You visit a room often enough and it becomes impossible to separate the room, its “things” and its inhabitants.\u00a0 So it was for me and my Aunt Meggie’s den… first in Woodbury and then re-created on the Cape in Chatham.\u00a0 <\/p>\n
As a kid, I loved Meggie’s house… the many small rooms, each containing special corners and hiding places… perfect ground for a young imagination.\u00a0 No room captured me more than her den.\u00a0 No room offered a better representation of my Aunt… art on the wall, figurines in the \u00e9tag\u00e8re, the furniture itself: Uncle Saul’s blue club chair, the thick couch, the Hitchcock rocking chair and a formal <\/em>chair that no one sat on.\u00a0 It was all Meggie.<\/p>\n Each visit I would find something new.\u00a0 Not that it was new<\/em>.\u00a0 Just a new <\/em>discovery to young eyes.\u00a0 “New” because there was only so much that I could take in on any given occasion.\u00a0 Sure I may have loved Meggie’s oatmeal raisin cookies… I think I loved this room more… the old fashioned globe standing in the corner, the tally desk with its multiple drawers (each one that had to be investigated), the Beatrix Potter figurines, the hat rack, the Lautrec poster, the Tiffany lamp, built-in bookshelves, a Sharp’s buffalo rifle (perhaps the biggest surprise to those who did not know of Saul and Meggie’s early days)… I loved it, particularly\u00a0when the adults talked elsewhere<\/em>, leaving me to explore the den and its possessions in solitary joy.<\/p>\n But at\u00a0some point in the visit, Meggie would get comfortable in the den.\u00a0 If Uncle Saul commanded the dinner table, Aunt Meggie held court in the den.\u00a0 When I was a kid and the adults gathered there, “adult conversation” ruled… meaning: how cousin Roz looked like “death warmed over” because of her ridiculous diet.\u00a0 Or: how Philophage the florist got a girl in trouble<\/em> (I didn’t know what that meant).\u00a0 I would try my best to ignore their talk… and rather busied myself with the miniature lead dinosaurs from the Peabody Museum that graced the lower shelf of the \u00e9tag\u00e8re.<\/p>\n It was only later… after Uncle Saul, my Mom & Dad had passed away,\u00a0that I truly\u00a0learned to appreciate that room, and the stage it provided for the marvelous stories Meggie could weave.\u00a0 No one told a better story than Meggie.<\/p>\n My visits to the den in Chatham were usually motivated by a need for healing<\/em>… to re-connect with firm ideas and secure emotions… what my Father would have called touching base.<\/em><\/p>\n On one visit, the hat rack called to me<\/em>.\u00a0 An old\u00a0Yale football helmet (supposedly worn by Albie Booth), a nifty straw boater (retrieved from the Head of the Charles Regatta), a dusty Stetson (I was told that it was worn by Bill Hickock when he drew a hand of aces over eights), a freshman beanie <\/em>from Union’s Class of ’71 (this was my contribution), a small mauve colored hat with lace trim (worn by Katherine Hepburn, if we are to believe).\u00a0\u00a0And then some dumb non-descript porkpie hat that seemed out of place for lacking notoriety or a story.\u00a0 Or so I thought.<\/p>\n I looked out the den window… storm clouds gathered over the Atlantic.\u00a0 The sky deepened to a dark grey, the wind picked the water into white caps.\u00a0 Aunt Meggie turned on the Tiffany table lamp which cast a dim glow to the room and its many artifacts.\u00a0\u00a0She sipped her glass of tea and I contented myself with a whisky.<\/p>\n “Meggie… is that ugly hat new<\/em>?\u00a0 Tell me that Clyde Barrow wore it when he bought the farm<\/em>!”<\/p>\n “That hat?\u00a0 No, it’s not new.\u00a0 Hardly.\u00a0 Maybe it was too ordinary<\/em> for you to have noticed it before.”<\/p>\n She put her glass of tea down, got up from the Hitchcock rocker, approached the rack and took down the mouse colored hat from its perch.\u00a0 She brushed it… she held it to her breast and closed her eyes.<\/p>\n “This was your Uncle Saul’s.\u00a0 Well… not really his.\u00a0 <\/em>But he ended picking it up off the floor.”<\/p>\n I took another sip and let Meggie’s voice lull me.<\/p>\n “Saul and I first met in Paris.\u00a0 We were young and each of us had gone to Europe in search of adventure.\u00a0 I was going to study dance and Saul was playing clarinet in a klezmer <\/em>band.\u00a0 What can I say?\u00a0 We were young.\u00a0 Paris.\u00a0 Broke.\u00a0 We fell in love.\u00a0 We didn’t know from the Depression.<\/em> Everyone was broke.\u00a0 It wasn’t a special deal.\u00a0 We lived in a fifth floor flat in Montmartre… from our tiny kitchen (a closet really) we could see the Sacre Coeur.\u00a0 <\/em>Those were the days!\u00a0 Some of the happiest I have spent.\u00a0 Young, in love… when a half baguette, some cheese and a bottle of red was a banquet!”<\/p>\n She put the hat back to its proper place and returned to the Hitchcock.<\/p>\n “Time marched on.\u00a0 And Europe was getting ugly.\u00a0 It was 1934.\u00a0 Hunger in our bellies we could deal with… but what was taking place in Germany put a damper on our pursuit of art.\u00a0 <\/em>I had hurt my knee.\u00a0 Saul’s band split up.\u00a0That mishuga <\/em>Hitler was Chancellor.\u00a0 It was time to return home.\u00a0 But we were broke and couldn’t afford passage home.\u00a0 And did I mention that my parents, your grandparents, weren’t pleased that we were living in sin<\/em>?”\u00a0 <\/p>\n I think she enjoyed this part of the story the most. It made her feel contemporary…<\/em> “living in sin”.\u00a0 That’s my Aunt Meggie and Uncle Saul!\u00a0 I just can imagine my Grandfather waiting at the dock in New York with a shotgun… make that a Sharp’s buffalo rifle<\/em>!<\/p>\n “The RMS Mauretania was getting set to sail to New York on what would be her final voyage.\u00a0 Saul noticed that there was an opportunity for couples to dance their way across the <\/em>Atlantic<\/em>!\u00a0 Cunard Lines had the idea of offering ’round the clock entertainment on board ship.\u00a0 A ‘non-stop dance marathon’ for the amusement of the paying patrons… a sizeable cash prize to be awarded in New York for the winning couple… and of course there would be some wagering that would add sporting interest<\/em> to the contest.”<\/p>\n She got up from the rocker again… went to the bookshelf and fetched a shoebox… another item I had not noticed before, maybe it was also too ordinary <\/em>to attract the curious eye.\u00a0 Meggie opened it to show me a pair of red pumps with a low heel.<\/p>\n “I wore these shoes from Liverpool to New York!\u00a0 Two days before boarding ship the Cunard hosted a ‘dance night’… the purpose was to give ‘sponsors’ a chance to see couples dance.\u00a0 The sponsors would cover the cost of the trans-Atlantic ticket… and hopefully would have their investment returned in New York in the form of the cash reward… and of course there would be side bets<\/em> as well.\u00a0 Fifty couples were permitted on board.\u00a0 We were one of the lucky ones.\u00a0 Couple #12.\u00a0 Our sponsor was Michael R.\u00a0Sullivan… also known as Mickey the Cigar.”<\/em><\/p>\n She closed the box. “My Saul-ie… what a dancer!\u00a0 He knew all the steps.\u00a0 Which was a good thing… because we would foxtrot, charleston and waltz from one side of the Atlantic to the other… 10 minutes of rest each hour… and a half hour every eight hours.\u00a0 And me with a bum knee!\u00a0 But we danced and danced.\u00a0 Our sponsors watched from tables that lined the outside of the dance floor… they shouted encouragement, words of advice and threats!\u00a0 There were contests within the main contest… who did the best tango… who was the best looking couple… that sort of thing.\u00a0 The wagering became quite heavy.”<\/p>\n She looked at the storm brewing on the Atlantic… my guess is that the storm didn’t interest her.\u00a0 But her story brought her back to the day when she crossed that body of water… and she looked at the Atlantic in a personal way… as if it shared in her memory.<\/p>\n “One night… at least I think it was night, we were to have a ‘foxtrot contest’.\u00a0 There was to be a $500 award for this contest, which by agreement would have gone to Mickey the Cigar.\u00a0\u00a0$500 was a ton of money then.\u00a0 Fine.\u00a0 We were just happy to find a way to get back home.\u00a0 Mickey took his seat at a table right by the dance floor… he wore this thick striped brown suit, a dark tie, brown and white spectator shoes and a porkpie hat… and, as you would imagine, a cigar\u00a0gripped in his teeth.\u00a0 We danced near the table, he raised his mai tai\u00a0<\/em>and said, ‘look kids, I’m wearin’ my drinkin’ shoes and I got my rum hat<\/em> on… we’re <\/em>winnin’ tonight!’ and he finished the\u00a0mai tai\u00a0<\/em>and ordered another.\u00a0 That was the first time I heard of a mai tai<\/em>… some guy, Donn Beach invented the\u00a0rum drink that year and it was the rage.\u00a0 Well, we danced our hearts off, and Mickey downed mai tai <\/em>after mai tai.”<\/em><\/p>\n I looked at my whisky… mai tais<\/em>?\u00a0 I think I’ve had one <\/em>years ago… maybe<\/u>.<\/em><\/p>\n “The judge moved through the dance floor, looking at each couple, making his notes.\u00a0 One song after another, without pause. The excitement in the ballroom increased with each number… more wagers were being put down.\u00a0 Folks were cheering and hooting… supporting their favorites booing others.\u00a0 Mickey kept the flow of mai tais<\/em> going… he loosened his tie and he was certainly ‘into it’.\u00a0 We were into the last number before the conclusion of the judging.\u00a0 And the judge was very close to\u00a0us… Saul whispered to me, ‘he likes us, I think we’re going to win.\u00a0 Just keep smiling.’\u00a0 The Judge ran some type of dance studio<\/em> in New York and he was always dressed impeccably.\u00a0 He nodded in our direction and then turned away and gave the award to a couple from Philadelphia!\u00a0 We were surprised.\u00a0 But Mickey the Cigar?\u00a0 He was pissed!”<\/p>\n Meggie shook her head and had a good laugh.\u00a0 She took off her glasses to give them a good cleaning before continuing with the narrative.<\/p>\n “Mickey stood up and started pointing at the Judge, and then he shouted, ‘come here you dumb little faggot, I’m gonna beat the shit outya!!’ He made a move to go on to the dance floor, he upturned his table… he knocked over the table next to him, too… which gets other people involved, then he took his hat off and slammed it to the floor, ‘come here you little piece of shit… we just got robbed! Da fix was in!’\u00a0 And the next thing you know there\u00a0was a ruckus that spread to the dance floor.\u00a0 People were shouting, fists flying… it was a good thing that we were coming to our half hour break.”<\/p>\n She just shook her head and smiled.<\/p>\n “We were near Mickey’s table, or I should say where the table had been.<\/em>\u00a0 Saul picked up Mickey’ porkpie, and we headed back to our bunks for a rest.\u00a0 Saul intended giving the hat back to him.\u00a0 But that was the last we ever saw of Mickey the Cigar: slugging it out with someone on the dance floor.\u00a0\u00a0Years later we tried looking him up.\u00a0 No luck.\u00a0 One day\u00a0I saw something in the paper about someone named Michael R. Sullivan being killed at\u00a0Omaha Beach.\u00a0 How many Michael R. Sullivans are there?\u00a0 Lots,\u00a0I suppose…”<\/p>\n “Did\u00a0you win Aunt Meggie?”<\/p>\n “Win?\u00a0 Saul and I\u00a0did get married…”<\/p>\n “No, did you win the big prize?”<\/p>\n “Oh… that?\u00a0 No.\u00a0 The Philadelphia couple took the\u00a0big prize<\/em>, too.\u00a0 We finished fifth out of fifty.\u00a0 No money; but we felt pretty proud.\u00a0Over the years, I can’t tell you how many times, Saul would look at me and say, ‘Doll, we’re top five stuff!'”\u00a0 <\/p>\n I looked around the room.\u00a0 And in the quiet of the pause, I could hear the wind picking up.\u00a0 I looked for the old reference points\u00a0of my youth.\u00a0 My\u00a0attention was\u00a0drawn to the \u00e9tag\u00e8re and its lower shelf.<\/p>\n “Did you get those dinosaurs just to keep me occupied?”<\/p>\n “That was your Mother’s idea.\u00a0 She bought them at the Museum Gift Shop, and gave them to me so that you would have something that was yours <\/em>when you came for a visit.\u00a0 She was sharp that way.”<\/p>\n “Sure.\u00a0 Sharp<\/em> like her Sister!”<\/p>\n “Oh… one more thing, Jimmy.\u00a0 Clyde Barrow was wearing a fedora<\/u> <\/em>when he bought the farm<\/em>.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" You visit a room often enough and it becomes impossible to separate the room, its “things” and its inhabitants.\u00a0 So it was for me and my Aunt Meggie’s den… first in Woodbury and then re-created on the Cape in Chatham.\u00a0 … Continue reading