My Bodyguards

I really haven't explained the role of big brothers in our family. They were bodyguards to their baby sister.

In the summer of 1964 our father packed all of us onto a plane and flew us to the East Coast. He demanded that his children know the country of their citizenship.We spent hours in the Smithsonian. (I have vivid memories of the Spirit of St. Louis) We met our congressman Harlan Hagan. His wife became our guide around Washington, D.C. She managed to get us tickets to the gallery in the U.S. Senate. I sat next to Dan and witnessed Hubert Humphrey and Everet Dirksen succeed in a cloture vote ending the filibuster against the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Then we went to Arlington Cemetery. We wanted to see John Kennedy's grave. And we did. Mrs. Hagen drove us up to the family entrance (we were in a Congressional car and the Marines let us in!) I stood where Robert, Teddy and Jackie had stood.

Then we went to New York. To the New York World's Fair. We saw TV telephones where you could see who you were talking to, we saw Michelangelo's Pieta and we went to a Met's game. Well, we tried to go to a Met's game. It was cancelled and while we were leaving, going out the tunnel, people began to push, I remember screaming. I remember Dad holding my hand and I remember Dan on one side and Bill right behind. Mom was in front. The only words spoken were "don't let go". I don't know which brother said it or if they said it together. I didn't let go.

This was the standard wedge. I didn't know it. I never noticed.  

Later, we went to the Copacabana for dinner. Dad had taken all of us shopping-Bill and Dan got new jackets and pants, Mom and I got dresses. Mine was pure silk. Pale white with a pink floral design all over it. It fit to the waist and flared a bit at the hip. It draped to just above my knee. Mom and I had our hair done at the hotel salon. I was 13. I was jail bait.

We went to the Copa and as we are sitting in the "lounge" the waiter asks Bill for his order. Bill was legal in New York and ordered Jack Daniels (I think). The waiter asks Dan if he would like a Coke and then turns to me and says "what would the lady like from the bar?" I didn't get it but my Dad did and so did Dan and Bill. The words Shirley Temple were spoken very quickly by my father. And when we walked to our table, the wedge appeared.

But the real kicker, the one that I think about the most, the one that made me realize that I was that protected and safe was when we were walking back from a Broadway play (Fade Out, Fade In) to our hotel. Through New York at midnight. Ok, we were still from Lindsay, California.

I am still in my dress, my long blond hair is still done in a New York "do", I was 5'7" tall, 120lbs and, well, I didn't look 12. A car drives by with some guys in it and they whistle. In Lindsay you laugh at it and take it as a compliment. In New York, not so much.

Say hello to the wedge. But now Mom is next to me on the inside, Dad on the outside, Dan is out front and Bill is behind.

I wasn't scared. I had no idea what was happening. But now I understand why Mom and Dad had a "discussion" that night!

Of course, my brothers occasionally misused this "protection". My boyfriends had to pass the Bill-Dan test before I was allowed to socialize with them at all! As early as 6th grade they were chasing the loves of life away. I still wonder what happened to Gary Loveland.

All of this is to say that I had that wedge around me all of my life. It is a wedge that I will always have.
Dan is still in my heart. He is still next to me in the Senate, at JFK's grave, in New York, and here, in my home where he ate dinner and told bad jokes. His spirit is not gone.I am still safe.