BEGINNING TO LIVE AT RED DEER chapter 82

Leroy, Della’s brother got me a job with Alpha Dairy. He was working a milk route for them and set me up for their summer resort runs. It was the prefect summer job. It began with the Victoria Day weekend and ended Labor Day. I loved the timing as well. I came to work about 9:00 to meet with big Henry Singer, my supervisor. He did everything he could to try and rattle me by being just plain crude and rude. Somehow I survived him and we seemed to get along rather well.

Each morning I called the various resorts on my route for the day, placed their order with our plant, loaded up the tiny Alpha Dairy Econoline van and went for a ride. I mostly delivered ice cream mix in five and eight gallon cans – 40 and 80 pounds each. Sometimes I took them some other odds and ends like milk, cream, butter, etc. I serviced places like Pine Lake - a beautiful and peaceful lake where I delivered to two resorts, Sylvan Lake - sometimes I stopped at every little ice cream, hamburger, and snack stand on the highway, It was the busiest location. Also I drove to Bentley, Lacombe. Rimby (only once), and occasionally out to a Seventh Day Adventist college at Ponoka County where they made their own ice cream flavors. I just took them the mix. I remember they made terrific flavors, but you could not buy them anywhere.

I would have to man handle those awkward mix cans into some of the tightest squeezes behind counters, into storage rooms and fridges that would barely hold the cans. Sometimes I loaded their dispensers and at times helped them with other small tasks. All the places seemed to be small struggling outfits run by women. If there were men around, I never saw them – except at the Adventist College.

I rented a room from the Alexander’s up on South Hill. Actually I rented half a double bed. The other half was rented to another guy whom I cannot remember. I know this sounds strange to you youngens’ but it was fairly normal at the time. He left for work before I got up and was in bed before I got home. The Alexander’s were very nice to me. With the room I got meals. They served a great breakfast, packed lunch for work and would serve supper if I let them know I would be home before leaving for work. I rarely ate supper with them.

One morning as I was getting ready to come out for breakfast and over heard the Alexander’s discussing my grooming habits. She said, “I don’t understand why those boys have to shower everyday?” “Would you rather they were dirty/”  “No silly.” Then it sounded like a little kiss. Good people adjusting to a cleaner culture.

Della had the tiny three-room apartment above her mother’s home. She got a job as a telephone operator with Alberta Government Telephones. When her schedule worked out we had supper with her mother or she made supper. She was so nervous cooking for me feeling like she would never be as good as my mother. When she first told me that I nearly died laughing. She had to actually visit my home to understand how really funny that comment was. My mother would get up early in the morning to put the green beans on to cook for supper. By the time supper came they were good and dead. I am one of the few students who thought the food at college was good. I didn’t know what everyone was complaining about. Go figure. Della never once made a bad meal. I kept telling her it was one of her gifts. She could never see it, but I could always taste it.

The biggest deal of the summer was a visit to Omaha to meet my family. The trip was planned so I could be in my buddy Al’s wedding. I felt like I had to go just to make sure he married Bev.

We traveled down though Yellowstone National Park where together we bought the very first item for our future home. I still have it. It is a ceramic bear with a trout in its mouth. It was a cheap little ornament that now is one of the more precious items I have. We always left it sitting on an end table and both kids played with it and even dropped it a few times. Somehow it never broke nor was even chipped. Now I’ll be afraid to touch it thinking I will break it for sure.

Somewhere east of Yellowstone we stopped for lunch at a log cabin café sitting along a quiet little stream. They had trout on the menu and so Della ordered the fish. I probably got a hamburger. I know I had not eaten fish at all before that time. When served, the entire fish was plated with the scales still on and one eye looking right up at her. She starred at it for the longest time before I realized she was not going to eat that fish. She absolutely hated returning anything. We argued about sending it back. She was not going to do that even though she was expecting to get it filleted minus scales, bones and the eyes. She picked at it until the waitress came by and asked if there was something wrong. I immediately told her this was not what my girlfriend was expecting. “Let me get you something else.” Della was so embarrassed so instead of asking what she wanted I ordered her a hamburger. At least I knew she would eat that. “I would have eaten it!” “I know you would but you would also like the hamburger better.”

We went on through the rest o Wyoming, the corner of Colorado and crossed western Nebraska. That state looks a lot like Saskatchewan with more hills and trees, but just as boring. Finally we arrived in Omaha.