January 7, 1943

Jan. 7, 1943

425 S. Cabrillo

San Pedro, Calif.

Dear Father, Mother and the folks at home,

Thank you so much for all the letters I have received lately. I am glad to see Marold that you really can write letters. I believe that this is about the first letter I ever received from you, Marold and you should keep it up. But what has happened to Snooty-Poot? Before Christmas I get about 1 page in one of mama’s letters and then nothing. After this I will have to send my Dubuque letters to Aunt Laurine. She write to me more often than Snooty. I am putting my nose in the air and not looking at her. Then when she is trying to look uppity too I will poke her in the ribs.

The California weather machine after the mess it produced last week has been doing a pretty good job of it this week. The weather has been clear and the days somewhat warmer. Last night you could see all of the stars in the sky, not just a bright one here and there. Yesterday, however, it was sort of blowey so I expected that it would cloud up today but nothing of the sort has occurred. I hope it continues nice for awhile now. I am thankful also that it is warmer this week. When it gets down below 45°F at night I feel so cold walking along, almost as if I would freeze.

That hole in the roof is where Verner left, folks. However, when it really does not get cold, I guess one picks out the coldest spot of the day and feels cold then. That is the only way I can explain it. My cold is not much improved which means that I am better but that the cold is absorbing a lot of punishment. I have bought myself a hat to wear to work so that if it rains again my hear won’t get wet like it did the last time. That I think may have helped the cold along. It is a cloth affair, tan and constructed like what my old blue corduroy hat theoretically should have looked like. It cost about $1.00 and I think is going to prove a good investment.

My talk at L.L. came off better than I thought it would but I am glad that it is over. The meeting was held Sunday afternoon after a lunch after Sunday morning services. The attendance was somewhat better than at previous meetings.

One day last week when I was coming back after my dinner or supper, whichever you choose to call it, I walked past a little cafe somewhere or other, I guess it was the corner of Grand and Eighth or Ninth and back of it some guys were playing a sort of funny game. The game consisted of trying to get close to a little ball with bigger balls, rolled from a distance of 75–100 feet. The fellows playing I think much have been very familiar with the place because they would roll their balls (about 4 or 5 inches in diameter) to take advantage of the slopes of the land that were not too much in evidence. Like many people around here they spoke a language I could understand but they did not look like they were Spanish or Mexican. They looked more to me like some Basque nationality. At any rate I got sort of a kick out of watching them.

I got two eggs for breakfast this morning — something which usually does not occur except on Sunday morning since the Shell Cafe usually does not get too many eggs. They were fried better than usual, so that the yolks were not runny like water but reasonably solid. How I wish I could have some of your fried eggs mama, over and with the yolks broken up. I think that if I tried to explain the way I like them out here they would think I was crazy. Their understanding is limited.

Oops! I almost forgot to write about a new experience I had one morning this week. When I was coming home from work, walking past McNerney’s Mortuary a guy comes up to me and asks, “Do you want to serve on a coroner’s jury?” I say yes because I believe that this should be interesting. A coroner’s jury, I think, decides mostly that somebody is dead. Its verdict means nothing all that happens is that the dead person can be buried which the Law will not allow otherwise.

Well anyway a guy had driven into two women while they were crossing the street. Pedestrians have the right of way in Calif at street intersections but these dames were drunk from the testimony given and the traffic expert investigating the accident said that the driver’s conduct (he looked scared, too) was what it should have been so [. . .] the verdict should be that the women [sic] was dead because the guy had unavoidably hit her. The rest of the jury agreed she was dead (amazing deduction) but thought mostly that the driver was to blame, especially one guy a most persistent fellow. In the end the verdict was that she was dead with negligence on the part of both but more on the driver’s part. Since the verdict didn’t mean anything and since I was getting sleepy I didn’t argue any more after that was agreed. I am enclosing a clipping I found in the paper about it. (Couldn’t find the paper)

Well I am getting hungry. I guess I will head down town and get something to eat.

With love

C.P.

P.S. I am enclosing some pictures. There are only 5 because the other three which I took of the interior of the church didn’t turn out so hot.