Part 24 (2/2)

Before I could work at any job I had to get a release fro was an essential industry in the total effort toinning the war I went to the Sater Eive me a release They sent me to the Abilene office, and Abilene didn't have the authority to grant o to the Sater office I told them that Sater had sent o to Dallas

But I didn't go to Dallas, I went hoo o to Washi+ngton I kept hoping soeles, because that's where I wanted to go But they didn't So we got ready and headed for California anyway Crazy, you say? Sure, ht so, too But I knehat I was doing I was backinga tractor, like repairing aFederal Offices shove ency Every Agency had the authority to grant a permit to work All I needed was to qualify for a permit They called the permit an availability slip And without the slip, no one could hirefrooods to win the war Noas producing about enough on the farhbors could make the old farm produce that much while I ay That's one reason we headed west

We stopped somewhere west of Hamlin and east of California and I applied for a permit They handed me a form and I filled it out But, since I was a farive o back? Certainly not California est and that's where ere going We never could get there by turning back

So we drove on ard and I tried another office I filled out a form just like the one before, only this time I knew not to be a farmer This time I was a welder, self employed Now, actually that was no fib Many of my friends back home would tell you I was a better welder than I was a fars than I was at farh in ork, so I had no trouble getting the work slip this ti for Ea Aircraft in Burbank they wantedpaidfor a welding job They said they had no welding jobs open at present, I would have to wait until one opened up I asked if I could go on out to Vega and build boxes, but they told her skill and I would not be allowed to work below hest skill Then I asked the , starve to death?” He didn't know about that, but he knew I could not take the box-building job And that's when I told hi with ned up and went to work

At Royston labor was a dollar a day, out here I was1235 a day Then after a few days, Iet the kids started in school I told her that if she couldn't do that without me, we didn't have any business in California

After thinking it over a few days, we decided that Iht be a lot better off back home in Texas So, I quit ive it to me So I took my family to Texas without it Lucky for asoline ration coupons left over froet another work slip I was still a welder and had not been eain for an availability slip, I didn't have to tell a fib, I only withheld some of the truth

I left Ie, Texas, to work at shi+p building I signed on as a welder and of course they tookforeman told me they didn't need welders, and I learned that I would have to work at common labor at about half the pay I told theates were locked and I couldn't get out to go to the office until noon That was fine with o anywhere I wanted to I ured no one would stop me, and even if they did, they couldn't fireIand answered to no one

At noon I went back to the office where they had fibbed to me and asked for my availability slip, but they wouldn't return it I asked, ”Where is the next her up?” They showed me his office and I told him my story But he was not impressed and he could not return my slip either Then I asked hi up step by step He told me and I went to see him and told him the same story It was easy to tell by now, I had it ot the same results Finally I told him, ”It looks like you felloantto California and go to work at a better job” He warned et a job without the slip But I told hi and watch h Haelo They stayed there with Ima's folks and I went to California alone

At the employet into trouble, so I wanted to tell her the whole story and then ask her what I should do She told me that wouldn't be necessary, and added, ”Texas and California are two different countries; I'll give you another slip We need you out here” I took the slip-a, through the same office where they kept ave theuess they were happy, now they had two ofboxes for the around had cost me quite a bit of money I needed to make up for soular job, got off at five in the afternoon, ate supper at the company cafe, drove seven ed to the same company This second job paid tiht, they didn't care which The as there to be done and laborers were scarce I usually worked until ten o'clock and got to bed by eleven, so I wouldn't lose too ht

Then one day I got this telegra like this, ”Can you meet me at the Union Depot on Thursday, March 19th at 5:45?”

Well, on raph office So I stopped in one afternoon and sent Ima a reply After all, she had asked a question; the least I could do was to answer it But I didn't see any need to send her a long ot to California

Now, if her telegram had said, ”Meet me at a certain place at a certain time on a certain day, I could have replied, ”Okay” But since she put it in the form of a question, I replied, ”Yes”

I wrote her name at the top of the form, my name at the bottom, and handed it to the man behind the Counter He looked at it, and then he read it, which didn't take long, and turned to me and asked, ”Is this all?”

I told hih”

And it proved to be plenty because, on that appointed day at the appointed hour and at the appointed place, here cahty good toI learned so fast Only three short months before, she couldn't take three kids to school a few miles away in Burbank Now she had learned how to take those sa nation of ours

When they returned to Burbank, Larry was just a bit over a year old and hty spoiled Re, and I have yet to see a sick little baby who doesn't become spoiled He would cry at the drop of a hat, and when it was time for him to sleep, Ioing to sleep without being rocked Then she would try to get hi him She failedhad to be done all over again

Larry also gave Ima trouble in other ways When supper was ready, she had trouble getting hiot him in, he would fuss and cry while she washed his hands and face and got his food from the stove to his plate Then they would have another fuss-and-cry battle at bedti and having to be rocked

Then I the suht So it becaet hi, you have to know ured the saured I was smarter thanI did was shi+ft et hiet hio to bed I reasoned that he would cory, and sleep when he was sleepy In short, I left him alone

We lived in a trailer park And when all the other kids were called in at night, Larry found no pleasure in playing alone, so he came in out of the dark And he didn't fuss while I put his food on his plate I knehen he was co hoot there When he cah the door I would wipe his hands and face with a wet cloth Usually I was through with that little chore before he had time to cry Then I would tell him to climb up there and eat it That is, I told him the first day; after that he didn't have to be told He ate like a horse because by that late hour he was half starved

At bedtio to bed in our trailer, and Larry and I would be left alone in our cabin I kneas co next so I was prepared I beat hi at bedtime either And not one time did I ever have to rock hio to bed