Chapter 25 of Tales That I Can Remember by Elsie Swagerty Burton
We made the trip in our very own automobile. It had been purchased in the few months that we had been waiting for June 6th after the feasibility date had arrived. It was a newly painted black, 10 year old Dodge. Harry and I had established a joint bank account in order to save up for this purchase. Dad was not comfortable with that arrangement. He felt it necessary to point out the risk I was taking. He felt I was too trusting. I assured hm that this was a very good time, before our wedding, to find out if Harry was indeed trustworthy. It would be a very small price to pay. I guess he agreed, for I never heard another word about it.
It was about this same time that Dr. Magoon changed his office to a higher floor in the Medical-Dental Building. He didn’t have a very large practice but once a week he examined the applicants for the CCC camps. A majority of the men were of Italian decent and devoured copious amounts of garlic. Their pores breathed that pungent odor. As soon as was possible, even on very chilly days, we opened the windows wide after their visits. One could hardly bear fo breath in that fog of garlic.
This new office had two examining rooms, one of which was lined with cabinets. All of the doctor’s drugs had been put in boxes and set in the middle of that room. The doctor wanted me to put the bottles of drugs, whose names I could not even read, on the shelves. I had no idea how to start, how to organize them or what to do. He kept asking how I was doing and to go ahead. I asked for instructions on how to get started, but he would give me none. I felt impotent. I could not force myself to do anything. I did nothing. The doctor was no longer president of the A.M.A. Chapter, hence he no longer needed a secretary, so he fired me. What else?
Actually, making decisions of that nature is painful for me. I was having to make decisions of where to put things on a grand scale there in our apartment with all those boxes and boxes of wedding gifts, kitchen supplies and dishes, decorations for out dining and living rooms, bathroom and bedroom. Then at the same time, more of them just went off track – malfunction!
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