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“This depression I’ve
suffered is a result of being alone, too much alone” I knew how to remedy
that. There was a whole city of people surely I could find them.
“After the meeting I want
to drive around this town. We have really not seen very much of it. Sunday
is a good time to drive down town, too. There won’t be any traffic.”
Rodney didn’t know what my
plan was but he was willing to do what he could to make me happy.
We did drive around the
town. There was the downtown area and I was particularly interested in the
Hightower Building because they had lovely pieces of art displayed in
their windows. Reno street was another section that was altogether out of
this world. The old street has been done away with in the sense of what it
was then. An unending number of junk stores lined both sides. There was
every antique imaginable.
“What a treasure this is!”
I was excited. “We must come back when they are open.”
Rodney loved that sort of
thing too, so it was a nice find for him as well, and how many fun times
were had poking through all the found troves of interesting things.
We drove up to a drug store
and got out for a soda only to discover after ordering that we were in the
segregated part of town. The proprietor was friendly, even though some of
the folks walking by didn’t seem to be happy with our presence. It wasn’t
a time to dawdle and with a few sips on our drink we left in a hurry and
laughed so hard after we had driven off because of our ignorance.
The capital was special.
There was such a big area of grounds around it. Neither of us wanted to
walk that much so the sites were seen from out of our car windows. It was
lovely to see the beautiful old homes around the capital. All was sedate,
quiet and looked to be uninhabited. Not one person made an appearance on
the sidewalks.
Rodney took our car around
the Classen Circle and up that drive. Oh my! The homes were so beautiful
in 1959. These were huge old mansions like no one could imagine. I only
wished we could have stopped and walked through each one of them, but, of
course, that was a foolish thought. They must surely have owners, all
though, no one was available outside or around them.
Finally, we came to a very
old part of town on Elliot street, close to Northwest 10th. The houses
were large but it was evident that these places were rental properties.
Gone was the polished look of a house owned by an individual. Instead,
shabbiness in some careless repairs and drab color made for what could be
called a slum area. There was a bright situation there and I was quick to
see it.
“Look,! Rod! Do you see all
the children playing outdoors? This is the first I’ve seen of inhabitants.
They are a bit tattered looking but, nevertheless, visible. Let’s drive
some more in this neighborhood and see if there is something here to rent.
I’ll bet there is.
“You don’t want to live in
this part of town?” Rodney wasn’t too happy about that decision.
“Well! Yes! Yes I do, that
is if we can find a place.
Sure enough, sandwiched in
between two or three large houses was what looked to have been something
like an old servants quarters which had been turned into four apartments.
As we were getting out of the car to look there were hoards of children
who were asking us all sorts of questions.
“Lady! Is that your kid?
How old is she? Can she talk? Are you going to move in here?” |
