My Old Friend Carol

I just heard in a round-about way that a friend of mine from years past was having Hospice care at home. My cousin was also her cousin.

Carol's mother kept her when she was born, although Carol's mother was not married to Carol's father. So Carol never really had a normal home life. Her mother finally found a husband, but this guy was a buyer for Sears and traveled much of the time, staying in hotel rooms all over the country. Carol's mother wanted to be with Harry, so Carol was left some of the time with her aunt who was married to my uncle. So we were very close during her stay with them.

Carol was the prettiest girl I ever saw. Everyone told her she should go to Hollywood and become a movie actress. Fat chance.
I remember one Easter when Carol's mother came to visit her with a big Easter basket full of goodies and a pretty blue organdy dress. Then off her mother would go again leaving Carol behind with her big Easter basket full of chocolate bunnies and colorful little eggs and her beautiful blue organdy dress.

Carol said to me once in a very sad voice, "My mother is sitting in some hotel room polishing her fingernails instead of being with me." Actually, Carol was feeling very resentful.

Well, guess what? Harry had a kid, too. A younger boy, named George. I don't think anybody bothered much with George, either, because one night I remember that Carol, I and this George kid, were at my uncle's home baby-sitting my little cousin.
George found a bottle of white shoe polish and proceeded to cover most of his skin with it when Carol and I weren't looking.
Then George got into the baby buggy and pretended he was a baby---a very white baby. I don't know what became of George, but I think his mother took him after she found another husband and had a home for him.

Well, Carol finally went to live with her mother but we kept in touch from time to time. I went to Minneapolis in 1954 to visit her one winter in her upstairs apartment where she and her two kids lived. Yes, now Carol was divorced from her first husband and she was trying to support her family by working in a jewelry store. She had met another fellow and he wanted to give her everything, but didn't have the means. So he took a gun to Chicago and held up a bank. He was shot dead on the spot. I couldn't believe what I was hearing!

We lost touch for years, but she did get married again and had another child. I saw her once around that time. That didn't work out either, so she was single again, trying to support her family. Then she married again and after the third husband died in Arizona, I heard from Carol and she sent me a picture of herself..... still looking very lovely. We corresponded for awhile and lost touch again.... until recently when I heard that she didn't have long to live.

I never will forget Carol, she was one hell-of-a lady!