When I went to grammar school, I was given a lot of books that I would be using for class. They were kind of dull looking.
Now tell me if you did this too… I went and got brown paper bags from the grocery store. I would cut them and make book covers for my books. A little scotch tape here and there and they were done.
Then I would take colored pencils and pens and color all over my books. Some of the kids would ask me if I would color on their book covers. On the boys’ I drew clouds and airplanes, and for the girls I would draw flowers.
My parents once treated me to an art class a couple blocks from my house. The lady would set up a table with a vase of flowers and a plate of fruit. Oh did I adore these art classes! In the middle of the French Quarter was Jackson Square. It was a small park filled with magnificent magnolia trees, wooden benches, and hundreds of pigeons. I would bring bread from home and feed them.
Around the square, there was an ornate fence painted black. There were artists who did caricatures and portraits for a little bit of money. There was one lady that was so talented. Her name was Margaret. My mother paid her to do separate charcoal portraits of Lenny and me. Shirley hung them in her bedroom. Lenny’s had a green background and mine was blue.
So I was really bitten by the art bug. After high school, which I wrote all about, it was time to go to college. I wanted to go to the Rhode Island School of Design. My dad said, “Absolutely Not.” I settled on USL in Lafayette, Louisiana.
On my first day there, I met a girl named Mary Lee L. She had long hair to her waist and I had a crush on her. Her father was in the banking world.
As a present to Mary Lee, he bought her a Plymouth Valiant. It was a push button car…I am not kidding. Mary Lee said, “Do you want to drive it?” I had never driven a car in my life. I got behind the wheel and accidentally put it into “R” and reversed into a bush. She never let me drive her car again. LOL
I had a very rich uncle….my father’s brother… my Uncle Milton….I was named after him. He lived in Sarasota, Florida. His wife had passed and he lived with his sister Aunt Eva. She was a little snooty.
One day, when she was taking a shower, I took her false teeth and hid them in a hat box. She was not amused. To be continued…
