STORY ONE

THE WEDDING, OR MARRIED LIFE STARTS FOR TWO NOVICES

Molly had a sure fire way of keeping me on the hook. Not only was she charming, intelligent and good looking, but she was also very well endowed and when we dated, she always wore her sweater one size too small. With that sort of combination who could resist. As if that were not enough, her mother would be very understanding when I brought her home from a Saturday night date at four in the morning. Instead of reprimanding her as to the lateness of the hour she would invite me in for a delicious early morning breakfast. We would sit around the kitchen table and have a relaxed time chatting about our date and engage in other small talk. Of course by this time we were already seriously considering our engagement and subsequent marriage.

There were a number of events that tended to clinch our permanent bond, but two of these probably stand out more than the others. One of these events came about when I took Molly out on a date in late fall of 1949. We had dinner out and then, as a surprise, I had gotten tickets to the Brooklyn Academy of Music to see "Madame Butterfly". I was so enchanted with my date that I did not even notice that she was coughing from time to time. It was a different story however, once the opera had started. We were in the first row of the second balcony, fairly close to the stage. All went well for the opening scenes. The music was delightful, the stage setting and lighting perfect, and the lead singer, although a little chubby for the part had an excellent voice; then came Molly's turn. Just as the best known aria of the opera began, and with the audience turned down to a hush in rapture, Molly was seized with a long and loud coughing spell. It annoyed the persons sitting around us, it unnerved the orchestra conductor, especially since the music was very soft and highly melodious just at that part of the aria, and no doubt it must have brought terror into the heart of the artist playing the lead part. Molly was really in no shape to get up and have half a row of people stand so she could wiggle by, especially since she was a big girl, while coughing all the way. She also did not want to block the view of a good part of the second balcony as well, so we decided to just hang in hoping her system would return to normalcy quickly. Unfortunately for all involved, it was not quite as quick as we had hoped. Molly must have felt terrible, not only because of her physical discomfort, but also because her mental anguish. Nevertheless she kept up her composure and good nature making the best of a very embarrassing situation. Finally, during a brief intermission we had a chance to leave gracefully.

The second event took place during a New Year's party. A group of young men had formed a social neighborhood club, of which I was a member. Most of the fellows were college students at the time, many attending the same college as I. We called ourselves, The Aztecs, and even had pins made up with our logo. I gave my pin to Molly and it was taken as an unwritten understanding that meant we were going steady. The club had decided to have a New Year's party at one of the member's homes and The Aztecs went ahead full speed to plan for the big night. Food, drinks, decorations, a local band and of course girls were all meticulously planned. The fellows would always invite two kinds of girls. The nice ones were their dates and not to be trifled with. The others were ones that were not worried about their virginity and generally were in the mood if the fellows had a hankering, which some, but not all of the members did. I was not among them however, especially since I was serious with my date, Molly. It was December 31, 1949, the last day of the year and New Year's eve. I called for Molly at her East New York home. She looked stunning. Her auburn hair was freshly done in the prevailing style of the day and since her hair was naturally curly and long she looked great. She wore a black dress banded with gold circular stripes that was molded to her contour together with high heeled shoes that added to her already ample height. We drove to the party and joined in the festivities. It was a great party. All of our plans went well and the crowd was fairly large. We even had to ask a few outsiders who "crashed" the party to leave. Fortunately they did so without trouble. I danced with Molly and we hit it off very well, as usual. Later we danced cheek to cheek to a slow tune; we knew then and there that we were stuck with each other. We definitely wanted to get married.

February 4th, 1950 at an East New York wedding hall the guests assembled for the ceremony. I had given that date to Molly earlier since it fell between semesters. We figured we could get married, have a three day honeymoon and I could start back for my final senior term. As it was, I had gone to school around the clock so to speak, including summers so that I could finish four years of college in three years, which I did. My college schedule plus my part time job of over thirty hours per week, left me very little time for myself, so that every minute was precious. I mention that because there were a few things that I was responsible for at the wedding, which due to my time constraints, were not done to the last minute, so that in short, I was late for the wedding. Since this was a traditional ceremony, in a religious sense, the bride was located in a room apart and the groom could not see her that day till the actual ceremony took place. Well, the bride and guests were waiting and becoming somewhat anxious while my buddy from work, Jerry, drove me around taking care of the last minute details; Jerry was also going to drive us on our honeymoon. Finally we made it to the hall. When we entered everyone cheered and clapped. There was going to be a wedding after all.

The guests, having to wait some two hours for me, were in a festive mood; since while waiting, they had naturally been eating and drinking. It was a gala wedding. The religious part of the ceremony was held in the Hall's Chapel and went well. My best man, Sam, escorted me to the beginning of the Chapel aisle where we waited for the bride who was to be given away by her older brother, since her Dad died in an industrial accident when Molly was about five years old. She looked magnificent as a bride. Her make up was perfect, and her white embroidered gown, beautiful. The wedding dress fit her well and I imagined her to be somewhat uncomfortable due to her tight corset, but it looked great. We walked down the aisle, her long train extending way out behind her, and the ceremony began in earnest. It was conducted with solemn dignity and I could hear a number of sobs and sniffles as the audience became fully enraptured in the ceremonial process. As tradition required, I smashed a small glass, that was used to drink the wine which capped the ceremony, with my heel, which indicated that this part of the wedding was complete. There was only one other task to be performed. That was the signing and witnessing of the Marriage Covenant. It began with a heading that said, "This Is To Certify That on the First Day of the Week, the 18th Day of the Month of Shevat in the Year 5,710 corresponding to the 4th Day of February 1950, the holy Covenant of Marriage Was Entered Into...", and after describing the duties of the Bridegroom and Bride, was signed by Bernie, Sam, myself and the Reverend - Molly's signature was not required. We were now married. We went on to the dining room where the band struck up and the guests reassembled. Many of Molly's relatives could be loosely identified by groups. There were those from Brooklyn, those from Long Island and those from the Bronx. The Bronx crowd took it all when it came to merriment and cutting up. They were a wild and happy bunch. There was no respite from their amiable razzing and frequent advice to newlyweds. They also kept the party lively till way past two in the morning. Many relatives were very generous, since traditionally money was a standard gift, and knowing that college students do not have a lot of capital, that was indeed a most welcome and helpful custom. Finally, a very tired and almost exhausted couple bid their farewell to the still ongoing celebration. Jerry, our driver, took us home for a quick change of clothes and then drove us off to our destination, an upstate resort for our honeymoon.

Since it was winter, there was snow on the roads, and it took us a little longer than we had planned, but we did arrive albeit at five in the morning. Naturally it was too late for Jerry to drive back home, so we booked a room for him as well and, in a manner of speaking, there were three for our honeymoon. We retired and fell asleep almost immediately. We were bushed. A couple hours later, some drunk knocked loudly at our door, shouting, "Honey won't you let me in?". He finally wandered off figuring he must have had the wrong floor. Later in the morning, it probably was around ten, our friend Jerry woke us up. He indicated it was a beautiful day outside and asked if we wanted to join him in a walk to enjoy the winter landscape. He also informed us that we would miss the last serving of breakfast unless we hurried. We looked at Jerry somewhat incredulously and begged off. He still had trouble understanding that we were not really there for that purpose. Later that day, and after some intimate fooling around, we did meet Jerry for dinner. He had enjoyed the resort location so much that he decided to stay for an extra day and we spent most of the next day together. We did have the last day all alone to ourselves and made the most of it. The time came for us to take the train back home and end our honeymoon. It was a great beginning for two people who really did not quite understand what they were in for.

Dear reader, since you fell soundly asleep while attempting to finish STORY ONE, you may want to complete it during your next sleepless night, and if that does not suffice, please start on STORY TWO. Thank you.

©1990 Herbert Holzbauer

published @1997 edition S.p.N.LAUB

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