THE BALINESE ROOM

Background: Madeline Chambers and I lived on the same street, at different ends.  We knew of each other, but never knew each other until we got acquainted at our 40th class reunion in Galveston.  Little did we know that our parents, specifically our fathers traveled in the same realm at times.  Had we known....we might have been friends much earlier.  This is about our fathers....

Tying his bow tie in front of the mirror, Bill looks around at Faye.  “ Are you sure you don’t want to go…just for the first set?   We’ll start around eight, won’t be that late.”

“ I’ll pass, I have papers to grade, I hate driving to Galveston late to pick you up, even when it’s not a Saturday night. And it is always so crazy to find a place to park down there by the Balinese anyway.”

“There are no big names tonight….”

“Parking is still imposible and it is still a Saturday night!”

Jan walks in to the room. “Daddy where are you going?…to play your trombone?  Can I go?”

“Not tonight Sugar.  Mom has papers to grade…I won’t get home until late anyway.”  

“Can I hold your music for you?”, she says picking up the brief case. 

“Sure.” He pulls the trombone case from the closet and looks at Faye,

“ Are you sure….it's the Balinese?”  She smiles and goes into the other room.

Jan and Bill walk out of the house to the car.  He opens the car door and slips the trombone case behind the front seat in the floorboard.  Jan hands him the briefcase.

“ I really want to go.  I love to hear you play…..it makes me want to dance,”  she says as she suddenly twirls around in the cold damp air.  

“Me too Janny, you can go another time. Don’t bother Mom she has papers to grade.”

He gets in, closes the door, and starts the car.  Jan backs away from the car so he can see her, as she has always been told to do.  As he backs out, she stands smiling and waving.  He rolls down the window, “Next time, I promise! Go inside and get warm!”

He rolls the window back up. The humid winter wind rolling in off the bay always chills to the bone. As he drives down Pin Oak Drive, Walt Chambers is getting out of his car with flowers.  Hmm…they must have a special night planned, Bill thought to himself.   He waves and turns the corner heading out of the the neighborhood.

Madeline sits watching her mother get ready.  She loves it when her mom wears her prettiest dress.  Her fur coat is lying over the bedroom chair. Madeline softly caresses the fur, then rubs her cheek across the fur.  She loves special nights.  Moonlight Serenade is playing softly on the radio in the background.  She hears the door open….."Daddy!” she calls and runs to the living room.

Madeline bounces into the room as Walt walks into the house, 
“Pearl are you almost ready?  Remember early dinner reservations.” Smiling he lays the flowers on the table, and reaches out to give Madeline a hug, she grabs his hands and says,

“Daddy lets dance!”  she puts her feet on his.  He smiles and they sway to Glenn Millers sweet serenade.  “Are you and Mommy going to dance tonight?”

“Yes we are hun.  We’re going to dinner and dancing at the Balinese Room.  Pearl are you ready?” he calls.  Just then Pearl appears in the doorway, her fur coat dropped slightly off her shoulders.

“Wow are you ever ready!”

“She has on her special, beautiful dress and her fur, Daddy…just for you!”  He swings Madeline up into his arms and presses a kiss on her cheek, then pulls Pearl into his arms to give her a kiss too. 

“I sure have a couple of beautiful girls!  he says setting Madeline down.

He shows Pearl the flowers, “ For our special night …”  She grins as he carefully takes the wrist corsage out of the box and slips it over her hand. She leans toward him and pecks him on the cheek.  Little brother Paul peeks around the corner, 

“Where are you going?” He had already been playing a game with the sitter in the den.

“Mommy and I are  going out for dinner and dancing.”  Pearl picks up her clutch and says, 

“Ready, to go!  Madeline, you and Paul do what Emma asks you to do.  Have fun!”

Walt opens the door as he and Pearl walk out hand and hand.

Later at the Balinese......

The Orchestra begins to ramp it up with Boogie Woogie made famous by Glenn Miller and the Dorsey brothers.  The  trombones stand up to play and the place begins to hop.  Bill is in his element, he would love to have this gig full-time.  Carbide pays better…..this is just a weekend dream. The club is pretty full for a night with no headliners….just the orchestra.  The music is always top notch.

As Bill glances across the club, he sees Walt take Pearl by the hand to dance.  They gaze at each other as he walks her to the dance floor.   How he wishes Faye liked to dance……

About the Balinese Room.

Everyone who grew up on the Gulf Coast in the 40s and 50s knew or had heard stories about the Balinese Room. It was on a pier off the Galveston Seawall.  Exotic, mysterious, famous, and notorious for the things that went on there. Illegal activities like liquor and gambling when neither were legal were legendary.  In many ways it was like Vegas before Vegas became what it is today.  

Damn It is Expensive to be Stupid

You see, I really wanted to go.  Really badly, I wanted to go to the WTA&M Writer’s Academy. Waiting for my second book to be published, I had hoped that it might fund going, then, my back up had been an income tax refund, but we only got a fifteen dollar refund.  I started getting odd jobs like pet sitting a cat, and tutoring but those were only paying a few dollars each time.  My time was running out.  I had to sign up by the end of March to get the discount.  Then the creme de la creme happened.

I hate SuperStore  I never shopped there. Their stores were dirty and unorganized, the people who shopped there were weird and the clerks were, well never anywhere to be found.  Then they built a new prototype store a mile from my house.  I had to go by it every time I went to the gourmet grocery store.  Finally in a hurry I rushed into SuperStore.  I could almost hear those bells of amazement, ringing in my head, like when something amazing happens on a TV show.  This SuperStore was not dirty.  It was well organized and appealing. Dr Peppers were $2.50 for six, instead of $3.60. I was hooked…but only for Dr. Pepper.

Soon I really was hooked.  I was not only buying Dr. Pepper but toilet paper and laundry detergent and it only got worse.  I had become a 2 time a week SuperStore shopper.  To reward my addiction I got an email from SuperStore (at least I thought).   Since I was such a good customer they wondered if I was interested in being a secret shopper to evaluate their employee devotion.  Did they say, “Welcome to SuperStore when I walked in checked out? Did they smile and offer to help me when I couldn’t find something?  Of course! I could do that!!  And they would pay me handsomely for these services……$350 per survey.  I filled out the form, name, phone number and email address.  I could already see my money piling up to go to the seminar.  I started to go ahead and register for the Academy but wanted the money in the bank first, so I did not.

It took several months but on March 24th my packet arrived.  It had all the information of what I had to do, none of which looked too complicated and a check for $2750.   $350 of which was mine to keep.  The instructions said, “Do not deposit in your checking account, take it to your bank and get cash.”  Then I had 3 things to do. First, buy an item for less than $30 and evaluate the checker, "Did she say Welcome  to Super Store?" Was she wearing her name tag, was she polite etc.  Second, send a SuperStore to Super Store transfer to the name and address provided for $1300, plus the $50 transfer fee. Third, purchase a Money Gram for $1000 and send to the name and address provided, for $1000  plus the $50 transfer fee.

I followed the instructions carefully.  The transfer fee however was only a total of $26, so I had a surplus of $74 dollars.  When I got home I called the number given to me for questions to tell them that I had a surplus and asked what to do with the extra money.  I left a message, a man immediately called back. He was gruff and talked with a heavy middle eastern accent.  When I was explaining, he cut me off and said, “Be quiet and just listen!  I text you later and tell you how give money back. Email me copies of receipts.”  He specifically wanted the 8 digit number of the transaction for the SuperStore to SuperStore transfer and the Money Gram transfer. Then he kept texting me and asking me why wasn’t I sending it faster.   When got it, SLAM went the phone, and he was gone. I thought about this, it was very odd, he wasn’t very professional but that was pretty normal for inquiry calls today, whether it was AT&T or Capital One.  

At 11:00 PM the man called again.  This time he said, “You go now to Super Store, buy me iTunes card for $75 dollar.”  Surprised I told him no, I would not go out in the middle of the night to do this.  It would have to wait until morning.   At 7:00 am he called again waking me up, “You get me card?  Why not?”  I told him I would get it at 10:00 am, no sooner.  

Finally after many punches my stupidity button had finally been pushed.  This had to be a scam. I went to my laptop and put in SuperStore Scams.  Up popped the list, I scanned down and there before me was the scam.

I called the police and gave them all the information. They told me to answer no more of his calls or texts.  He kept texting and said, “Why not you send me iTune card? I wait to read from you next communication.”  The police told me the check was probably hot and would bounce back to my checking account.  He had  made away with $2300 of my money.  Then I went to the bank to get a copy of the check I had cashed.  To cover it,  I had to take out a personal loan for the $2300 that would soon be missing from my account.  

Then I drove to the police station downtown.  I presented all the receipts, my transaction for the cashing the check, a copy of the check I had gotten at the bank, and the envelope the check had come in, with a return address.

Not only did I have no money for the Academy, I owed my bank, $2300 for the personal loan plus the $379 of interest I would have to pay back.  Damn, It’s expensive to be stupid. It was not SuperStore’s fault, it was the people running the scam.  I have reverted back to my old feelings about Super Store however, maybe I will only buy Dr. Pepper there from now on.....and I will not be going to the Academy this year.  Damn it is expensive to be stupid!

The 4th

Each summer of my childhood we left LaMarque about the 29th of June to drive to Washington State.  As far as I was concerned Washington was the Promised Land.  We got up at 4 am to head for Raton, New Mexico which was our first night's stop.  There were no LaQuinta's or chain motels along the way.  We never stopped at a motel that had colored neon lights.  Dad said that was sign they were hiding something with the colored lights.  When we did find a place to stay,  my dad and the manager would go to the room for dad to inspect it, and it if it was clean and met the standards, we stayed there.  We usually didn't get there until 9 PM or so.  Dad said it was important to make the first day "count".

From there we headed to Cheyene, Wyoming.  We got into Cheyenne much earlier and were able to go to the museum, shop and just mainly relax.  We never ate at "hamburger joints" as my mother called them, but rather had sit-down meals at restaurants along the way.  My mom had the say on where we ate.  When we stopped and got a coke, it was a real treat.  Dad liked driving across Wyoming because there were usually "gas wars". You would pass a station with gas for 22 cents a gallon and a few miles down the road another station would have it for 19 cents a gallon.  On a 2500 mile trip it was nice to get a good deal once in a while.

The third night we stayed in Twin Falls, Idaho at a quaint little place called the Colonial Inn.  We had been there every summer since I was 3, so the owner remembered us.  It was a white building in a U-shape with colonial columns all around the front.  In the back there was a garden of several acres and a huge above ground swimming pool.  There were also many pet cats on the grounds. Each one had a name and was well loved.  I loved the Colonial Inn.  After being trapped in the car for three days I could get out and run play with the cats and of course swim.  There was a restaurant we could walk to next door.

We got up early the next day for the final day of the trip.  Dad had the trunk open as we each brought our bags to him.  He had the rule that everyone was in charge of their own stuff.  Finishing loading he closed the trunk and we all got in.  As we were waiting to turn onto the road, I could hear noises from the trunk, I listened closer and was sure I heard a meow.  "Dad? Are you sure you didn't lock one of the cats in the trunk?"
"Of course not!"
"Well I can hear one meowing!"  We were about a block from the Colonial Inn. He agreed to stop.
Before he got the trunk completely open, a cat shot out of the trunk like it had been fired out of a cannon.  He was running as hard as he could down the road, as we stood there we saw him cut through the trees by the motel.
"Do you think that had happened before?" I asked my dad.
"Probably...he knew right were to turn!"

 It was a long drive from Twin Falls, to Qunicy, Washington where my grandmother lived.  There were lots of wide open spaces and fortunately by father drove by landmarks and knew exactly where the next gas station would be  We would usually make it in to Quincy about midnight.  We would stop by my grandmother's house, if the back door was open we would slip in as quietly as possibly.  The hide-a-bed couch in the living room wold be made up for me.  Mom and Dad would slip into the extra bedroom.  Just was the last light was turned out.  My grandmother would say, "Goodnight".  I would squeal, the lights would come on as we all got up to hug and talk until I fell asleep.

The next day we would all get up and start cooking. The big family reunion was on the 4th of July.  Mom helped Grannie make the salads and pies, I got to help by cutting cookies and timing them in the oven.  Dad and I also climbed the cherry tree in the front yard to get the cherries for pies, making sure not to eat too many, as we picked.

My mother only had three brothers, but my grandmother was the 2nd of 11 kids.  From the oldest to the youngest in her family was 33 years.  After about her 4th sibling, they were the ages of her own children and younger.  My mother had aunts and uncles that were more like brothers and sisters. That meant I had Mom's three brothers and their wives as uncles and aunts, then I had ten more sets of great uncles and aunts. They all had kids that were cousins...more cousins than names I could even remember. There were usually about 80 people that were considered immediate family.

The picnic was at Mt. Ranier National Park.  It was the most beautiful place. The mountains surrounded us with beautiful views every way and cool mountain breezes. Basically to a kid from Texas, it was paradise.  One year the family decided to buy the meat from this brand new place that made chicken.  Uncle Perry, my grandmother's oldest brother asked me if I would like to go with him.  We climbed into his big white Cadillac and headed to Colonel Sanders Kentucky Fried Chicken.  It was ready when we got there. Uncle Perry, me and the lady from the chicken place loaded up the whole backseat with buckets of chicken.  When we arrived back at the park, every man there descended on the car to get the chicken.  By then my twin cousins Peg and Tricia,  along with Joyce from Oklahoma, Sandra from Seattle and of course the boy cousins, were all there.  I was always so excited to see them.

We ate and played on the playground until everyone started calling all the kids.  Then we got in the cars and headed back to Quincy, Ellensburg, Naches Valley, Seattle and the little towns. The family reunion was always the highlight of my summer.  Since we lived in Texas this was the one chance each year I had to spend with relatives.  It was so magical to me.  For them, just another family get-together.  But for this one day every year I too had a big wonderful family.