Fourth Lake, Chapter 4

Chapter 3 was posted at the end of March.

Judy and Phil had just passed the toll booth at the Tappan Zee Bridge and were crossing over to the west side of the Hudson River when Judy’s mood changed.  Phil noticed, but said nothing.  They had been married for twelve years.  On the surface, things appeared good.  Phil was doing great at his CPA firm, both professionally and financially.  Judy had what she wanted, a successful husband, two adorable children, and a big, beautiful house in Little Neck.  She had quit working when her first child was born.  She was going to be a stay-at-home mom.  Their two kids were a handful, but they were healthy and well-adjusted.  Phil was a workaholic, putting in ridiculous hours away from home, but the whole family had gotten used to it.  Or had they?

It had always seemed to Judy that Phil had a lower sex drive than she did.  However, maybe it was just that working so many hours sapped his energy for the bed room.  Judy was a beautiful woman both dressed and undressed.  She could lure most any man.

Phil was not the only man that Judy had ever slept with.  On her romp through Europe, she had met a French student.  They spent a month together.  He showed her the French countryside from Paris to the Riviera.  He taught her some French and a part of life she had never experienced.  She fell in love with him, but realized it was just a fling.  He had no desire to move to the United States and Judy wasn’t going to spend the rest of her life in France.  But it was marvelous while it lasted. 

Compared to her French lover, Phil had been a bit of a disappointment.  When they were first married, she tempted him often in bed at night, with sexy negligees and perfume, but too often he declined her invitations.  They had sex about every week or so.  When they did make love, it was good for Judy, but sometimes in the afterglow of the evening, she remembered the lover she had left behind in France.

Judy talked Phil into going on a two-week vacation in the Adirondack Mountains.  They had been through the area around Fouth Lake and Judy fell in love with it.  She thought it was perfect for what she wanted: a beautiful, remote place to bring out the romance in her husband.  Normally, the Black family went on one week vacations together, parents and children alike, usually in the same hotel room, which was not very romantic.  Even though he was entitled to four weeks paid vacation, Phil claimed that one week was all he could take because of his busy schedule.  For the first time, Judy sent both her girls to gymnastic camp.  The coast was clear for Judy and Phil to spend some quality time alone.

In January of 1973, right after Nixon’s second inaugural, Judy started noticing a change in Phil’s sexual apetite.  He seemed even less interested in making love with Judy than before.  He never initiated sex with her and would only succumb to her advances about twice a month.  Judy was suspicious and looked for answers to this change in behavior. 

About two months before, almost on election day, Phil hired a new secretary as his previous one retired.  Her name was Beverly Swanson and she was young and gorgeous.  Judy met her for the first time at the firm’s annual Christmas party the following month.  Judy overheard Malcolm tell Beverly that she was the most beautiful woman at the party, repeating the same phrase he had used with Judy many years before.  She seemed like a Jayne Mansfield wannabe, the way she dressed and acted that night.  And she seemed to be continually flirting with Phil.  At the end of the night, Judy exploded.

“Phil, you must get rid of that ridiculous girl,” shouted Judy, the very second they were finally alone in their car.

“What ridiculous girl are you talking about?”

“You know perfectly well who I’m talking about.”

“You’re being childish and jealous for no good reason.”

“Oh, really!  Well, she was falling all over you tonight, making a spectacle of herself and humiliating me.  I should have slapped her face good.”

“She was clearly high on booze, but she’s nothing like that at the office.  There, Beverly’s very professional.  I have no grounds to dismiss her.  And besides, there’s nothing going on between us.  I’m sure she has plenty of boyfriends.  She has no interest in me.”

“And you have no interest in Beverly?”

“Are you kidding me?  I’m almost old enough to be her father.”

“Well, I see Bob Grant has a new, young wife, so anything’s possible.”

“For your information, his name is Bill Grant and I have no romantic interest in Beverly.  You should come to the office and see the way she dresses and acts there.”

“The way she dresses and acts at the office has nothing to do with it.  Her drinking lowered her inhibitions and showed her true intentions toward you.  You better not go around fucking with that girl or I’ll cut your balls off.  Do you hear me, Phil?  The two of you aren’t going to treat me that way and get away with it.”

“I’d say you had too much to drink tonight, too.”

At home, in their bed room, Judy tried to seduce Phil.  He said she was too drunk, but she didn’t believe him. 

Throughout 1973, Judy paid attention and noticed Phil’s declining sexual interest in her.  At the annual Christmas party, she had mixed feelings about seeing Beverly again.  On the one hand, she hoped that Beverly would show up with a fiancé.  On the other hand, she feared another embarrassing scene with either Beverly or her husband.  While people were talking about the possibility of the Miami Dolphins repeating as Super Bowl champions, Judy noticied that Beverly, after a polite hello at the receiving line, stayed clear of both her and Phil for the rest of the evening.  Judy knew because she kept one eye on the blonde the whole night.

As things progressed with Phil in a similar manner during 1974, Judy became more and more suspicious.  She was determined to do something about this problem she was having difficulty coping with.  She confronted Phil with her complaints about his lack of interest in her, but he said he was just too tired from working so much and there was nothing he could do about it.  It was the life of a CPA and he needed to continue for the sake of the family’s financial security.  Judy didn’t fully believe him.  Then she came up with the idea of the two-week vacation at Fourth Lake as the final solution.  With no work and no children for two weeks, it would test how Phil really felt about her as a woman.  She wasn’t going to spend the rest of her life like this.  If Phil didn’t want her, other men did.

To be continued next month...              

Where You Can Expect Great Things

Almost exactly eight years ago, in 2007, I needed to find a place to live.  But where?  I eliminated all the places I had previously lived for one reason or another.  So, it had to be a new place.  I narrowed the choices to the east coast of the United States because it would put me near my adult children and which was also in my comfort zone.  I preferred a small college town, similar to where I had grown up in central New York State, but farther south with milder weather. 

About fifteen years earlier, in 1992, I spent one day in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, trying to expose my daughter, Rachel, then in high school, to another possible place for her to attend college (The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill).  She wasn’t impressed, but I was.  I remembered a beautiful campus and an interesting commercial district (Franklin Street), filled with restaurants, bars, and quaint stores.  I did some research and found Chapel Hill had a low unemployment rate and was considered an ideal place to live.  So, let’s give it a try. 

My first day was auspicious.  I shook hands with a former president:  Of Brazil (Fernando Henrique Cardozo), not the United States.  He was at the University to give a lecture on the economy of South America.  Besides being a president, he is an economist.

My first job was to get an apartment so I could get out of the Days Inn where I was sleeping.  That didn’t take long.  I saw three apartments and chose the best (Pinegate).  It turned out to be a good choice.  I was happy there for six years.

My second job was to get a job.  After my retirement, I still wanted to work.  However, I was under the illusion from that famous Frank Sinatra song (New York, New York) that “if I can make it there (New York), I can make it anywhere.”  I had worked as an accountant in New York City for thirty-four years, mostly with Joseph E. Seagram & Sons, Inc., the US subsidiary of the Canadian beverage company and conglomerate.  It was a Fortune 500 company, listed on the New York Stock Exchange.  I had risen to the level of manager in an important department (Tax).  I had made it there.  Therefore, Chapel Hill, look out, here I come.

In Chapel Hill, there are a few major employers:  The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, UNC Hospital, Blue Cross Blue Shield (health insurance), and nearby Duke University.  The modern way to look for a job is to apply online.  You don’t walk into an Office of Human Resources as I did when I graduated from college back in the 1960s.  So I applied online to anything and everything that looked like an accounting position.  And there were a lot of them.  I assumed I would be receiving numerous responses in quick order.  Boy, was I wrong. 

There was something I hadn’t counted on.  See, I was 61 years-old.  The stereotype is that people that age are retiring, not looking for a job.  Under U.S. law, employers can’t ask your age, but they can ask when you went to school, which is the equivalent of asking for your age.  And when they knew my age, they weren’t interested.  It’s called age discrimination.  It’s illegal, but it exists and it’s hard to prove.  So, nobody wanted me as an accountant.

In the mean time, I needed a job.  I turned to plan B.  I looked for jobs everywhere: hotels, motels, different kinds of stores, supermarkets, small businesses, etc.  Almost anything!  I applied for jobs where I offered the employer no experience.  Finally, after a long wait, I got a call back for an interview, at Kohl’s, “where you can expect great things.” Kohl’s is a department store chain that sells clothes, womens, mens, and children, plus accessories, watches, jewelry, luggage, household goods, towels, sheets, toys, etc. 

The interview turned out to be a group interview.  There were about a dozen of us, sitting around a table, led in the questioning by the second in charge at the store, a woman named Sharon.  She wanted to draw us out, to see how we thought, how we reacted.  However, most of the applicants seemed afraid to express themselves.  I was the most outspoken.  I think it was because I had the most self-confidence.  Since the job was in Customer Service, Sharon thought, even though I had no past experience, I might be a good fit.  She hired me.  I will be forever grateful.  Thank you, Sharon.

I was trained in Customer Service by a very experienced and kind woman named Wendy.  She taught me everything I needed to know to succeed.  The biggest issue was customers returning items they had purchased.  Either they wanted their money back or to exchange the item for a different size or color, or just store credit.  As an accountant, I had never dealt with the public, only with others within the company or with government representatives.  Dealing with the public was new and a little unnerving for me.  But, I faced my new responsibility headon, with courage.  I was nervous, but it turned out okay.

The most important issue for me and for the rest of the staff at Kohl’s is to make the customer have a positive experience on their visit to the store.  Make them happy!  As much as possible!  They should leave the store happier than when then entered.  Then, they’ll be more likely to return the next time they are of a mind to shop.  This is the essence of customer service, not only for Kohl’s, but for any business. 

I worked at Kohl’s for more than three years.  It was a very interesting experience and  I learned a lot.  I especially remember one great lesson.  Once, my supervising manager (Rhonda) told me that she would be very busy that day and I could not bother her with any potential problems that I might encounter.  So, she said, “Just deal with it.” She meant that I had to use my brain and experience to deal by myself with any problem that arose, so she would be free to deal with her problems.  And deal with them, I did.  I’m still applying her lesson.

From my vantage point at one end of the store, I could easily see the customers walking about.  One thing I noticed was that, for many women, shopping is an avocation.  They enjoy the experience.  They don’t have to need anything or buy anything to have a good time at Kohl’s.  They just like to walk around the store and look at the items for sale.  It reminded me of my mother when I was a little boy.  She would take me along on her trips to Flah’s & Co. in Syracuse, look for clothes, try some on, but sometimes buy nothing.  Almost no man enjoys the shopping experience like a woman.  Men prefer to get in and get out of the store as fast as possible.  I understand.

Another lesson I learned at Kohl’s was humility.  Besides my experience in Customer Service, and occasionally as a cashier, I was also required to participate in a nightly ritual, when I worked the last shift of the day.  When the store closed and all the customers were finally gone, the remaining staff had to help clean up the store as much as possible in the last thirty minutes before the building was actually emptied.  I remember folding towels and straitening up jeans that rude customers had left on the floor or in a heap after they were no longer interested in buying them.  When I shop today, I am so aware of the hard work that store employees must endure and I don’t want to make it worse for them.

At Kohl’s, I was not a full-time employee as my hours were kept below thirty per week.  That way, I was not entitled to any benefits, such as health insurance.  Most of their employees were treated the same.  As such, I think we felt a connection with each other, a kind of common bond.  I was treated with so much new-found respect from all my colleagues as is the case in the South.  I was called “Mister Blair.”  This would not have happened in the North.  A majority of my fellow-employees (as well as some of the managers) were African-Americans.  In my previous work experiences, I had little contact with them.  As such, this became a positive experience for me.  I enjoyed getting to know so many new people at Kohl’s.  To one extent, I had an ulterior motive.  I was living without a car and I sometimes needed a ride home from work, which was not very far away.  However, it was difficult to walk to because of a lack of sidewalks in the area.  But, many of my colleagues were so generous to me by giving me rides home.  And on the way, I got to know them a little better.  I will always be grateful.  Thanks again to all of you, especially, Sharon, Wendy, and Rhonda.            

Casablanca

One of my favorite movies, and clearly the most well-written, is Casablanca, made in 1942, starring Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, Paul Henreid, and Claude Rains.  It was directed by Michael Curtiz and written by the collaborative team of Julius Epstein, Philip Epstein, and Howard Koch.  This film received eight Academy Award nominations, winning three: Best Movie, Best Director, and Best Screenplay.  Bogart and Rains were nominated for Best Actor (won by Paul Lukas for Watch on the Rhine) and Best Supporting Actor (won by Charles Coburn for The More the Merrier), respectively.  Casablanca also received nominations for Best Cinematography, Best Film Editing, and Best Music. 

This black and white drama takes place in December of 1941 in Casablanca, in then French-occupied Morroco in north Africa.  By then, World War II had already been raging in Europe for more than two years.  Rick Blaine, an American ex-pat, is the proprietor of a saloon, Rick’s Café Américain, where most of the story takes place.  He is a somber, brooding man who arrived in Casablanca around June of 1940 when the German Army marched into Paris.

Unexpectedly, one night a woman, Ilsa, enters the saloon with her husband, Victor.  This is the woman who was the cause of Rick’s grief.  When the Germans arrived in Paris, Rick and Ilsa, a couple very much in love (or so Rick thought), had agreed to escape (from the Nazis) together.  They had agreed to meet at the train station.  However, only a note from Ilsa (instead of Ilsa herself) arrived which told Rick, “I cannot go with you or ever see you again.  You must not ask why.  Just believe that I love you.  Go my darling, and God bless you.” A stunned Rick boards the train leaving Paris for Marseille and eventually finds his way to Casablanca.

The reason Ilsa was not at the train station was because she went to be with her husband who was a celebrated anti-Nazi organizer.  Her romantic relationship with Rick had started when she thought her husband was dead.  Obviously, he wasn’t.  Ilsa and Victor are in Casablanca attempting to flee to America.  However, once she sees Rick again, she is torn between the two men whom she loves.  Ilsa eventually gives up and lets Rick decide whether she should go to America with Victor or stay with Rick (the man she seems more passionate about) as they had planned back in Paris.

Rick does the “noble” thing and puts Ilsa on a plane bound for Lisbon (and from Lisbon to America) along with Victor.  Why?  The answer lies in the beautiful, romantic dialogue below.

Rick:  Inside of us, we both know you belong with Victor. You're part of his work, the thing that keeps him going. If that plane leaves the ground and you're not with him, you'll regret it. Maybe not today. Maybe not tomorrow, but soon and for the rest of your life.

Ilsa: But what about us?

Rick: We'll always have Paris. We didn't have, we, we lost it until you came to Casablanca. We got it back last night.

Ilsa: And I said I would never leave you.

Rick: And you never will. But I've got a job to do, too. Where I'm going, you can't follow. What I've got to do, you can't be any part of. Ilsa, I'm no good at being noble, but it doesn't take much to see that the problems of three little people don't amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world. Someday you'll understand that.

[Ilsa lowers her head and begins to cry]

Rick: Now, now...

[Rick gently places his hand under her chin and raises it so their eyes meet]

Rick: Here's looking at you, kid.

“I’m no good at being noble.”  Au, contraire!  Rick was being noble.  He thought he was doing the right thing by sending his lover off with a man who was doing great things, fighting Nazis, as opposed to staying with a man who was running a saloon.  And what became of Rick?  He stayed behind with his friend, Louis (Captain Renault), to form a “beautiful friendship.”

 If it had been me, I would never have been so noble.  I would have done the selfish thing and run off with Ilsa.  After all, life is short.  Plus, all’s fair in love and war.  But it seems like the most successful romantic stories end unhappily.  (See Romeo and Juliet, Titanic, Gone With the Wind, A Farewell to Arms, For Whom the Bell Tolls, Sunset Boulevard, and Love Story to name a few.)  That must explain some of the appeal of this great movie.

As I said, the film is so well-written and contains so many incredible often-quoted lines.  Some of them are listed below.  Please enjoy them and try to watch Casablanca.  Let me know if you have any questions.

 

Rick:  Of all the gin joints, in all the towns, in all the world, she walks into mine.

 

Rick:  How can you close me up? On what grounds?

Captain Renault: I'm shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here!

[a croupier hands Renault a pile of money]

Croupier: Your winnings, sir.

Captain Renault: Oh, thank you very much.

 

Captain Renault:  What in heaven's name brought you to Casablanca?

Rick: My health. I came to Casablanca for the waters.

Captain Renault: The waters? What waters? We're in the desert.

Rick: I was misinformed.

 

Ilsa:  Kiss me. Kiss me as if it were the last time.

 

Ugarte:  You despise me, don't you?

Rick: If I gave you any thought I probably would.

 

German Major Strasser:  You give him credit for too much cleverness. My impression was that he's just another blundering American.

French Captain Renault:  We musn't underestimate "American blundering". I was with them when they "blundered" into Berlin in 1918.

 

Rick:  Well, there are certain sections of New York, Major, that I wouldn't advise you to try to invade.

 

Captain Renault:  Major Strasser's been shot.

[Renault looks at Rick, Rick gives him a look]

Captain Renault: Round up the usual suspects.

 

Annina:  Monsieur Rick, what kind of a man is Captain Renault?

Rick: Oh, he's just like any other man, only more so.

 

Rick:  You want my advice?

Annina: Oh, yes, please.

Rick: Go back to Bulgaria.

 

Captain Renault:  We are very honored tonight, Rick. Major Strasser is one of the reasons the Third Reich enjoys the reputation it has today.

Major Strasser: You repeat Third Reich as though you expected there to be others!

Captain Renault: Well, personally, Major, I will take what comes.

 

Ilsa:  Who is Rick?

Captain Renault: Mamoiselle, you are in Rick's! And Rick is...

Ilsa: Who is he?

Captain Renault: Well, Rick is the kind of man that... well, if I were a woman, and I were not around, I should be in love with Rick. But what a fool I am talking to a beautiful woman about another man.

 

Captain Renault:  By the way, last night you evinced an interest in Señor Ugarte.

Victor: Yes.

Captain Renault: I believe you have a message for him?

Victor: Nothing important, but may I speak to him now?

Major Strasser: You would find the conversation a trifle one-sided. Señor Ugarte is dead.

Ilsa: Oh.

Captain Renault: I am making out the report now. We haven't quite decided yet whether he committed suicide or died trying to escape.

 

Rick:  It's December 1941 in Casablanca.  What time is it in New York?

Sam: What? My watch stopped.

Rick: I'll bet they're asleep in New York. I'll bet they're asleep all over America.

 

 

Lord Dunmore

John Murray, the Fourth Earl of Dunmore, more commonly known as Lord Dunmore, was born in Scotland in 1730.  In September of 1771, he became the Royal Governor of the British Colony of Virginia in North America.  He was to be its last.  As we know, Virginia declared its independence on the Fourth of July, 1776.  Such independence was won in armed conflict, fighting side by side with twelve other colonies, and agreed to by the British in the Treaty of Paris, signed in 1783.

On January 1, 1863, US President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation which freed all slaves held in the eleven US States that were in rebellion, including Virginia.  Over 179,000 African-Americans, both free men and runaway slaves, fought in the Union Army during the Civil War.  Near the end of the war, the Confederate Army agreed to accept those of African descent as “volunteers” in their army.  Few did.

So what do Lord Dunmore and President Lincoln have in common?  On November 14, 1775, the former issued the “Proclamation of Lord Dunmore,” which stated that, in order to put down a growing insurrection against his government, he called upon all able-bodied men in Virginia to join his armed forces or be considered as the enemy.  He also stated that all “Negroes” (owned as slaves by those in rebellion) to be “free that are able and willing to bear arms, they joining His Majesty’s troops.”  About 50,000 African-Americans (mostly runaway slaves) fought on the British/Loyalist side during the Revolutionary War, ten times the amount that fought on the Patriot side.

Six of the thirteen original States of the United States of America were slave societies, including Virginia.  (The others were Delaware, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia.)  Most all of the rich and powerful men in Virginia in 1775 owned slaves.  Those included four of the first five Presidents of the United States:  George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and James Monroe.  Many of the rich and powerful men of Virginia were already on the Patriot side in 1775.  After the Proclamation of Lord Dunmore, more of those rich and powerful men joined up with the Patriots.  Their property (slaves) was about to be confiscated by the Governor, something they could not tolerate.  Instead of supporting the Governor to safeguard their property rights, they joined the opposition that promised to protect such rights.  Lord Dunmore’s proclamation backfired.

The last battle of the American Revolution was fought at Yorktown, Virginia in October of 1781.  After the surrender by British General Cornwallis, a couple thousand British troops, former slaves, were returned to their masters, including US General George Washington and Virginia Governor Thomas Jefferson.  At the end of the war and as part of the Treaty of Paris, about 3,000 runaway slaves left New York City on British ships that headed for new lives in British Nova Scotia.

Abraham Lincoln joins Lord Dunmore as two North American political leaders whose proclamations offered freedom to African-American slaves.  It is an irony of history that some of those who, in 1776, wanted freedom from Great Britain, were unwilling to share such freedom with all the other human beings in their care.

This story of these two men is especially important as we near the 150th anniversary of both the end of the Civil War, the surrender of Confederate General Robert E. Lee to Union General Ulysses. S. Grant at Appomattox Courthouse, Virginia, on April 9, 1865, and the assassination of President Lincoln at Ford’s Theater in Washington, D.C. on Good Friday, April 14, 1865.  The Emancipation Proclamation and the Thirteenth Amendment to the U. S. Constitution, both the work of Lincoln, effectively abolished slavery in the United States of America.  Thankfully, Lincoln succeeded where Dunmore did not.