Peanuts by Doreen Kimmel

Author:Doreen Kimmel
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Publish on Demand Global LLC

With Doreen in school and Joe busy at work, I felt it was time for me to go back to work. I loved being a wife and mother, but I also enjoyed the ability to spread my wings and to do something constructive. I found a great job in a bookbindery located in Queens. The money was good and the benefits were outstanding. Whatever printings were not good enough for distribution were either recycled, or we could take home any one we wanted. By the end of each week, I had accumulated at least a dozen comic books and one or two paperback books. Every weekend, I handed out the comic books to our neighbors, Adele and Pat, for their children and to my little sisters and Joe’s youngest brothers.

Doreen and all of the other children loved the books. Working again was great. Adele watched Doreen after school for an hour, and I was home in time to make a delicious dinner for my little girl and my Peanuts. My wonderful husband insisted that I do whatever I wanted with the money I earned. His pride was showing, but I didn’t mind. He was still the main provider for our little family. His income was more than enough to keep us well fed and clothed. Our savings were mounting, and we were getting closer and closer to buying our house. There wasn’t much I could do with my earnings anyway, so I saved it.

John came home in November. He looked as though he’d been very ill. He said he had fought pneumonia and was here now to help his parents settle in New York. I had a feeling he wasn’t telling us everything, but it wasn’t my place to be so nosey. In the meantime, Joe had heard from Mike and Lou.

The two of them wouldn’t be coming home for Christmas. Mike was still out at sea in the Atlantic and Lou’s ship was moored for repairs at some island in Hawaii. Joe was pleased that they were well and happy, but sad that they were not going to see their mama this year. We started making our plans for the Christmas holidays and everything seemed as great as ever.

Suddenly, on December 7, 1941 our hopes and dreams were shattered. I could never forget that day. After Sunday mass, we were all gathered at Mama’s home for dinner, having a wonderful time, when my sister Lena came running into the kitchen crying for us to get into the parlor at once to hear what was happening on the radio. If Lena hadn’t been so hysterical, we might have just thought that she had only heard some scary story being told. As it turned out, it was the most frightening thing we had ever heard, and it was real.

An announcer on the radio was actually sobbing as he told the United States of the bombing of American ships, airplanes, and servicemen happening as he spoke at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. Joe picked up Doreen and hugged me so hard that I could feel his heart pounding on my arm.

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.