Measure of a Man: From Auschwitz Survivor to Presidents' Tailor by Martin Greenfield & Wynton Hall

Author:Martin Greenfield & Wynton Hall
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Non-Fiction, Biography
ISBN: 1621572668
Publisher: Regnery Publishing
Published: 2014-10-20T22:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER EIGHT

THE BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE

During the summer of 1948, I realized Mr. Goldman was right: Helen wasn’t the girl for me. It wasn’t anything she did, but what I had yet to do: live, roam, explore. America is big—huge, in fact. There were encounters to be had, lessons to be learned. Put simply, I realized I was not ready for marriage. It was unfair to lead Helen on or waste her time. Still, I didn’t know how to break it off. I didn’t want to hurt her. She and her family had been nothing but kind. What’s more, having lost everyone I ever loved, I was terrible with good-byes.

The solution to my cowardly breakup dilemma arrived in the form of a letter I received from my uncle in Mexico. Uncle Antonio Berger had no children. He lived most of his life in France but moved to Mexico when he was unable to gain entry into the United States. Like my other maternal aunts and uncles, Uncle Antonio never met my mother, having left Pavlovo before her birth. Uncle Antonio and I had maintained regular correspondence from the time Uncle Irving included his mailing address in those early letters sent to Gabersee. In his latest letter, Uncle Antonio informed me he would be sending me an airplane ticket to Mexico to visit him. He said the ocean was clear, the girls were gorgeous, and the weather was perfect—a paradise for a much-needed getaway.

I had never ridden on an airplane. The idea of flying to a vacation destination was foreign to me. In my mind, civilian aviation was for rich, famous people, not common people. And certainly not broke refugees. The timing was perfect, though. The factory closed every summer for the union holiday.

That summer, when the sun baked Brooklyn like a brick, Uncle Antonio told me to keep an eye on the mail for his paid airline ticket and to prepare for a week of pure bliss in Mexico. Uncle Antonio had done well for himself in the real estate and jewelry businesses. His generosity moved me, but it was getting to spend time together and strengthen the family ties that excited me most.

Kalvin understood this and was happy for me. He was also glad that at least one of us would be able to say he had flown on an airplane. “Big shot! Maybe you’ll meet movie stars or singers. You never know,” he said, giving me a brotherly chuck on the shoulder.

My Mexico adventure gave me a way to let Helen down easy and go our separate ways. Instead of telling her I was going on a one-week vacation to Mexico, I told her I was moving to Mexico. Permanently. Since we lived next door to one another, my ruse forced Kalvin and me to move. Relocating was easy. Everything we owned fit into a couple of suitcases and boxes. Besides, we had wanted a larger place, and now we had an excuse—bad as it was—to find one.

I spent some

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.