Jane IV

What followed during the next ten years was rivalry. Pure and simple. At first, Jane was hell-bent on destrying me. She hadn't had a problem with Rudi, who came before me with Peter and was a jerk, if cute. But he had a taxi, and would drive them off somewhere and knew how to play her. And she would get tanked, and Peter and he would tryst meanwhile.

Well, I've never even had a driver's license, let alone a taxi. So... not good. One evening she dressed up as Babushka, with a head-scarf, and was gonna blow us up and tell his mother what was up. Luckily, Peter was at home and sent her away. Oh, the drama. His mother was dying, for cripes sake, and even I never got to meet her.

But then... a truce was made, although never spoken. And no.... over the next ten years, she hated my guts.

However. Once she learned that I wasn't cutting into 'her' time with her 'Pezi', as she called him, she relaxed.

It went from a position of heated rivalry to begrudging respect.

I could not for the life of me figure out why in the world he'd want to spend time with her... other than being pampered, and projecting my altruistic attitudes and opinions to him, thinking he was just feeling sorry for an old woman who was very lonely, and being charming enough to entertain her. So I thought he was being kind, and kinda shrugged inwardly. 'To each his own', I sorta thought.

And yes, his mother had just died, so I thought, 'He's seeing something there that I do not.' And left it alone. Of course the stories kept coming, and she went after my 'substitute parents' from Connecticut, 'da W's....' Oh, they were lovely. Visited at least once a year, if not more often, and we were very close after a while. I loved them, they were so much fun. Bill was a hoot. The first year, I learned that he was born the same day, same year as da Ven. But his ancestors were from Austria, and he could speak a dialect that some people hadn't heard since the 1930's. He could charm the pants off of anyone, and was so very kind and decent. He had relatives here in the area.

They had a chalet in Vermont and would always go through NH on the way there, and I would always encourage them to meet, and stop by for corfee, at least. They were too shy to 'just drop in', so what did they do? When they learned that da Ven was coming over for a second time, they dropped everything, booked a flight, and first met him here. Now that is what I call crazy. But just scoping out Bill and my father really hitting it off in the café his cousin owned a few doors up, and them ogling all the pretty girls at the bus stop was hilarious and I guess it was worth it all. And they would ALWAYS call him after visiting, btw. Giving him progress reports. It was so amazing, and kind.

But it wouldn't have been Jane if she hadn't had something evil to say about them. They were 'wictims'. Oh, yes, Preciousses. Poor Bill. With his heart. (One of his sons died in Viet Nam, whereupon he had his first massive heart attack, and he wasn't really well from that time on.)

However: he was related to Erika. You see, she was his cousin and owned the café a few doors away. And SHE.... was a siren, in Jane's eyes. Ow, wow, Jane called her the 'Marketenderin'. Those were women who followed the troops in the 30 Year's War and carried kegs of booze for the soldiers. Among other things.... Dirt travels fast, even in a big town. And, it seems, Erika was a young thing working in a bakery-café across town, and the proprietor got her preggers. And she cut a settlement, and opened her own café bakery on the other side of the river, near the hotel. Jane despised Erika, the Marketenderin upstart. Everyone knows everything about everyone in a town this size.

And Bill came to know all our stories about Jane, and would draw her out. Flirt shamelessly with her, and we'd laugh so hard. But she was convinced.... Erika was eeeevil. And Bill was weak. And of course he would go over there without his wife and visit his cousin. Which set Jane off.... ooooo, the seductress, that poor naive man. (riiiigghht...) And his wife, so unsuspecting, and he flirts in front of her, and she never sees it. 'That Marketenderin, I can just see it, she probably has him in the back room on a chaise longue!!!!'

She was hovering in the back at our good-bye party, as per usual, just like a spider. It was a 'going away' party for da Ven and my friends, whereupon I sprang a surprise. My substitute parents had a son who had a travel agency, and I surprised my father with the news that he wouldn't be flying alone, I was going for a visit as well. Richard had booked it for me, with perks. So I was going with him on the plane. Best surprise I ever did.

Jane was flummoxed, and muttering imprecations about Bill's granddaughter who wouldn't even have a glass of champagne, and how Bill's granddaughter was a fool, that 'Coca-cola Girl'. And that 'tramp' next door, and Bill's wife's naiveté. Of course I told Bill's wife 'M' about all the 'fun' things Jane was up to, and she had the giggles. They left before we did, and I already had the latest report going over to them via aerogramme. Bill's granddaughter never forgave her for that Coca-Cola Girl remark. She was a CEO at Palmolive, last I heard. Take that, Jane....

So Jane had some high octane moments in that decade. And I thought it was so very funny, and there were good times, and hilarity, and friends and fun. Bill and his wife are gone now. He left first, and his wife hardly a year later. She visited us one more time, alone. She was just lost without him. They were married for fifty years. Just gone, just like that. Da Ven and me sort of trundle on.

And Jane had something in store for me I never saw coming. She was goooood...