Friday, March 27, 2009

The Cuban/Misses Crisis

My mother is a great source of stories, since she was somewhat of a quiet rebel in her day. She was a bit like Lucy I guess, and her “Ethel” was usually her lifelong friend, we'll call her, ahhh, “Miss House”, to protect her identity. Sort of.

Back in Texas City in the early Fifties, there was a semi-pro baseball team. On this team was a catcher from Cuba who apparently caught Miss House’s eye, and vice versa. She asked her mother if she could go on a date with him; her mother said, “Only if Lila goes.”

My mom got the message and as was her nature, she didn’t “ask” her parents. She knew they would instantly say “no”. Grandaddy would likely not only say “no”; there would no doubt be some expletives accompanying the declaration, for emphasis.

This catcher had a cousin that they fixed my mother up with. The catcher was handsome, how much worse could his cousin be? Turns out, he could be pretty ugly. On reflection, my mom says he looked a lot like Hugo Chavez, the Venezuelan president who is so gracious to our country. Thick, inside-out lips and bad skin, Mr. Cousin was not what anyone would consider a prize by any standard.

The date did not involve a long ride to anywhere, but the catcher, being tired from his duties at home plate, asked if Miss H would like to drive his convertible. She jumped at the chance since she loved to drive, and my mom and Hugo took the back seat.

Miss H recalls the experience with fits of guilty laughter; glancing in the rearview mirror at my mother, the wind whipping the scarf covering her hairdo, one hand trying to control the thrashing silk, and the other hand fending off her date’s relentless octopus advances. All the while, the handsome catcher was snoring like a sawmill in the passenger seat.

There aren’t too many details about the rest of the night available, but it’s likely that not too much more time was expended on the fiasco. Judging from the fact that my mother never spent any time in prison, it is clear that she never got the chance to reward the Cuban cousin in a manner befitting his behaviour as I am sure she wanted to that evening. It is also clear that my grandfather never heard of the incident, judging from the fact that there was no ugly Cuban reported shot to death and dumped in Galveston Bay.

7 comments:

Rob V. said...

I love blind date stories coz they generally involve someone (sometimes both) in an awkward position -- one person thinks the other is a creep, but out of courtesy you have to be civil and nice and you pretend the creep is not really a creep, but is really OK. I wonder if there ever has been an instance in which 2 people who met on a blind date actually hit it off from the start and developed a great relationship and got married and lived happily ever after (as the saying goes). Maybe so, but I think it's probably very rare.

charleyd said...

It sounds like a time bfore DNA testing, and, I don't know what crustations dwell in Galveston Bay, so you can never be too sure there wasn't an ugly Cuban somewhere in those depths.

Anonymous said...

BIG TOE said....
Well, as a matter of fact Rob V. My best friend Susan set me up on a blind date In 1983. We married in 1986 and are still married today, 23 years in August. The funny thing about this story is that when Susan's boyfriend called the house that my husband Russell shared with 3 other roomates.None of the roomates wanted to answer the phone and Russell was nominated because he was closest. it just so happed that he agreed to the blind date. It could have been anyone of them that answered the phone and it could of turned out different. I hate to brag but I was a hot eighteen year old girl. When the other roomates finally met me they were all jealous that they didn't answer the phone that day and I am glad they didn't.

aA said...

Well, it's so rewarding to me to see that four of my five faithful readers found and read my offering.

Rob, I hope Big Toe's story warms your heart, Charley, I hope you're wrong!

the photoSmith said...

wow, it's been so long I forgot how to find this blog... thankfully (at least in my opinion, except for BIG TOE's case) i never experienced a blind date...or really the dating scene. been with the misses since my junior year of high school and wouldn't change a thing.

invigilator_tex said...

Never been out with a blind date, but I did romance a girl who had one leg shorter than the other one. Eileen was her name if I recall.

Ok, you can all groan in unison.

Well, I'm glad your mommy wasn't attracted to that Cuban guy. We'd all be blogging on the Comrade Chronicles if that were the case. I much prefer Geezer stuff myself.

Glad you're back in the saddle Geez.

DammitWomann said...

Glad to see you're back to writing. Srsly,I was going thru withdrawls............