I remember his story

sundownm — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 02:40:02 +0000

I don’t remember what war he was in. He wanted to fight the bad guys he said so he enlisted. He fought the bad guys in the service of his country and lived to come home to New York. Brooklyn, New York that is. Later, He would live out his life in the White Lake area of Sullivan County. We got to talking one day well actually I got to listen for a while. He started telling me about his good old days. There once was a posh Savoy-Ritzy black club just off route 17 before you get to Liberty New York. It was all about the attire back then, he said. Everyone was everybody! Music was in vogue and so was dancing. It had Live Black Entertainers and anyone who was anyone went up there for the weekend dancing and dining.
He loved to dance; he had a knack for it that’s how he met his wife. She was just too stunning for words. She took his breath away. He knew he was going to marry her and take care of her for the rest of his life and it was “wildly” ok with him. They made the club scene together. They practiced dancing after work. They were so in sync. People made a circle around them as they battled it out with rival couples. Most of the time they won whatever the prize might have been. They danced for pure pleasure… to show off their prowess, how adept and precise they could be. They were madly, madly in love. He said the same thing as “the duke”, Duke Ellington said all the time. He would say to his wife, “I love you madly”. He described the clothes they wore in detail. The day’s hair styles, for me it was creative visualization. I could see the marquee of the club in my mind. I was mesmerized by the era he described. I think his wife’s name was Rose. He promised Rose if she’d marry him he would buy her a house. They wanted to get on with life right away. To his surprise she said yes. I asked him where is wife was now. She had passed on after a long battle with leukemia. He took good care of her just as he had promised beyond when she died. He said he missed her still and the only comfort he could take away was the fact that she loved her house. The house he bought her just before they got married way back then. When she said yes she would marry him. He went from bank to bank trying to get a loan to buy a house. It was suppose to be part of his veteran’s benefits. To be able to use your armed forces record to show your love for your country or prestige whatever the bank needed. He had medals of valor. Bank after bank turned him down. White friends who sometimes called on him having not been too long out of the service had all got loans, had all bought houses or cars. The banks told him over and over “You have to own something we can lien in order to get a loan”. “You have no collateral.” He went to the NAACP for help in the matter of securing a loan. He was disappointed when they said they dealt more with issues of groups of people wronged and that they did not work with individuals as a whole. He told me that in the service his was a jumper and a scaler. He scaled up and down into things. He was Spiderman for real ”. He walked up the front of buildings he said. He was so hurt when no one would give him a loan. He said he felt ashamed too… belittled and ubo-slighted. He told his wife to check the newspapers for ads for homes. They were going to buy one and get married and move into it and start a family. He said “A mortgage loan was coming through so start picking houses to look at. He looked at me and said, “You know what I did in the service? I scaled bridges and placed bombs, explosive charges. I scaled down things and shimmied up things mostly to place things in their proper place. That was my job. I was called a hero; I got decorated with medals. I did my job for my country. I thought I fought on behalf of people that did not believe in oppression anymore. I scaled the Dime Savings Bank of Brooklyn one night and robbed the safe. We bought a house. We got married. I landed a pretty good job by having some collateral and took good care of my Rose even when she got sick. I started a small business on the side as a junkman. I gave Rose all the money I earned and told her to pay the bills and save some . We had many good years together. When Rose died I sold the house and I moved up here to Sullivan County. I sort of take care of this Jewish Bungalow Colony both on and off season. I’m sort of a watchman, handyman but its o.k. You know, Rose is my angel. I’m just biding my time hoping I will be with Rose again someday.

Hello world!

sundownm — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 02:29:09 +0000

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I am the keeper of stories

I remember his story

Hello world!