I remember when I was about 16 years oldsitting at my Aunt and Uncles's and
the phone rang. My Aunt Neicie answered and I heard he say. Hi Herb. Naw we are just sitting here doing nothing, really.: Then after a pause she said,"Sure I can fix you something. We will bring it over in a bit."
After she hung up she told my Uncle that Herb wanted her to fix him a lunch and bring it to the draw bridge in Port Arthur, Texas.
My Uncle then asked why Mary, Herb's wife, I supposed, couldn't do that and if something was wrong with her.
My Aunt said that Herb had told her that Mary had left 3 daysa ago and he had not seen or heard from her for three days. She also said that he had ran out of food in the house and had gone to work operating the draw bridge and did not have anything to eat.
My uncle then said, well I guess you better fix him something.
I remeber sitting inside the draw bridge as my Aunt and Uncle talked to Herb and Herb turning to me and telling me not to be afraid but he was going to open the draw bridge and it made an awful racket and shook like it was going to fall into the ship channel but it was alright. And then he pressed a button and it was still a little scary sitting and shaking as the bridge opened with the noise and vibrations.
It was an experience and the thing that I remember most is my Aunt Neicie telling Uncle Ed that Herb's Mary had run off and he had not seen her for three days,
Another time I heard my Aunt laugh into the phone tell a friend About her neighbor, Yvonne run out of her house without any clothes on and run down the street. Then she said that no the cops didn't arrest her. They just brought her back to her apartment and told her she needed to put some clothes on.
As a teenager I wondered if Port Arthur Texas was special or if this happened in other places too.
