Hard Times - Part 7

The “Frank Sinatra” persona was his playful - and vain - self. I remember Daddy standing in the kitchen with a Coca-Cola in one hand, and a Pall Mall in the other, crooning “My Way”, and “I Left My Heart in San Francisco”. He’d boast how “Old Blue Eyes” didn’t have anything on him…and how when he was young, he was mistaken often for Frank…

Dad would dress up for a photo racetrack event - bathe, shave, trim his nails - habits he did not practice on a regular basis. But when he finished the transformation from “bum” to “dandy”, he looked mighty good - and he knew it! There wasn’t a mirror in the shot-gun house that he didn’t admire himself in…He’d spontaneously start snapping his fingers and singing something jazzy - grab Momma and do a spin, then launch into a witty joke - laugh loudly and declare just how entertaining he was! It was times like these, when I could imagine the young “Frank”, cocky and confident - and knew why Momma married him…

Momma said that she first saw him at an uptown New Orleans restaurant. She was delivering pies that her mother baked for many of the local eateries. He was holding court with his buddies and mesmerizing the lip-sticked, doe-eyed girls hanging on his every word. She said that he was “prissy” and too pretty for her taste - and he annoyed the heck out of her the way he kept flipping a silver dollar in the air with his thumb and forefinger. And though she was staring contemptuously at him, he ignored her - purposely it seemed…

Daddy said he noticed her: “For crying out loud, she pulled up to the restaurant driving a big white motorcycle! She was wearing a helmet, pants and a big coat. If it hadn’t been for her breasts, I wouldn’t have known she was a woman.“

His pals razzed him with “Hey, Earl! That’s Eva Mae over there. Five dollars says she wouldn’t give you the time of day. Doesn’t like men…” Earl shook his head “No thanks.” The bet rose to $25 - if he could get her to go out with him - and $50 if she actually kept the date.

He strolled over to her and said, “Eva Mae? My name’s Earl. Those guys over there are betting that you won’t go out with me. They say you don’t like men…” She placed her last pie on the counter, and said, “Tonight. 7pm. At the movie house on Coliseum.”

Earl showed up outside the theater. He was looking down at the match he had struck to light his cigarette, and didn’t notice her approach him. He took a long drag, then felt her breath on his ear as she whispered, “Waiting for somebody?“ She had high-cheeked bones framed by long auburn hair, serious green eyes, and slightly-parted red lips. His eyes fell down her body - the dress - green like her eyes…clung to her breasts and cinched at the small waist. She was wearing heels and had the most beautiful legs he’d ever seen.

Earl won the bet…and Eva Mae.