proud of herself. I had never heard her speak with sentences longer than three words. Mrs B, according to her name tag, said, 'please remain a few minutes after I finish here. I would like to talk to you.

That little chat changed my life.