Letter postmarked January 24, 1968 (Part 3):
This is Part 3 of the letter postmarked January 24, 1968.
You asked about the turtle, Snappy. He is just fine and David Wayne plays with him just about every day by taking him into the bathroom and giving him a bath. He also claims he's teaching him to swim. The other big turtle, Mickey, that we bought on Olvera Street died, but it never did much except spit and hiss at us.
[Dead turtles aren't much fun. It sounds like that one wasn't very much fun while he was alive, either. RIP, Mickey. That's a stupid name for a turtle anyway. Everyone knows Mickey is a mouse.]
Oh, about looking up Roy Rogers and Trigger . . . there is a Roy Rogers Museum in Apple Valley and we passed within 10 miles of it on our way to Calico. I said something about going to it but David Wayne showed no interest and neither did Dave after we ran into the heavy traffic. I don't think it would be worth fighting all those cars. The thing David Wayne wants to see is the Batmobile at 20th Century Fox.
[No surprise there. A Batmobile or a horse named Trigger? Hmmm . . .]
I never wrote you the ending to the screen test, did I? Well, Suzie got all dolled up and went over to the studio - located on Fairfax, a very busy street in L. A. She got to wondering what she'd do if they ask her about talent. She said in her East Texas twang, "I can't dance, so I'll have to sing. Now what will I sing?" Sitting in her car on busy Fairfax Street she began practicing on "I Gave My Love a Cherry" from her old Girl Scout camp days. She couldn't remember all the words and none of the right tune, so she gave up, drove home, called the studio and said, "This is Suzie Dirr. Cancel my appointment. I'm chicken!"
[Well that's just too bad. I'm sure Suzie had plenty of talent and would have done fine if she had just practiced a little. If you aren't familiar with that song she was trying to sing, here it is on the Youtubes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HaBK0dBV47E]
Via the voodoo doll, Mike - oops! Knuckehead - is seeing the sights in California. David Wayne takes it everywhere we go. He surely does enjoy it. He's sitting in the floor playing with the Matchbox cars and the little circus train. The voodoo doll is laying across the tracks and evidently the train is going to run over it. I'm almost glad you were unable to get the service station because he's been making his own - our shoe boxes are all gone as this is what he's been cutting up, printing signs on them, and painting. He fixed up a service station, a farm, and an animal doctor's building. The service station also doubles as a tunnel for his train. I wrote you that we had to teach him how to play cars, but now he can play _all_ day long with them. The TV never is turned on any more. He hasn't watched even one cartoon since Christmas.
David Wayne is really looking forward to coming home. The first thing he did this morning was to draw a picture of a pelican. When he showed it to us and told us what it was, he said, "I'm going to be looking for one of these today and get it to carry me to Texas in his mouth." I can't imagine what he dreamed about last night. And Dave is just as homesick as David Wayne - he won't rest a minute until he can get me home to have the baby and it will be worse now that he's seen the freeway traffic at night (which I've told him is usually the time most babies come).
[The next part was written Tuesday, January 23.]
I had planned on finishing this letter yesterday but I took a nap. After sleeping I drank a cup of hot tea and guess what - it made me sick. I vomited and felt so weak that I went back to bed. Barbara Hansen came over as I was thinking any minute I'd die. She was going to a discount shoe store and wanted us to go along. What did I do but get dressed, go with her, buy a pair of shoes, and had a wonderful afternoon - not bad for a sick gal, eh?
We picked up Dave and Erland from work and then all of us went to the Hansen's. We listened to some stereo tapes and then walked to a really nice restaurant, Bull 'n Bush, and ate. Our food was delicious - prime beef. It was better this time than the first time we ate there. Again we were very proud of the way David Wayne behaved. He has gotten very fond of Barbara and Erland and just loves to be with them - I'm glad because Dave and I certainly enjoy their company.
Of course, Dave should have come home and gone to bed last night, but he enjoyed the evening. He slept a little longer than usual this morning but said he felt good.
I am sending back the clipping of the "store." Thank you for sending it as we both really enjoyed it. Uncle Byrd looked fairly good in the picture - is it a recent one? He didn't look that good the last time I saw him.
[The clipping about the "store" was a neat article from the November 21, 1967 Denton Record-Chronicle about the closing of the College Store, which my grandmother's aunt and uncle had been operating near the TWU campus since 1916. Uncle Byrd was 85 at the time. Here's a scan of the picture and the title of the article.]
[The address of the store was 1219 Oakland Street in Denton, at the corner of Oakland and East Third Street. It now appears to be the TWU Human Resources building according to Google Street View.]
Also, I'm enclosing a picture of David Wayne that we took Christmas morning. This was the very first picture we took and you can tell he's still got sleep in his eyes.
[This was one of the pictures I showed in the post for the letter that covered Christmas morning, but I'll show it here again so you can follow along with Mom's description.]
The balloon is part of the Johnny Astro toy - the red circle is Mars and the blue is the moon. He really enjoyed this toy, but now that he can work it good, it isn't played with much. The gray and white "8 shaped" thing is his Build-A-Road set for the cars - those sticks on the inside are different road signs and street lights (yellow tops). Right in front of the Santa Claus pinata is the circus train and next to it is the Robot (name - Frank). Between Frank and the train is the Batmobile that does all kinds of weird tricks. Directly being our smiling "ham" is a Slap Trap game - the only thing he asked Santa for and the one thing that he doesn't care much for. If his mother could get on the floor to play _with_ him, he would enjoy the game more.
[Yeah, Slap Trap wasn't very fun by yourself, since the object was to remove the things you were holding onto before your opponent slapped the trap closed. And that's kind of sad to hear about Johnny Astro already being pushed aside after being mastered within a month. I'm pretty sure I played with it some in Texas, though.]
Well, must close sometime. I've got to wash clothes and go to grocery store. Take care and write as often as you can. Congratulate Mike on his giving music lessons!
[I think I previously mentioned that Uncle Mike was in his high school band (trombone). Here it looks like his teaching career started early. Later in life he would teach a few college courses related to the music business.]
Love,
Linda
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