Because of Bertha’s neurosis, my family turned us out, not wanting to have their purses and wallets rifled for minor cash. I stood beside my wife in the troubles even when my sister tried to use blood ties to turn me against her. Bertha had a problem and until she was willing to accept it, there was no way to help her. We lived with a Mormon family who were friends of Bertha’s family for three weeks, until Bert found a subsidized apartment in Grand Prairie, Texas that we could afford.
I got a job working security for Jim Bearden and Associates out of Arlington, Texas. Most of the work entailed guarding hospitals and high-rise apartments. One job we had, that I was assigned to cover, was to guard a parking lot for a restaurant that had a bar next door. The bar patrons would fill up the restaurant parking lot so the diners had no place to park. I would stand outside and direct people to put their cars in the bar’s lot until the restaurant closed and their parking lot opened to non-restaurant cars.
On the same nights I worked the restaurant parking lot, I also guarded the parking garage of a high-rise with a broken garage door. That job started exactly one hour after the restaurant job ended. I had to use the time in some way, and I didn’t drink. So on one occasion in mid May, I decided to go home and kiss my wife. When I got there, thinking I would give Bertha a pleasant surprise, I found her not at home. I don’t expect my wife to give up any personal life for me. So I didn’t feel any wrong was done by her, but I was disappointed that I could not share a kiss before I returned to the high-rise for my second shift of the night.
The next Wednesday morning, May 16, 1984, I met my neighbor, Gary Don Shepherd, outside. Gary said he and his buddies met every Wednesday night from 10:30 PM to 12:30 AM at the doughnut shop just off the freeway entrance. I explained that I had to be to work in Farmers Branch, Texas before 11:30 PM on Wednesday nights, and I felt it would be rude for me to show up for only twenty minutes and leave. So I begged out of it. Besides, those few minutes on an evening were the only time I could spend with my wife and child. I valued that time with them.
Around this time my mother-in-law had begun a renewed effort to convince my wife to take the baby and leave me. Whenever my wife called home, it was the same refrain. When we had saved enough to rent a moving truck and bring our furniture and household appliances to Grand Prairie on the weekend of May 26-27, my mother-in-law saw this as the opportunity to split us apart. Since I had to work that weekend, Bertha would be going alone. But I had unwavering faith in Bertha and her love. The one thing Bertha craved in life was the only thing she could never have, the approval of her mother.
To be continued….
Ol’ Fuzzy is not employable and was denied for disability benefits. The only thing I have is the blogs. But I don’t qualify for ads on the blogs until there is enough traffic on the blogs to interest advertisers (20,000 hits per month). If you like the scribbles I post, please help me keep it going. You can leave me a gratuity by dropping a buck or two in Ol' Fuzzy's Tip Jar. This is a PayPal account I opened on Wednesday, April 5, 2017.
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