This envelope did have a zip code, so the CCZCC now stands at 1.
"Dear Mother and Mike,
"I guess you both are back in the swing of things - school and workwise that is. Mike, did you get your schedule worked out to your satisfaction? Did Mike get a job with the credit union?"
"Saturday we got sort of a chain letter from Wayne, Linda and Bernie. Wayne finally got his pickup and I would imagine he's just like a kid with a new toy. From Linda's accounts of Wayne's spending on the farm and the new house, I can tell that he and Dave have reacted the same way towards a baby. Dave told me Saturday that we were going to get a Polaroid camera this week. Reason? I took two rolls of colored film - Disneyland and other places - and we got four pictures developed."
[Regarding what sounds like an increase in spending, in Dad's binder of pay stubs and expense reports there is a letter indicating he got a raise September 1. So that might explain his willingness to splurge on a new camera.]
[If only four pictures were developed up to this point, I'm guessing some of the ones I've posted from the photo album were taken after the Polaroid camera was purchased. I've noticed there are two different sizes of prints, so it might be easy to tell for sure which are the early ones. The two of me and my grandmother were obviously taken before this Polaroid camera was purchased.]
"We haven't done much since you left. Friday, David Wayne and I went to the La Brea Tar Pits. The pits were interesting, but the museum was strictly an art museum and not for us. After I have been so careful about _not_ taking David Wayne to picture shows that aren't fit, I expose him to art - nude paintings, nude statues, etc.! It only took a few minutes for me to find out I was in the wrong place with a five-year-old. A lady at the museum told me the bones of dinosaurs were at another museum 7-1/2 miles away. Figures. Surely one wouldn't think to keep the bones where they were found. Since I had told David Wayne we would see dinosaurs there was little I could do but drive there. I carefully followed the map the lady had given me and we did get there. But not before going ten blocks through a "Watts" area. That lady's great-grandfather must have been a general in the Northern army!"
[Now we know why Mom remarked in her diary entry that she didn't find the art museum interesting. I wonder if five-year-old me found it a little too interesting?]
[Now we also know a bit more about how Mom ended up driving through Watts that day. She hadn't planned on going to the Natural History Museum when we left the apartment so she had to follow a map she had just picked up at the art museum.]
"I was fairly shook up when we arrived, but the museum was great. There are four floors and we only saw a part of the first floor - we can spend a week there. Going home I took another route - on the freeway. At home, I literally fell on the bed for two hours and thanked God for my deliverance."
"Saturday Dave watched a game on television. That night we ate Mexican food on Olvera Street. Dave ate his food, all that I left, and all that David Wayne left - then he came home and got sick. He won't be wanting Mexican food for a looong time. Do you remember me commenting on the food at that restaurant being so reasonable? Well! They triple the price at night. It cost $9 for the three of us to eat! No wonder Dave had to eat all the food."
[Like I said before, Dad liked his Mexican food. That $9 in 1967 would be worth over $65 today, so I'm sure he didn't want to waste any of that food.]
"Sunday we just stayed home and relaxed. I was thankful for the change in pace and so were the boys."
"Monday really turned out to be _one_ day. Dave came home at his usual 5 o'clock. I had just walked back to the bedroom with him when he ran to the window and looked out. Then - just a second or two [later] - the floor of the apartment shook and lamps did a dance on their tables. I ran to the window and there it was - a woman had run into our apartment house! The car bounced off the wall and back onto the street and she was getting out (car still moving). Her car hit another car parked in front of the kindergarten. She got out of the car - dropping her wig on the street - and started walking down the street. Her head was cut and her nose was bleeding. We were out front by then and heard a man ask if he could help her. She replied, "Leave me alone," and she kept walking. Everyone around thought she was calling the police, but she just kept walking to the next block!"
[I wonder if Mom initially thought it was an earthquake?]
"The manager called the police when we saw that she had no intention of doing so. Here's what happened:"
[After seeing that drawing I think Dad must have heard the initial impact at location 1, which is why he ran to the window and looked out. I bet he was glad the car turned and hit the building instead of going a little further and hitting our car.]
"All of this in 5 o'clock traffic! The police came and then a wrecker to move it out of the street. Poor stupid police! They didn't know what to do - the driver of the illegally parked car was nowhere to be found, the owner of the car in front of the kindergarten wouldn't be home for another hour, and the woman that hit everything had just disappeared. Dave and I gave a description of what we saw. I told the police what she was wearing, how tall, etc. I doubt that they will pay much attention to what I said because when they asked for my name, address, and age I just froze and I told them I was 27. Dave said 26 and the policeman just looked at me and shook his head. They were confused enough and here was a woman giving her age as _older_ instead of _younger_! It turned out with the car being hauled off, the police getting woman's name from letters in car, (but not the woman) and us having supper at 7:30."
[Wow, quite the drama-filled evening on Normandie Avenue. I guess crazy people have been around for a long time.]
"This turned into a real catalog. We are all just fine, except now I'm not only afraid to drive but walk for fear of being run over on the sidewalk. Snappy is doing fine. I don't know which David gets more pleasure from the turtle."
"Take care of yourselves and write as often as you can."
"Love,
Linda"
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