On to Big D

My memories of the late spring of 1972 are a bit on the hazy side. I remember all of the significant events but not necessarily the exact order in which they occurred. So I will do my best to relate them as best I can recall. Here goes:

Karina was living in an old white 10 story (or so) apartment building in the Oak Lawn area of Dallas. It had obviously been an "upscale" facility back in the 20s or 30s. (For example, each unit had a little compartment with inner and outer doors where once upon a time you could put your shoes to be shined. Little things like that.) But by the early 1970s it was a bit rough around the edges and the owner had placed a large cross on the roof. (Made it look kind of like a hospital.)

Aside: I don't remember exactly where the building was but I'm sure it isn't there any more. Karina's apartment had a magnificent view of Turtle Creek and downtown Dallas - definitely prime real estate. That area now appears to be all high rise offices and condos.

BTW: If you're wondering how Karina could afford it - she couldn't... Her rent was being paid by some old guy who looked like Colonel Sanders. (I only met him once.) He was married to an heiress and was using the wife's money to "keep" Karina on the side.

Then along about the end of April the doctors at Parkland wanted to start mom on intensive chemotherapy and she refused, saying she'd rather just die in peace. So mom made arrangements to move in with Karina at which point "the Colonel" stopped paying her rent. Bernie (Karina's ex-husband) was living in the apartment next door to hers (yeah - that was a bit odd) and agreed to help out...
For some reason mom wanted me to be the one to get her out of the hospital, so I drove down to Dallas in the Fairlane to pick her up. (I'm pretty sure I took some of her things with me.)

OK. This is very vivid (somewhat funny) memory:
I was waiting for mom down by the big doors near the emergency room when a number of people were wheeled past on stretchers - it appeared that there had been some sort of a major accident somewhere. One of the victims in particular caught my attention. She was a very lovely young lady and was all bandaged up and having convulsions. I remember staring in horror as they wheeled her past... And for a brief instant we made eye contact...
I was almost in shock as I sat there with my stomach churning - wondering what had happened to them - wondering if they were going to be OK. Then about 15 minutes later the young lady comes traipsing out of the ER (wearing an employee ID badge) together with all the other "victims". She didn't say a word - just gave me a big grin as she walked past. Yeah - it had all been an exercise - an amazingly realistic one :-)

I finally got mom out of there. She was pretty weak (she'd been hospitalized for over 3 months) but she looked better than she had for a long time. (I'm sure she was just overjoyed to be leaving. You have no idea how much she hated hospitals.) So I drove her over to Karina's place and hung out for a while before heading back to Argyle.

I stayed with the McDaniels for a couple of more weeks until the semester ended. Then I packed up the car (everything I had in the world plus the remainder of mom's stuff), said my goodbyes and headed for Dallas...

I can still recall heading out FM407 to 35E with the sun getting low in the sky behind me - leaving behind the only place I had ever really felt safe...Wondering what the future held... Yet another blind leap into the unknown.