ENPages
1
Fri Aug 3, 1956
Dear Mother,
This comes delayed, but it will probably be the biggest respite for a while, since [canneries?] & finishing school are going to push things pretty close together for a while. I'm supposed to start work on Wed.
Pat & Gene have been up here for two days. I steered them up to Rudy's for lunch this afternoon. They weren't able to get in touch with me yesterday. Chick & I were supposed to be working on my case study but she's breafing in that upper plate & I am having periodic attacks of spring fever so it was mostly a bull session, reading & hi-fi. Mike left her without a car so we went to the groceria on my trusty ring ding. I finally got it back together again & it goes much better now. I knew you'd be interested. Also racing season at Belmont is over & nothing remains but the big national at Bay Meadows, at the end of the month. They're really shooting for that. Biscuits took second in the main event the night & was down south. He was in the other day & asked how you're doing. How are you doing? You looked & sounded a bit better last weekend.
Driving for Castelleja is really fun. Since it only takes me 5 min. to get there, it's ideal. I like it better than hill-collecting. It may be early but it's regular. The head of the school is seldom around early when I'm there, & then only briefly, but she tells Paula all the time what a nice kid I am when Paula is there in the afternoon to take the little ones home.
Liz & a couple of her friends are going down to Big Sur for the weekend. She plans to drop in on Denny at Slates. He's always inviting her down to ' try the water on her bad leg. She mentioned it Mon. when we were riding & asked me if I'd met him. I told her all about Slates & now she wishes she'd taken up his offer months ago.
You will no doubt be surprised to learn that Duane got married a week or so ago Not to Joan- they're more like mother & son. The girl is one
2
of the nicest of his dates that he has introduced me to. Most of them were hard-looking, hard sounding blonds, but this one is a cute redhead.
Mon. Thank you for your letter & your dandy enclosures. Glad to see you're still attentive to bike-racing. They're not all like that, Mother dear, & you are definitely in a minority as a spectator who has witnessed a bike-race track fatality. Don't be snooty about it, - do you remember the nice man who jumped all over Uncle Josephine's chest in the interest of saftey & sportsmanship. That was football, of course, & only nice people play football, wearing lots of padding, of course, so nobody ever gets hurt. You may remember Le Mans last year when 75+ people were killed. They were all patting themselves on the back this year for such a safe race. Only one guy got killed. As long as there are people, some of them will race, whether anyone watches them or not. Motor-racing can be a great sport, & with proper regulations, the greatest good & enjoyment - both for racer & spectator can be derived. Generally & pragmatically speaking bike racing is safer than cars.
Sat. I got my badge at the cannery, & I think I start Tues. I've got to go down there today & find & get my apron, knives, gloves, hair-net, hat, & stuff. All this they take out of your first pay-check. Out of the second, they take $15.00 union initiation fee, & $4.00 monthly dues. That 3rd pay check ought to be something to behold. By the way, I make the magnificent sum of $1.49 per hr. plus $.05 per hr. for night shift. I have already met some of my fellow workers & I think I am going to learn something. I'll be working on fruit salad & fruit cocktail, doing what, I don't know, but from all the talk about knives, I guess I'll be pitting, chopping, or splitting.
Bud, the fellow who has been teaching me about photography, tells me that his mother, sisters, & aunt are all working down there this summer, so maybe I'll run into them. It's kind of a huge place, though.
3
3/
Tell Kevin that I got his little birthday note. It was just so, so sweet of him to remember little me. Tell him that I have memorized every scintillating word & plan to answer him at my leisure.
I haven't forgotten those Wm. Steig goodies which you said you'd like. I'll send them soon.
The surprise party was really neat. Thank you especially for going so far out of your way to invite the people whom I was really happy to see there. You couldn't have done better if you'd read my mind. It was a good kind of a surprise party. You made quite a splash with everyone, so please stop introducing yourself as "the two-headed monster." In view of your original frame of mind & complete lack of familiarity with the whole situation, you really earned the understated designation of a "good kid." Mike has asked me several times when you are coming back. Also, I'd like you to meet Jim's mother. So when I get out of here & relatively settled you'll have to come back & spend a week or two with me. You won't mind bringing your own bed? Racing season will be over.
The watch is great. So far, I haven't fall off or anything to test how much it will take, but it does keep perfect time. Not much time to play chess right now, but Chick & I are going to try the chess set out as soon as I get out of the academic part of this whirl. That was really a great party, down to the last crumb of cake & drop of champagne.
So life goes on & it seems like it's eternally spring in the fish bowl. Before you draw up commitment papers, let me explain to you that I mean - I think both of my female guppies are en creute (sp?). I've already got 25 bambinos in one bowl in my room & 12 more down at Chick's. I've got one lone Zebra fish in with the adult guppies & I guess he really must feel out of it, assuming it's a he.
Liz & I didn't go riding today, since she didn't get back from Big Sur in time. We're going Fri. instead, at a different stable. She's working on some kind of a deal with the caretaker of a big estate in Los Trancos Woods. They have several horses which are seldom ridden & if she can work it we won't have to pay $2.00 an hour any more.
4
4/
Joan is going to help me alter the blue dress. I had it out waving it around & the consensus is most pleasing. If all goes well, maybe I'll wear it to the Bay Meadows dance. Thank you mucho. I like it.
Did you ever meet Irene Crepo, the slender blond-haired girl who lived two doors down from me last year? I've known her since I was a freshman & we used to ride to mass together with Frosty Phillips. Good old Irene forsook her horse Pal & her car Bessie, also the family farm, & entered the convent shortly after she graduated in June. The Sisters of Notre Dame are pretty lucky. Any convent she's in won't be a dull one.
So now I guess I'd better attend to the clothes I've got washing themselves in the sink then if I dampen the pile of clean clothes sitting on the chair, it will be almost as good as ironing them, & rolling them in a towel will change the decor of the whole room. It's little touches like that, junk piled all over the place, that make Lagunita so homey.
Keep on being a good kid & don't get too pooped to pop. My love to Grandmother & everyone especially Cookie & Destiny.
Love, Marcia
