THE HOTEL

Frank's third wife was smarter than Frank.  She was a retired nurse...And well, Frank liked his Scotch a lot. He also liked cigars and but swam every day.  Frank would get drunk every night and every day his wife, Nancy would give him oxygen.  One morning he went swimming, came out, lit up a cigar and laid down on the blanket.  Nancy yelled at him because he was burning his arm with his cigar.

He was dead. Heart attack.

Everyone swore that Nancy killed him by getting him drunk every night (which she didn't) and then getting him sober every day.  They said it was too much on his heart.

People were telling Edie that everything he had was left to Nancy.  Neither Edie, nor Bill was getting anything. Not a thing.  Nancy said he didn't have anything left except the trailer they pulled back and forth between Penna and Florida.  There was talk going around that Nancy was dating someone before Frank's grave was cold.  Well, She married the guy and they got into a fight one night because Nancy caught him with a gal, so she shot him with one of Frank's guns that was to be Bill's when Frank died.  It was a gun worth a lot of money.  Incidentally, the guy who was shot had been Frank's attorney.

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ESCAPE FROM THE MOUNTAINS (31)

Ever since she could remember, her father was cold and cruel.  If she was sitting in the living room listening to the ratio, her father would ask her abruptly, "Don't you have work to do?"  And she always was working. She cleaned all three of the upstairs bedrooms, the bathroom, and down to the living room, dining room, den, kitchen and the basement.  Furthermore she also cleaned the front and back porches every Saturday.  All of this for a quarter. Through the week she helped her mother with the laundry (wring washer style) and hung the clothes on the line.  Helped with the meals, the clean up, etc.etc. and her father had the nerve to ask "Don't you have work to do?"  Edie ground her teeth at the thought. 

She had to sneak behind his back and say she was going to the library and in reality she was going ice-skating.  On one of these nights some boys were playing a joke and threw Edie's shoes up into a tree.  It took a long time to find them and retrieve them so she got home after the library had closed.  As she opened the door her father hit her in nose so hard it bled for four hours.  Every time they took the cotton out of her nose it bled.  They had no insurance and her mother didn't have any money at the time.  Edie was seventeen then, and she met Jim.  He had his own nose broken three times.

He was 25 years old and a boxer in the army and had been living on the street since he was nine years old when his mother had died.  Edie felt sorry for him.  Even though she had the father she had, she lived pretty good.  Even during the depression there were three cars with money for gas. And a big house with all the all the trimmings.  Her father was a big shot contractor and the head contractor over at the college.  They never did without during the whole depression.  Edie had a brass bed that had posts with nobs that came off.  That is where Frank stashed his hundred-dollar bills.

He didn't trust banks like he did before the stock market crash.  He did say that he thought something was going to happen in this country.  Something  big!  Wonder what he would think now if he were still alive?  When Edie spoke of her father she would say how mean he was, but she gave him credit for being a very smart man and taking good care of his family.

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    Hotels in the 40's had one full bed, a small closet, a small sink, dresser, night stand, table and chair, no air conditioning, the toilet was in a small room between two bedrooms with doors that locked on the inside (sinks in bedrooms), bathing room at the end of hall on each floor with tub and shower (A person had to sign for when they wanted to take a shower or bath) (this was the average hotels, not the very expensive ones). One more thing, the heating was a radiator in each room (steam heat?) I think.
    Frank left them at the door after giving Edie a twenty dollar bill. She thanked him. And after weak hugs were passed between the three of them, they said goodbye.
    As soon as the door was closed, Susan said, "Mommy, I don't like him."
   "Well, Susan, he's your grandfather, you're supposed to like him, so try." I hate him, Edie thought to herself. All the years growing up and all the misery he caused my mother and me. I'll never forget how he treated us. Susan was sound asleep while Edie's thoughts went back to her childhood.

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    They pulled up in front of the hotel. Susan had never seen a hotel. It was nighttime so it was all lit up. 
    "How beautiful. I wan to live here forever," Susan said out loud. 
   Frank told her, "It's too expensive to live here more than a few nights."
   Edie and Susan lived there for a month, at the expense of Edie's dad. He went to Florida for the winter as he did every winter.
   They had to walk around to the back entrance because of the steps out front and go through the kitchen to the lobby. Susan's head was moving all around as she was walking looking at everything. So much to see. Look at all the food in the kitchen! I am hungry, she thought. Oh, look at the lobby. (She heard a man call the room they were standing in.) It was the most beautiful thing she ever saw. They went up to a big desk and talked to some people and then a black man took them to an elevator. Susan was afraid and said she was not going to get in that thing. It took some persuading but finally she got in the elevator. The room was on the tenth floor.

ESCAPE FROM THE MOUNTAINS (28)

"Dad, how about a cup of coffee?"  Edie asked as she lit up a cigarette.  That must have been a shocker for Frank.  He didn't know she smoked.

Frank paid Betty and Edie said she would call her when she got to the hotel. Hugs and good-byes were in order and doubled from Susan because of the doll.

On the way to the hotel, Frank had to remind Edie how foolish she was for leaving the farm.  At least she'd had a home for Susan and herself.  What was she thinking?  What is she going to do now?

"Its going to be hard living on the child-support from Jim of $44.00 a month for Susan. You should have asked for alimony."  Frank lamented.  "You know, he's living with that 'woman' now.  I hear she's got some dough...got it from a nice divorce settlement and has a good job." Frank continued. "What do you have?  I am telling ya. You should have asked for alimony."

"I don't want anything from Jim."  Edie was getting annoyed with Frank and changed the conversation.

"Where is the hotel?  I have to go to the ladies room."

ESCAPE FROM THE MOUNTAINS (27)

   Frank didn't look like what you'd expect; for he was short and mild looking, not the tyrant that Edie made him out to be.
   Edie introduced him to Betty and Susan. This was the first time Susan saw her grandfather since she was a baby. She didn't know him nor did he know her. He shook her hand politely.
   "Yes, this was good old dad. Cold, old dad. Shake hands with his granddaughter. Oh, he has a gift for her. A box of maple candies. How nice. He was in Vermont. I wish we would get this business over with," Edie thought as she smiled her half of a smile when she was bored.
   "Give your grandfather a hug for the candy, Susan."
   "I found a hotel for you and Susan for the next few days until we can find out what we are going to do with you two," Frank said, patting Susan's head firmly while he was looking at Edie with steel cold eyes. He hadn't changed. But Edie had. She was no longer afraid of him.