This was written a month after the last letter. Marcy appears to be ensconced in an apartment in Torrance, in Southern California; I think this was the last of her work-outside-the-college quarters.<\/p>\r\n
A major focus of this letter is Marcy\u2019s aunts Sara and Stelle, apparently sisters who lived together somewhere nearby. I recall hearing Stelle\u2019s name when I was a kid, but I still haven\u2019t quite figured out where they fit into the family tree.<\/p>\r\n
(Edited in 2022 to add: Ancestry.com indicates that Stelle (or Stella?) and Sara (or Sarah?) may have been Marcy\u2019s father Jack\u2019s sisters. I am surprised; I had no idea that Jack had siblings.)<\/p>\r\n
I keep wishing that Marcy\u2019s parents\u2019 responses to her letters had survived; I don\u2019t have much sense of what they were like as people, and I think the letters would have helped.<\/p>\r\n
<\/p>\r\n
\r\n\r\n Tuesday\r\n [pencil: 9\/28\/65]\r\n\r\nxxxx\r\n\r\nH'ro.\r\n\r\nThanks for the check; almost hope mine bounces so they'll\r\nhave an excuse to throw me out--the manager-lady (couple,\r\nactually) was\/were very nice about my leaving at the end of\r\nthe month. (threw a scene for them, complete with a few\r\ntears, which were sort of real as I was pretty blue) about\r\nhow I'm not making as much as I thought I was, and\r\nabsolutely have to find a cheaper place as soon as possible.\r\nSo her husband is going to help me look, even spend a few\r\nhours driving around to find places. Said she'd x already\r\nsent the check in to the company, or it would have been okay\r\nto stay a day or so and not pay. Says the deposit will be\r\nreturned immediately, soon's I leave, so I can pay deposit,\r\nif necessary, on new place. should be able to find a house\r\nwith private apt for about $60\/month, which is what I should\r\nhave insisted on doing in the first place. but Ruth was in a\r\nhurry, and aunt Sara and aunt Stelle were sitting there in\r\nthe back of her (Chrysler) station wag, and made me kind of\r\nnervous...\r\n\r\nWhat a messy thing. Spent last Tuesday night at Aunt Sara's,\r\nfinishing typing a paper for school....listened to Sara tell\r\nme all about how impossible Stelle is all afternoon; then\r\nshe and Dave went to movies with the Glicks and some other\r\ncouple in the evening, and had to sit and listen to Stelle\r\ntell me all about how hard her life is. And how everybody\r\npushes her around, and she wants to live alone, or stay with\r\nValli, or something, and how goodhearted she's always been,\r\nand how she hates California, and wants to go back to\r\nPhiladelphia, and can't meet new people and on and On and\r\nON. I really feel sorry for the poor old thing; she's\r\nawfully sweet (if you don't have to live with her, I guess)\r\nand can hardly hear a thing, which is terrible in the best\r\nof situations, and feels left out and put upon and pushed\r\naround and all kinds of terrible. Honest to god, I will kill\r\nmyself it it ever comes to that. (But then again, it xxx\r\nwon't. I will never be that dependent on others, not even\r\nhaving a sister, hurray.) She and Sara are constantly at\r\neach others' throats; every last little word is taken as\r\ninnuendo and insult, and real or imagined hurt. Only I think\r\nthat by now most of it is intended; there's a kind of\r\nfamily\/sisterly\/familiarity hatred there that is really\r\nugly. Sara kind of wishes Stelle would drop dead, or at\r\nleast get out of her life, but when push comes to shove, she\r\nwon't give Stelle a chance to prove that she's worth\r\nanything at all. of course, 90 billion years of age is a bit\r\nold to start asserting your x independence and turning over\r\na new leaf. And our course Stell has no idea how much of a\r\nnusiance she can be, or that sometimes her family needs a\r\nvacation from her; least of all does she realize that she is\r\nold and sick and infirm and not young and spry and agile.\r\n\r\nnow early morning---fell asleep in the midst of that last\r\nbit;; got up early so's I could finish this and mail it this\r\nmorning.\r\n\r\nIf necessary, I can be reached c\/o Mrs. Green, the manager,\r\nat 370-5398. hope such is not necessary. .... The apartment\r\nis really nice--bedroom\/living room w\/transformable couch;\r\ngigantic closets, entire, tho tiny kitchen, bathroom with\r\nshower\/tub. and xxxx swimming pool outside, an absolute x\r\nprerequisite of LA apartments.....or so it seems. This\r\nbuildnig, like Aunt Sara's and most others, is built on the\r\norder of a villa....like 2 levels, spread out and connected,\r\nin an E or some similar or more complex shape, with parking,\r\nlaundry, trash underneath. surrounded by a fence to climb\r\nover, just for the hell of it.\r\n\r\nThe job is pretty okay; teachers (2) are pretty human, tho\r\nnot terribly skilled, as both are former grade-school\r\nteachers. at least they treat kids like people, and are\r\ngenuinely fond of them.....so we all feel we have lots to\r\nlearn from each other. The directress is never there, and is\r\nevidently slightly out of her mind; the teachers blame her\r\nfor all unpleasant xxxx rules--we shall xxxx see, she's\r\ncoming in today.\r\n\r\nTorrance is pretty damn isolated. Will explore the bus\r\nsituation this weekend. Went swimming in the ocean last\r\nSunday, which was glorious....trip to San Francisco was\r\nglorious, but have to go, so remind me and I'll tell you\r\nabout it next letter.\r\n\r\n take care, 'appy contact lens.\r\n\r\n [handwritten: love]\r\n [handwritten: Marcia]\r\n\r\n<\/pre>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n<\/p>\r\n
Postmark: semi-unreadable, but I\u2019m guessing it says Sep 29, 1965, Torrance, Calif. Handwritten: “Rec\u2019d this Sat. 10\/1\/65” and “Ans this 10\/7.”<\/p>\r\n
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