It was October 1972, and my family moved to Corpus Christi, Texas. I had two weeks leave before I was to leave for Japan. I decided to fly to Ft. Wayne to see my grandfather for a day or two, then I would fly to Texas to see my family. After I landed in Ft. Wayne I rented a car to get around. “Do you want insurance for $1.00 more per day?” asked the lady working at the rental counter. I bought it and I was so glad because the next morning I was crossing an intersection when I was broadsided by a pick up truck. The accident seemed to happen in slow motion. I watched the glass from the passenger window break into small bits and hit me in the face. The seat came loose and broke the shifter off the floor. My head smashed into the drivers window. Instant headache! I was frozen in time, the next thing I know was a police officer helping me from the car. I had blood dripping down the side of my face. I ached all over. The officer said that I didn’t look too bad but he should take me to the hospital to get the glass out of my ear. He took my report and told me to call the car rental place after he took me to the hospital. The officer was so nice that after the hospital he gave me a ride to my hotel. Then he told me he was a friend of my fathers.
I called the rental office and they asked me to come to their office downtown and fill out some paperwork. When I showed up the manager greeted me with, “so you bought the insurance?” Well that saved my ass. The manager asked me if was staying in town for a while and I confirmed that I was. When I left I headed to the hotel and then to the airport for the next flight out to Texas.
When I arrived in Corpus the family was waiting for me. It seemed nice to see them again. My father had taken a job on the long shore docks loading ships. The money was real good more than they were use to. However, the work wasn’t everyday and layoffs happened frequently. They had moved to Texas because it was home to my mother and my father had a retirement fund of $20,000. Thats what they used to move with. At that time in the 1970’s it was a lot of money, but it didn’t take long for it to dry up.
The next day was great. I had lunch at one of my favorite places Whataburger. They had great hamburgers of course. Freshly made just the way you would like. Later I would go to 5 points and have the awesome Dr. Pepper over crushed ice. This trip would bring back memories of my childhood as well as my famous trip when I was sixteen on my motorcycle. Remembering that, made me realize that I should go see my Mimi.
Mimi lived in a small house that my mother and her two brothers and her sister had grown up in. I could never figure out how they all lived in such a small place. Mimi had been a waitress for as long as I could remember. When we were younger and our parents took vacation time to Texas we would arrive at the restaurant where she worked. It was a dinner with booths and the little juke boxes right at the table. We always thought it was cool. We would sit there and play Elvis and Pat Boone.
My Mimi was glad to see me, however she scolded me for what I had tried to do by making the trip on my motorcycle two years earlier. We talked about uncle Floyd, he had died while I was at boot camp. I knew that I was going to need a car when I got back. I ask her if I could have it or buy it. The car was just sitting in the back yard. For no reason she said no. I guess she didn’t want to part with that part of Floyd.
My family living in Texas didn’t make any difference. They were all the same. After only a couple days my father and I were back at it. I couldn’t wait for my leave to be over. It was kind of like one of those vacations from hell.
