I am including another one of my Dad’s stories here today. Particularly, because this one, shows how limited life and love was back when my Dad was in his early twenties (1950s).
When I read this, I knew that in this story my Dad was portraying the prejudices and small-mindedness of his own father; well, many among my grandfather’s generation probably held similar views.
My Dad’s father would not help him pay for school; this is why my Dad went to Northeastern for one year, which was all he could afford. He then joined the the Air Force and subsequently entered the Korean War as a radio operator on VIPships; he then returned to Northeastern courtesy of the veteran's adjustment act.
When I went to college, my grandfather was totally mystified why a Polish Catholic girl was going to a Jewish university and not Boston College or Holy Cross; however, I guess he got used to the idea, because he did give me a few thousand dollars every year for college. Even he mellowed with age in regard to education, nationality, and religion.
Mrs. Robak
“Didn’t you hear Mrs. Robak died?”
“Yes, I did. Too bad for her son, Charlie.”
“Well, that’s what you get when you don’t listen to your mother. I went to her funeral yesterday. Poor old lady. She went to church every morning. Sat in the front row with her rosaries and prayed and prayed. Too bad, she was well off too. Lost her old man fifteen years ago. Lost her two sons in World War II and last week, Charlie. Now, nobody’s left of the family. Charlie shoulda minded her. The boys said he killed her.”
“I don’t know…”
“Take my boy, Ralph, always minds me. He’s in Germany with the Army. I told him to be a good boy. Brought him up like any father should. I take care of him even now, wrote him last week – said watch them German women – they ain’t any good for him. Marry a Polish girl like yourself, I said. My father always used to say marry one of your own kind, a Polish girl. He said if the horse died, she could pull the plow. That’s what I told Ralph. And, that’s what Mrs. Robak told Charlie…”
“Didn’t Charlie marry a Polish girl?”
“Ya, but he was in love with some other girl in town, Irish, I think. His mother told him not to fool around with this other girl, but Charlie paid no attention. He should have listened to his mother, but not Charlie. I met Mrs. Robak one day on the street downtown. She said Charlie wanted to quit school and marry this Irish girl. Not bein’ any of my business, I said it was up to him, I guess. But she wanted him to marry the Haleski girl. That’s who she wanted Charlie to marry, the Haleski girl. Mrs. Robak always wanted the two families to get together. Well, Charlie did marry the Haleski girl, but his heart wasn’t in it. His mother said he should try harder to make the marriage a go.
“He was married a year, wasn’t he?
“But, the boys said he still saw this Irish girl on the side. His mother tried real hard to make the marriage a go, but Charlie had different ideas. I know what was the matter with him – too smart for his pants. After her two boys in Europe got killed, she was goin’ to give him everythin’. She had fine boys, ya know, two died when only babies. And when the other two got killed in Europe, she was goin’ to give Charlie everythin’. She sent him to St. Bonaventure’s College to be a priest – she always wanted one of the boys to be a priest – so, that’s really why Charlie went to college. Charlie didn’t want to be a priest . He went to college one year. He said he didn’t want to be a priest. He said he wanted to be a fiz-zi-cist, or something – too smart for his own pants, that’s what he was. He broke her heart that time when he told her he didn’t want to be a priest. He played it pretty smart, too. He had the pastor come up the house to tell her she shouldn’t want him to be a priest if he didn’t want to. Well, the boys said she was goin’ to tell Charlie he couldn’t go to school anymore. But, she was a smart woman – she told Charlie that he could go back to school so that he would be away from this Irish girl in town.”
“But, what difference did it make if he married…”
“Take my boy, Ralph. He went out with this French girl a couple of times in high school. Old man Zima came up to me in the club one night here, and said, ‘Hey, I heard your boy is goin’ with a Frenchie.’ I told him we’d see about that. Ralph wasn’t a wiseguy like Charlie. I told him, ‘You stop goin’ with that Frenchie or you find someplace else to live ‘cause I won’t feed you anymore. ‘ Well, Ralph knew who was boss of the family. He didn’t go out with this girl anymore. Graduatin’ in June, he joined the Army, a lot wiser for doin’ what I said.”
“Ralph always was a good boy.”
“Ya, not like Charlie. Mrs. Robak invited the Haleski family over a lot for durin’ the Summer Charlie came back from school. Mrs. Haleski wanted her girl to marry a boy like Charlie. Besides, a lot of other boys were after this Haleski girl. Charlie shoulda thought himself lucky – the girl came right into his house. No, not Charlie - he went to college two years and though he was smarter than everybody else. Every time the Haleski’s came over, Charlie would get sick, or have to go someplace, or find something to do to leave the house. Then he would go over maybe to see this Irish girl. But his mother got real mad one time. They had a right. His mother told him either he would be nicer to the Haleski girl or she wouldn’t give him anymore money to go to college. Well, Charlie worked at two jobs to get money to make it by himself. He couldn’t make it on account of bein’ away from home. Mrs. Robak told him to get together with this girl, then she would get him through college. I think Charlie was goin’ to play it smart, and go out with the Haleski girl until he finished school, then play around with this Irish girl again. Well, something happened. The Haleski girl was goin’ to have a baby. Charlie swears it wasn’t his. He said, he never touched her. Oh, boy! Was Mrs. Robak mad! The Haleski girl said Ralph did it. Ralph swears he didn’t do it. Mrs. Robak said he would have to marry her. Mrs. Haleski, came over and cried and cried sayin’ ‘Charlie should marry her because of what happened.' Mrs. Robak said he would. Well, Charlie finally did. His mother said she would still send him to college, but he didn’t want to go anymore.”
“They were married a year, weren’t they?”
Ya, and what a wedding!” They had plenty of beer and whiskey and eats. Mrs. Robak was so happy – I even danced with her. The Haleski girl even looked good because she wasn’t too far gone yet. Charlie just moped around all day – I bet he would have gone to see that Irish girl if he had a chance to get away. He was a sight at his own wedding, pretty well tight by night time.
Mrs. Robak had them live with her because she had a big house and was all alone. Charlie wanted to live someplace else, but his wife said why should they; they didn’t have to pay any rent there. I don’t think Charlie liked married life anyway. He used to come to the club and drink – a lot more than I could. After a while, he’d lean on the bar and get a cryin’ joy. It was nice of a couple of boys always to take him home. He wasn’t so smart when he had to be helped by the boys.”
“He had a baby boy…”
“Ya. His name was goin’ to be Charles, Jr. Charlie would come in here and yell, ‘He’ll get the things I didn’t! He’ll live his own life!’ Nobody paid attention to him because he used to be so drunk when he said it. Well, his name wasn’t Charles, Jr. His mother said they would name him after his old man. They named him Michael.”
“Too bad for Charlie.”
“Well, that’s what he got for not mindin’ his mother. If he settled down with the girl, and kept away from the booze, he probably would have been okay. One night, he came in here and kept pretty quiet. Funny thing, he was smilin’ that night. Walked out of her pretty sober, too. I figured maybe he’ s settlin’ down.
In fact, when I got up the next mornin’ I said to my wife, ‘I think Charlie’s layin’ off the booze.’ ‘He sure is, she said, frying some bacon and eggs. He got killed last night in his car with his wife and his kid. They’re dead, too!’
“Too bad for…”
“Well, I saw the wreck – straight into a tree. They got killed right away – Charlie got his throat cut and his wife had her face smashed. The kid didn’t have a chance. The state troopers weren’t sure about the wreck. One said that it looked like it was done on purpose. It could have been because Charlie was smarter than that. I was thinkin’ about this at the funeral yesterday – how quick everybody in the family went. They buried Charlie and his family, then Mrs. Robak just got sick and died a week later. Probably never would have happened if Charlie had only minded his mother.”
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Wow, my Dad very insightful even at the tender age of 20-something, wasn’t he?
Cycling Note: I biked 25 miles today. As I went through Pepperell, I looked over my left shoulder when passing a couple who were walking, and I noticed I had a male cyclist right on my tail. I turned around to look forward and thought, “Oh, he is SO not biking with me.” I increased my speed, looked down, saw I was doing 20.5 m.p.h., and then he then passed me on the left. I thought, “Hell, no man is going to dust ME!”
So, I drafted him, and I think he was very surprised I stayed with him. And, in less than a half a mile, I noticed he began to fade. So, I passed him on the left, and I cranked ahead of him. He kept up with me, but unfortunately, I was the one cranking during the only incline in the whole rail trail. And within 5 minutes, he moved beyond me and fell in line in front of me. It was now understood, even without words, that we were a team.
When I was drafting him, he smelled really good, unlike the tennis lady at Shaw’s yesterday. Well, she never smelled badly, but this guy reminded me of running behind Ron and Tom at work on a few occasions – "Ah, nice fabric softener! Is that Bounce tropical breeze?" At one intersection, he mouthed to me, “Are you going all the way?” to which I shook my head in the affirmative. We reached the end, stopped, and I said to him, "Jeez, I haven't had that much fun on the rail trail in ages!" Funny, but he agreed. Okay, so I take it back; it was nice to have someone to play with on the rail trail, even if it was a boy!
Lastly, why can’t someone genetically engineer a bug that tastes like a root beer barrel or a cinnamon fireball, huh?!?!?!?
Sailing Note: By the way, this is SO not Brenda and Steve’s boat.
So, I have no idea if their boat is smaller or larger, lighter or darker, or a little bit country or a little bit rock and roll. Okay, the latter is ridiculous, because their sailboat is so totally smokin’ hot jazz. Yes, talk to the jazz hand, Marie and Donny! :-)
To tell you the truth, I can’t even remember what their boat looked like, because I was so totally worried about my dingy-to-sailboat and then sailboat-to-dingy transfer. I envisioned doing one of those splits with one leg on the dingy and the other on the sailboat while all my important possessions -- my PINK Hello Kitty hat, my PINK blackberry, and 10 of my favorite-colored gel pens (screw the $700 digital camera, my car keys, and the recently renewed temporary paper license!) -- tumbled into the harbor; thus, the only thing I really know about their sailboat is that it was smokin’, and I loved being on it. <3
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