Aunt Ruth 1

Aunt Ruth 1

I arrived in St. Paul about two thirty and met my Aunt Ruth. She gave me a big hug and I noticed how gaunt she looked and her eyes had dark circles under her eyes. Her steely dark hair had a sprinkling of gray. She was four years younger than my mother but looked older. My Uncles sickness was taking its toll. “Would you like to see your Uncle Al before we go home?” I said “Yes” When we arrived at the hospital she told me Al does not look the same as when I last saw him. I was not prepared for what I saw. My Uncle looked like a skeleton with skin pulled over it. He was down to 110 lbs. from 280. He said hello in a very weak voice. It almost made me sick. He was a man when I last saw him, 6’6’’ 280lbs. He was a street cop on the downtown beat. My Aunt said he was one of the best liked cops on the force and everyone on his beat loved him. I couldn’t stay there very long and excused myself and went out to the waiting room until my Aunt finished visiting. I never went back to see him. I wanted to remember the old Uncle Al.

We arrived at her place a little past six. Her sister-in-law Edith who lived next door greeted us. She was baby sitting Ruth’s three kids. Ted eight and his sister Susan six, were adopted. The youngest Karen was fourand was Al & Ruth’s child. Edith was tall like her brother Al, almost six feet. She had flaming red hair and freckles all over her face. What I could see of her skin was the color of milk. She was dressed in this long pink dress laced up to her neck and went down to her ankles. She was slender but you could see in spite of the dress that she had an ample chest and what looked like a nice ass. She was a true Swede, accent and all. We shook hands and I found she had a very firm hand shake.

That night I met her husband Albert. He was quite a contrast to her. About 5’ 10” and slender of build. He had a soft almost feminine voice, but a real nice guy. The next several days Ruth showed me the business in the basement. They had a lino-type machine, a small printing press, similar to ones we had in school, a paper cutter and lots of type. She showed me how to emboss the small jewelry boxes and showed me all the back orders that needed to get done right away. There was a door in the middle of the basement wall. Aunt Ruth said Al had cut it in so they would have access to his sister’s place from down there. The building was a double. Aunt Ruth’s was a three bedroom one & a half baths and Edith’s side had two bedrooms & one and a half baths.

When I arrived it was Early March, there was snow all over the ground. After I had been there a couple of weeks I decided to go to a movie. My Aunt dropped me off on the way to the hospital, and told me what street cars to take home. I got out about ten because it was a double feature. I waited at the street car stop and was it cold. The weather had dropped from about 29 degrees to below zero. Being from California I was not dressed for that kind of cold. I had a heavy leather jacket, Levis. And tennis shoes. I started shivering and then began having convulsions. Finally the street car came and I was so glad it was heated. We were about three blocks from Aunt Ruth’s house and I was just starting to thaw out when a drunk slammed into the street car and knocked it off the track. The conductor said it would take at least an hour before they could get another car out there, so I walked home.