An apartment and a Car

When S came home I told him I had found an apartment and even though it was not the Taj Mahal, I promised I would find something better soon. So we went out and looked at our future first home and B O and his wife fell in love with S and could see he was a real gentleman. They were eager to have us and S was surprised that I really could like to move from the hotel into this not so perfect house. I had told him about my feeling divorce was around the corner if we stayed in the hotel.

Now I could cook and fatten up S. He weighed one pound less than I did. His mother told me when we met at Christmas time that she had tried so hard to get him more substantial and never succeeded. I had not had a chance to cook sinc I left home, however I had learned scads when I worked as a kitchen maid. It was hard to find neccesities in the stores because of the war, but we made do with what we were given by the Plentys. The first morning Sam was astonished when he got fried potatoes and eggs and bacon. And more so when he got home for dinner. I had to learn to deal with ratiioning but we ate well.

We did have a draw back as far as eating went. Our table was under the window in the kitchen and every time we sat down to eat, Lucie , the resident cow, would come right up to the window to see what we were eating. Then she turned around as if to leave. But not until she had relieved herself on a flat rock directly below our window.

S decided we needed a car and put an ad in the paper. A young private found out he was being shipped overseas and was selling his car. The car was a Buick with Louisianna plates. It was a good car and did us well til I left it in the street in NYC where it collected tickets and tickets. During the Battle of the Bulge S got a message from NY police that he had to appear in court for unpaid parking fines. He wished he could go.

S took me out in the country for my first driving lesson. He tried to tell me how to shift and brake and I did well. Then he said, turn right. I turned right but I did not know that I had to stop turning and we went into the ditch. S verbally abused me and I said I will never take another lesson from you. Next morning I went to the Taxi station on the corner across from the Baker Hotel. I asked the woman who owned the outfit If I could rent one of her drivers to give me a lesson. She said no, her insurance would not allow it. A man sitting in the back of the room said' I will do it for you'. He drove out in the counry and we repeated what had happened the first time I drove. All except the verbal abuse. From then on I never had a driving lesson until about 1998 when I took a lesson for seniors to reduce insurance bills. And I have never had an accident and only one speeding ticket.