To Become a Rich American

By STANLEY B. GRAHAM

&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbspThis novel is the story of a European immigrant woman, very charming

and attractive to

men, attempting to become a rich American. It is also the story of Rick Stevens search,

despite

his sexual hang-ups, for the ideal wife.

&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbspKert von Fielding was in her mid thirties when she made her first

voyage aboard the MS

Gripsholm, sailing from Helsinki, Finland, to New York City.

&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbspKert had majored in languages at Helsinki University where she

earned both a B.A. and an

M.A., and had later worked as a translator. She knew five langagesFinish, Swedish, English,

French, and German. She hoped someday to obtain translating work in New York City.

&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbspBut this first time in the states, she visited her cousins in Salem

on the Lake, a small town

in Ohio on the banks of Lake Erie. While there, she made the acquaintance of Mart Appleby,

ten years her junior, and the son of the highly esteemed and supposedly wealthy Municipal

Court Judge of the townCalvin W. Appleby II. Their friendship, during the summer of 1957,

ripened into an intense love affair, involving a lot of sex. She fell madly in love with Mart

Appleby and thought he loved her in return. She was mistaken, but she kept sending him love

letters after he went to the West Virginia Institute of Technology where he was employed as a

psychology/sociology assistant professor.

&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbspMart did not answer any of Kerts letters. Then, failing at this

affair, she turned to his older half-

brother,Rick Stevens, who was closer to her age, five years her junior. Rick was interested but

wary.

She discussed with him her plan to become an American citizen by marrying an American.

&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbspRick, a new high school science teacher, was conservative and not

nearly as daring as his

younger half-brother Mart. Kert definitely preferred Mart as a mate instead of Rick. But shed

marry Rick as a means to an endobtaining her citizenshipand then leave. She figured she

could hide in New York City.

&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbspWhen her VISA expired she returned to Helsinki, Finland. While there

she wrote

numerous letters to Rick, finally writing lovey-dovey type letters. She told him she would

return to visit.

&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbspShe returned to New York City the next year aboard the MS Gripsholm.

During the

seven-day passage she had a shipboard romance with a handsome and congenial man in his

mid thirties, Chad Power, an assistant professor of English at Hunter College in NYC and

the son of a multimillionaire.

&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbspWithout giving away any more of the story, suffice it to say that

Kert, using sex and her feminine

wiles and machinations, managed to be married to two handsome virile men at the same time,

without either of them being aware of her duplicity, and to obtain her citizenship twice.

&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbspDid Kert ever become rich? You will need to read the book to find

out. And, please dont skip around.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Dec 17, 2010
• ISBN: 9781452081618

Book preview

Chapter 1

Rick Stevens awakened early on a cool day in September of 1957. His sleep had been filled with disturbing dreams. It was the day of the funeral of his stepfather—Judge Calvin William Appleby II. In spite of having been subjected nearly all his life to his stepfather’s verbal abuse, putdowns, and indifference, Rick still felt devastated with grief.

Clad in his briefs, Rick stood and shaved before his bathroom mirror. He tried to elevate his spirits by admiring his face and body. Narcissism! So what! he thought. For a twenty-nine year old man, I don’t look too bad. Six feet tall. medium- brown hair. A handsome face with clear skin, dimples in my cheeks and chin. 165 pounds. A muscular body with no scars. White teeth.

As he showered and later dressed in his dark blue suit, he began thinking about his mother’s, Ida’s situation. He knew she felt much the same as he did—grief stricken—but she was also concerned about how she was going to make ends meet as she phrased it. Just paying the utility bills—gas, electricity, and water—would nearly exhaust her small social security pension, if she ever received it.

Right now and during the last few days the large sprawling red brick house had been filled with visiting relatives and Rick’s half brother Mart. Ida enjoyed the company and did not mind the additional kitchen work. The activity distracted her from worry about her future. Now, without a steady monthly income from her husband’s job as Municipal Court Judge in the small town of Salem on the Lake, Ohio, how would she manage to pay her daily and monthly expenses? Rick knew that when his mother Ida stopped to think about these things, she was frightened.

At the funeral home Rick found himself sitting on a sofa alongside his mother, his half brother Mart and his dear Aunt Fannie, the Judge’s sister from Elyria; she had been a history teacher in Elyria High School.

Six young lawyers carried the coffin out of the funeral home to the black hearse. The funeral procession passed around the tall redbrick courthouse—built in the 1870s—where the Judge had held court for 27 years and proceeded along brick-paved Liberty Street to the City Cemetery. The closest relatives rode in the funeral home’s black limousine. While en route Aunt Fannie told the passengers about the Appleby tombstone, an obelisk that towered over all others in the cemetery. When I was a little girl, an itinerant sculptor stayed at our place during an entire winter. He worked in our barn. My mother took meals out to him. He carved that obelisk from a block of red sandstone. The sandstone came in a railroad car from Vermont, and it was brought from the station to our barn by horse and wagon. I remember it all just like it was yesterday.

That’s quite a story, the limousine driver commented. I never heard it before.

Rick recalled hearing his stepfather tell this same story. It was part of the folklore that his stepfather relished. According to his stories, the Applebys had been among the first settlers in the early 1800s, had owned half of the land that later became Salem on the Lake. The Judge said that his father had never worked except to sell lots and have rental houses built. The family became wealthy and sent their children to college. The Judge said that his mother, after his father died, had sold land adjacent to Salem on the Lake Creek and Lake Erie for $25,000—a fortune in those day when laboring men earned only one dollar per day—to a company that later was called the Pittsburgh and Salem Steamship Company. Eventually—during the 1950s—Salem on the Lake became the largest iron ore receiving port in the world.

For Ida the saddest days were the ones after all the relatives had gone home. Mart, Rick’s half brother, had returned to his teaching position—psychology and sociology— at the West Virginia Institute of Technology. Rick was teaching science—general science, chemistry, and physics—at King’s Park High School, seven miles away.

Alone in the empty rooms of the big brick house during the day, Ida felt she was living a life of quiet desperation.

On one evening in late September—after Rick had helped his mother with the dinner and washed the dishes—he sat down at the dining room table. He began to prepare a physics lesson for the next day. Five minutes later he heard his mother sobbing loudly in the living room.

He rushed into the living room and found Ida curled up in the large maroon wing chair; it was almost a fetal position. He had never seen his mother look so forlorn. He knelt down beside her.

What am I gonna do? she wailed. What am I gonna do? How can I pay the bills?

Ida had been informed that day, in a letter from the pension fund administrator, that she would not be eligible for a pension. The reason was that the Judge had not paid into this fund for a long enough period of time. For her to be eligible, the Judge would have had to pay into it for at least six more months. The administrator stated that the money he had paid into it—about $3000—would shortly be refunded to her, his beneficiary.

Rick had read this letter and been thinking about how he could help his mother. He said, Mother, first of all, I’m going to pay you $100 each month for my board and room. (He had been paying her $50 per month.) At he time Rick was earning $3200 per year. Also, why don’t we divide up this house into apartments? You and I can remodel the basement and live down there. After all, it’s a walkout basement. Then we can make two apartments up here. The east apartment can be a one-bedroom, one floor apartment. Then the west apartment can be on this side and be a two-floor, three bedroom apartment.

His mother stopped crying and looked interested. How about the money? Where do we get the money?

You can use the $3000 that’s going to be refunded to you from the pension plan. Also, I can use some of my salary to help with the rest of the expenses.

Ida’s face brightened and she smiled for the first time since he’d been home from his European trip. Rick, you’re my lifesaver. She hugged him and kissed his forehead. Rick returned to his lesson plans.

And that is what happened. An elderly white-haired neighbor, Joe Anthony, had recently retired from his work at the Nickel Plate Railroad roundhouse. Ida heard about his carpentry skills and that he was looking for extra work. He showed Ida and Rick the remodeling he had done in his own basement—installing knotty pine paneling on all the basement walls and building a bar. His work looked professional and Ida hired him. On Saturdays Rick also helped with the construction. By watching Joe work, Rick learned some of the tricks of the carpenter’s trade, including how to use a plumb bob and a level, installing partitions, doors, door frames, windows and window frames. One of Joe’s slogans, when sawing lumber, was: Measure twice and cut once. Rick enjoyed Joe’s companionship and he knew Joe felt the same way. Out of respect for his age, Rick always called him Mr. Anthony.

It wasn’t long—only about two months—when the basement work was completed and Ida and Rick moved into the basement apartment #3. Inside the front door Mr. Anthony and Rick had constructed a vestibule with two doors, one leading to the East Apartment #2 and the other leading to the west apartment #1. Ida put an ad in the local newspaper The Salem On The Lake News Herald and rented the east apartment #1 to a young couple, recently married. Two months later Ida began receiving her small social security pension. This money, along with the rents, enabled her to pay her bills and even save some of the money.

Because of the remodeling work, it seemed that September and October passed rapidly. That summer, before his stepfather’s death and funeral, Rick and Dave Lawson—Rick’s college and sailor friend—had taken a seven-week tour of Europe and England. While there Rick had made over two hundred slides with his new 35 mm camera. In the new living room in the basement apartment Rick showed his colorful 35 mm slides to his mother, friends, and relatives. Each time he showed them, it was necessary to set up the white screen on a tripod and set his slide projector on a TV table. Sitting behind the table and operating the slide projector, he described what his audience was viewing. It was quite a performance and his viewers raved about them.

During the last two years while Rick was teaching science at King’s Park High School, Ida had been concerned about Rick’s interest in girls. She wanted him to find the right woman and get married.

Last year Rick had told her he was seeing Sandy Hawkins, an older English teacher at King’s Park High School. At the end of the school year Sandy resigned and sought a teaching position in a suburban school. Naturally he did not say anything about their brief sexual relationship.

And Ida knew about his aborted relationship with Catherine Hudson, his Virginia girlfriend; Because of her mother’s imminent death, Catherine had entered into a marriage of convenience; she married a man she apparently did not love, and still continued to write love letters to Rick. She had even invited Rick to visit her and her husband at her mother’s house in Petersburg. Rick did not go. Ida did not know that her son and Catherine had been sexually intimate.

When telling things to his mother, Rick always sanitized his stories.

Ida knew Rick did not tell her everything., and she was haunted by the idea that Rick might be homosexual. She did not openly confront him by asking, Are you a homo? She did not dare to utter the word. It was Rick’s enthusiastic descriptions of what he and Dave Lawson had done in Europe that made her suspicious. Dave Lawson, a handsome tall slim man who was two years older than Rick, was teaching English in the high school in Elyria, Ohio. Rick had told his mother that he first met Dave when they both worked on the iron ore freighter in the summer of 1952. They had become instant companions. Then Dave enrolled at Ohio State where Rick was already a student majoring in English. He and Rick hung out together down there.

At the moment Ida knew that Rick had no available girlfriend. She discussed the matter with a close lady friend with whom she played bridge. They agreed that Rick; should be introduced to the young Finnish woman who was visiting her cousins in East Salem on the Lake, only three miles away. Rick’s half brother Mart had been dating this Finnish woman, Kert Von Fielding, during the summer while Rick and his friend Dave Lawson were in Europe. However, after the Judge’s funeral and Mart’s return to his teaching position in West Virginia, Mart ignored Kert. He did not reply to her letters or telephone her. Kert had telephoned Ida, inquiring about Mart. As Ida phrased it, Mart dropped Kert like a hot potato. Ida sensed that Kert was heart-broken. Ida said to herself: Maybe Rick and Kert will make the ideal couple. Maybe they can fall in love. If this would happen, then Rick, if he is a homo or latent homosexual as Will [her deceased husband—Judge Calvin William Appleby] claimed, Rick would not be tempted to engage in homosexual behavior.

One evening Ida told Rick about Kert being rejected by Mart. She said, Kert is a lovely young lady. I met her last summer when Mart brought her around. Let’s invite Kert for dinner next Sunday. We’ll eat first. Then you can show her your European slides. Since she’s traveled in those countries, I’m sure she’ll be interested.

This sounded good to Rick. Yes, he said, blushing.

Sounds good. I’d like to meet her.

Rick was recalling what his half brother Mart had told him about Kert. Mart bragged about his sexual conquest. Rick could never forget Mart’s cruel words: She loves to fuck.

Chapter 2

Now that Ida had a steady income from her small pension and rents from two apartments, she felt relieved and secure. Her son Rick had been helpful in planning and remodeling the house. He told his mother that his pupils during this third year of teaching were better behaved than during the preceding two years; a small minority made trouble, but it was nothing like the nightmare of the first two years. However, he did not fully trust them; he did not let up his guard.

Presently in the year 1957 Ida was 61 years old—20 years younger than her late husband, the Judge. When talking about him with others, she always referred to him as the Judge. Doctors’ wives in the town referred to their husbands as Doctor or Doc. Judge or Doctor or Doc had a prestigious sound. Ida had never quite forgiven him for having deceived her about his age. While courting her in 1930 and 1931 he had led her to believe that he was ten years her senior. After she married him, the Judge’s sister Aunt Fannie told her the truth—that he was twenty years her senior.

At the age of 61 Ida looked and felt young. Her face was unlined, her hair did not have even a touch of gray, her body was limber and strong, and she was not overweight. One day Rick asked her, Mother, do you want to marry again?

She replied quickly, No. Why should I? I don’t want to take a chance and find out that I have an old geezer to take care of?

Rick frowned and Ida said, For the last couple of years I’ve had to be a part-time nurse. I’m tired of it. I want to get some fun out of life—not be tied down taking care of an invalid. Besides, I want to spend some winters in Florida with my sisters.

Perhaps to people outside the family, his mother’s words may have sounded selfish and callous. Rick knew his mother deserved a rest.

But I do want you and Mart to get married. Rick, you’re 29 and Mart is 24. It’s time that you settled down. You’ve got a steady job. You need to find the right woman. That’s why I’m anxious for you to meet Kert. She seems like a good woman, and I’m sorry that Mart dumped her. But, on the other hand, it might be a good thing he did. After all, she’s closer to your age than to Mart’s. I think she’s in her mid thirties. Marrying a woman five or six years older than you are would be O.K.

Sunday, the day of the introduction, arrived and Rick was nervous and apprehensive most of the morning and afternoon. He helped his mother clean the apartment and set the table. Ida prepared the dinner: baked ham, au gratin potatoes, a garden salad, green string beans, and apple pie for dessert.

Rick shaved again, showered, and carefully chose an appropriate costume, as he phrased it to himself. He donned a pair of light gray trousers and his favorite scarlet sweater; the colors scarlet and gray were those of Ohio State, his alma mater.

The dining room clock struck five, and the doorbell rang. Rick ran his hand through his hair, slicking it back, and hurried to the door.

There she stood—this charming woman. How could Mart ever have rejected her? She was a beautiful brunette with a winning smile and soft blue eyes. She was about three or four inches shorter than Rick’s six feet. Rick was over-awed and nearly speechless. She was wearing a black cape over a red jacket and skirt. The skirt, slightly above her knees, revealed long tapering legs. A rhinestone pendant adorned her neck.

She spoke, So you’re Rick, about whom I’ve heard so much. Rick thought she had a delightful accent.

Rick managed to utter, Hope it was all good.

Oh, yes. Mart said you’re now a world traveler. He used to call you Gypsy Rick.

Rick smiled. Well, come in, he said. She followed him.

She removed her cape and handed it to him. He laid it on the bed in the guest bedroom, adjacent to the living room.

Kert gazed around the remodeled basement. Most of the walls were paneled with knotty pine Two of them had knotty pine frames around Ida’s murals. You’ve done wonders with this basement. It’s beautiful and cozy. Mart brought me here last summer. What a difference!

Rick proudly led her about the basement apartment—showing her the living room, dining room, three bedrooms, bath, and utility room.

Rick felt somewhat awkward. He led Kert back to the kitchen where his mother was taking the ham out of the oven. Ida greeted Kert and said to Rick, Don’t forget your wine.

Because of his nervousness, Rick had forgotten it. He removed the bottle of white wine from the refrigerator and poured two goblets. He handed one to Kert.

About ten minutes more and everything will be ready, Ida said. Why don’t you two go in the living room and get acquainted?

Rick thought to himself, Easier said than done. He led her back to the living room and they sat at opposite ends of the sofa.

Kert started the conversation. You know, Rick, in my mind I was trying to picture you. I thought you would look something like Mart, but you don’t look the least bit like him. But your voices sound the same.

Well, you see, we’re really half brothers. My mother says I look like my real father. I’ve never seen him in the flesh, so I don’t know. He was a major in the Marine Corps and was in France during World War I. I’ve seen a couple of old photos of him. That’s all. Mart, everybody says, resembles my mother’s side of the family—the Bradleys.

Rick, you look like Danish men. Did your father or ancestors come from Denmark?

No. My father was pure Scotch—Stevens. My mother was half English and half German. So, that makes me half Scotch, one fourth English, and one fourth German. Sounds like the recipe for a drink. Rick laughed nervously and swallowed some of his wine. What about your ancestry, Kert?

Mine’s simpler. My mother was pure Finnish and my father was pure Swedish. That makes me half Finnish and half Swedish.

They seemed to have run that subject into the ground. Rick was hoping his mother would call them to dinner soon. He didn’t know what to say next.

Kert helped him. She said, "Why don’t you tell me a little bit about your European trip?

I’ve got lots of slides I’m going to show you after dinner.

But in the meantime I’m not allowed to ask? Kert smiled mysteriously, he thought. She must think I’m terribly naïve.

Well, I went with my friend Dave Lawson. We took a train to Montreal Canada and sailed to LeHavre, France, on the HMS Saxonia. At LeHavre we joined the six-week Cook’s tour of the continent and spent an extra ten days in London and England. We came back to New York City on the HMS Caronia. Both ships were Cunard liners.

That sounds like the trip of a lifetime. How about you friend, Dave Lawson you said?

We first met when he and I were both working on an iron ore freighter on the Great Lakes. Then we were in college together, down at Ohio State.

Mart told me a little bit about you and he working on those big boats.

Just then Ida announced dinner, and Rick was inwardly relieved. He took their goblets to the table and filled them again with wine.

After the main course Kert said to Ida, Everything is very delicious.

I have apple pie for dessert, Ida said.

Oh, I don’t think I can eat another bite.

Do you want to take a rain check for the pie? Maybe, after seeing Rick’s slides.

What does ‘take a rain check mean’? Your idioms are very interesting. I’m going to make a list of all the new ones I have learned here in the states and put them in a book.

Rick said, I never thought too much about it. I guess ‘take a rain check’ means that you will take it later. I don’t know what rain’s got to do with it.

It makes your language – English – interesting. Also confusing to somebody like me.

Ida said, You speak so well. Where did you learn English?

In school and college in Helsinki. Also I lived in England for two years…in Kent. Kert did not explain why she was living there. Rick did not feel he should ask. Maybe she was with an English lover.

Mart told me you speak five languages. That’s fantastic.

That’s not so unusual in Europe. Most people speak more than one language. I’m rather fluent in French, Finnish, and Swedish. I’m not so good in German, but I can get by. My ex-husband was a German.

The more Kert talked, the more curious Rick became but he hardly dared to ask too many questions. Example: Why didn’t you stay married to this German man?

At last it was time to begin the slide show. Rick set up the screen on its tripod and put his slide projector on a TV table. He sat on a chair behind it. Kert and Ida sat on the sofa.

Kert was duly impressed with Rick’s slides. The next day she wrote a letter to Rick’s half brother Mart in West Virginia:

Dear Mart:

I spent yesterday evening with your brother Rick and your mother. Rick showed me all the pictures he had taken during his trip to Europe, and some of them are really beautiful. I enjoyed to see the little place near Nice where Monsieur Yves Montand usually is staying. The name of that place is Saint Paul de Vence. I used to go there to drink whisky with one of my girl friends while I was staying in Nice. Oh! That old Nice and wonderful Riviera! I wish I were there now.

With this very same letter, I send you a picture of your sweetheart and love.

We are right now in your place [the remodeled basement apartment], and I am using Rick’s typewriter. Rick and me, we are very hungry. We decided to go and eat at the Sugarbowl. I’ll finish this letter before we go. Rick said he’d drive by the post office so I can mail it.

Sweetheart, I wish you all good luck and send you all my best love. You know, of course, that I love you. Honey, I have many real nice plans and thoughts for the coming future. You are included in them.

                  Thousands of Kisses – from your Kert

P.S. Hello from Rick

Chapter 3

Kert Von Fielding woke up early on a rainy day in late October, 1957, worrying about her own situation. She had come to the United States in the middle of June, 1957. According to her VISA, she was allowed to remain in the states only six months. That meant she would have to return to Finland in less than a month, before Thanksgiving. She was staying with her cousins Tom and Fran Hammer in Salem on the Lake. She was sleeping in their cozy guestroom with its matching floral bedspread and draperies at the two windows. She was grateful for their kindness and interest in her. Both Tom and Fran had full-time jobs and were away from their house for about eight hours each day. As a result, Kert spent much time alone.

She wanted desperately to become an American citizen. The waiting list of people, in the official records in Helsinki, was so long and the number allowed to emigrate to America per year was so few that she knew she would wait her entire lifetime before she’d be eligible. She’d be dead before her turn arrived.

In the back of her mind—no, in fact, in the foremost part of her mind—was the idea that she should marry an American and automatically become eligible for American citizenship.

She felt she had nearly accomplished this objective when young Martin Appleby—called Mart—began dating her during the preceding summer. She had met him in a bar in the harbor district of Salem on the Lake. She had gone there one evening with her cousin Fran Hammer—who knew the owners—with the express purpose of meeting a likely suitor.

She had found the young Mart to be an exciting man. Though she was about ten years older than Mart’s 24 years, she felt they had some things in common. She loved to swim and sun herself on the beach and so did Mart. They spent much time at Salem on the Lake’s Township Park. She admired his lean and handsome body, and she knew he liked to admire her in her black two-piece bathing suit. Jumping up and down and frolicking in the breaking waves threw them into each other’s arms. She knew that the close contact of their half naked bodies was arousing and stimulating for both of them. Chaste kisses at first and deeper kisses while lying on the beach led to strong carnal desires.

One afternoon while they were sunning themselves, the sky suddenly darkened and it began to rain. They hurried to the bathhouse, showered, and dressed.

It was only a few minutes after 3:00 p.m. when Mart drove Kert home to her cousin’s house. Kert said, Mart, why don’t you come inside? Tom and Fran won’t be back from work until after 5:00 p.m."

O.K., Mart said in a lilting voice. He dutifully followed her inside the ranch house. He had never been inside before, having said goodbye to Kert at the front door.

Kert showed him about the neat orderly rooms, and finally showed him her room. Kert sat down on the bed and invited Mart to sit beside her.

I have it very nice here, Mart.

I can see that you do. He turned, and cupping her chin in both hands, he kissed her. She kissed him in return and soon the kisses became deeper as their tongues intertwined. Mart moved his body alongside hers and she felt his hard-on beneath his shorts. He stopped kissing and pulled off his T-shirt. She caressed his chest and back and loved the feel of his warm naked skin. Then he helped her remove her blouse and bra. He rubbed his chest against her bare breasts, and she felt as though she were in paradise. He really did excite her.

She pondered whether or not it was too soon to let him have intercourse. It appeared that he would be a good candidate for a husband, but would he respect her if she let him have too many liberties? She decided she would string him along. She smiled when she thought about this new idiom she had learned—string him along.

Mart pulled down his shorts and was about to yank hers down when she protested. Not now, darling. It’s my time of the month, she lied.

Mart was a persistent lover, and soon they were making mad passionate love on her bed in the long lazy summer afternoons—after returning from swimming and sunning themselves at the beach.

After Mart attended his father’s funeral and returned to his teaching position at the West Virginia Institute of Technology, Kert found she had long lonely afternoons. She daydreamed and fantasized about their erotic liaisons. She spent much time writing love letters to Mart. Also, she worked on her project of compiling long lists of idioms. She told her cousins, I’m going to make these into a book. She had visions of publishing a book of American Idioms and selling it to Finnish tourists and students.

In one letter to Mart she wrote, in cursive: I feel so unhappy without a typewriter. I have to find one soon. Then you will get nice typed love letters….

At the end of this letter I will repeat to you, my very dear sweetheart, that I have missed you and that I love you. I wish you a very good start at your instructing work.

Many sweet kisses from your sweetie-pie. Love, Kert.

One Saturday evening about 11:00 p.m. Mart telephoned her from Charleston, West Virginia. Kert woke up from a sound sleep. She could hardly understand his words. Because of his garbled speech, she knew he had been drinking heavily, the same way he did at bars in Salem on the Lake. She understood, from bits and pieces she heard, that he was remembering their love-making and wishing she could visit him in West Virginia.

She said, But what would I do all day while you’re teaching your classes?

She cringed when she heard Mart’s angry reply. Well…I guess…I can find plenty of ass down here. Lots…of young girls and ladies in Charleston. So there! He hung up.

Kert knew that men said mean things when they were drunk. Nevertheless, tears came to her eyes and she cried herself to sleep.

The next morning she thought it best to forgive and forget. Maybe it was her fault for surrendering and having sexual intercourse. Yet, her desire for sex with him had been so strong, she could not resist. She sat down at the kitchen table and wrote him a letter. In the last paragraph, she wrote: Sweetheart, remember that you are drinking too much. Please do me a favor and stop your ‘too much drinking. You can do something else instead. I shall tell you exactly what it is when we shall meet again. Good luck and love from Kert

.

Kert bought a large colorful card at the five and dime store in downtown Salem on the Lake. It had pictures of purple irises. She wrote: Darling, I have missed you much and the old small Salem on the Lake is so dead without you. These pretty flowers will make you feel good and happy while I am away. Soon I shall see you and make you real happy.

I shall spend next Sunday with your brother Rick. We are going to see the same film that I saw last summer with you—Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises. I shall be pleased to see it once more. Your brother has taken very good care of me while you have been away….

Kert continued to write many letters to Mart. Her memories of their love making were the motivation; she felt he must still be interested in her. However, the brutal fact remained that he largely ignored her and wrote only one letter to her ten.

One afternoon she opened her notebook and added a new idiom to the list. It was: Don’t put all your eggs in one basket. Thinking out loud, she said, Why, that’s what I have been doing. Trying to get Mart interested in me and marry me. Why shouldn’t I try to get his brother Rick interested? Maybe he’d marry me.

Thinking about the idiom, she decided she’d keep both men on strings. During the month of October, 1957, she went out with Rick whenever he asked for a date. At the same time she kept writing love letters to Mart. Mart never answered them.

In early November Kert was looking at the help wanted section in the Cleveland Plain Dealer. She found an advertisement for a position in a travel agency in downtown Cleveland. She told Rick’s mother Ida that she’d like to take that job.

Where would you live? Ida asked.

I don’t really know anybody in Cleveland.

I think I can solve your problem, Ida said. You might be able to room and board with Aunt Fannie’s daughter Martha and her son-in-law Dave Lloyd. They live on the west side of Cleveland.

That is what happened. Ida telephoned Martha and invited them for a Sunday dinner. Martha and Dave Lloyd, a fun-loving couple with liberal ideas, were intrigued with this young woman from Finland. The fact that Kert knew five languages made a big impression. They agreed to take Kert home with them that day. The very next morning, Kert could take the bus to downtown Cleveland and apply for this job.

Kert got the job. The travel agency was Bennett Tours, 1224 National City Bank Building, 629 Euclid Avenue, Cleveland 14, Ohio. Several days later, during an afternoon when there was a lull in the work and her boss was out of the office, Kert typed a letter to Mart:

Dear Mart:

I meant to drop you a line yesterday but was so busy all the day. You see, I am working with a Swedish man, Mr. Hammarstadt for Bennett Tours in Cleveland. I am staying with Mr. and Mrs. Lloyd at 4045 157th Street, West.

My stay in Cleveland has been wonderful. I also like very much the job in this office, and I meet a lot of interesting people. Also, I get to speak and read the five languages I know. Mr. Hammarstadt is amazed. Yesterday I prepared an itinerary for a young couple who are going to Finland and Sweden.

Dear Mart, I have missed you very much. I really have. Those summer days on the Salem on the Lake beach left me the loveliest memories of my life. I enclose for you the words for Hey There, a song I am crazy about and I sing it too. If you sometimes have time, please listen to this song.

Being tied up, dear, I have to finish this letter, but I send you one thousand lovely kisses and

Love from Your very devoted Kert

Kert smiled when she thought about the new idiom she had learned: Tied Up. Oh, how she should love to be tied up with Mart! Best of all, tied up with him and both of them naked on her bed! Oh, how she missed their long lazy summer afternoons!

Mart never answered this letter.

After Kert left for Cleveland, Rick found that he really missed Kert. With her feminine wiles she had thoroughly captivated him. His mother Ida said, If Mart is not interested in marrying her, maybe you might be, Rick. She’s very good looking and makes a good impression.

Why don’t we invite her for Thanksgiving? Rick telephoned that evening and arrangements were made. Kert would take the New York Central train to Salem on the Lake. It’s only about a two-hour ride, Rick said. I’d love to see you again, Kert. I really would.

Kert smiled as she heard the enthusiastic ring in Rick’s voice. Maybe I can reel in this man on a string. He might fall in love with me, but can I fall in love with him? I wonder.

Anyhow, if we married I would be eligible for my American citizenship. Then, if we were not compatible, we could get a divorce. I’d still have my citizenship and be free to pursue other interests – lucrative travel agency positions, singing in a nightclub, meeting and perhaps marrying a rich man. Yes, Rick could be my stepping-stone to a wonderful and exciting life in America. Enjoy the life, Kert!

Chapter 4

About 1:00 p.m., Thanksgiving day, Rick drove to the New York Central train station in Salem on he Lake and waited inside the ancient waiting room. He sat on a hard bench and anxiously glanced at the pendulum clock almost every minute or so. The train was late, arriving at 1:26 p.m. It was due at 1:15 p.m.

A dozen or more people, heavily bundled up because of the bitter cold weather, exited the train station to greet passengers getting off at Salem on he Lake. Rick scrutinized each face. At last he saw Kert, clad in a red wool coat and black hat. Her face seemed thinner. She smiled sweetly and hugged him, saying, I’m so glad so see you, Rick. In the next breath, she asked, Is Mart coming home for Thanksgiving?

No. He telephoned this morning. Said his car wouldn’t start. It’s a second-hand car like mine. He said if he can get it fixed tomorrow he might be here on Saturday. He didn’t know for sure.

Hearing this bad news, Kert’s smile disappeared and she seemed dejected. Rick grabbed her small suitcase. Secretly Rick was glad that Mart was not going to be home. It would give him, Rick, an opportunity to make time with Kert. If Mart were there, Kert would probably ignore Rick.

That morning Rick had helped his mother stuff and roast the small turkey. He also peeled potatoes and made mashed potatoes. When he and Kert entered the house, pleasant aromas assailed their nostrils.

Oh, Kert sighed. It smells so good. I’m sure everything will be delicious.

Ida always fussed on these occasions. Hope the turkey won’t be too dried out.

Can I do anything to help? Kert volunteered.

Well, I guess you can set the table. Kert did so. Rick carried platters of green beans, sliced turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, and cranberry salad to the table. It was a typical Thanksgiving dinner and the loaded antique table looked almost like a picture Norman Rockwell would have painted.

Sit right down Kert. Everything’s ready."

I’m really hungry.

Rick noticed that Kert ate with gusto. She had good manners and they engaged in small talk. Kert told them a little bit about her travel agency job. "But it can’t last. It’s only temporary. You see, I’m going to have to return to Helsinki on December 15th.

Why is that? Ida asked.

With my VISA, I’m only allowed to stay six months in the states. You see, I bought a round-trip ticket on the steamship MS Gripsholm, a Swedish passenger ship. I arrived in New York City on June 15th. My return trip is scheduled for December 15th.

Oh, I didn’t realize that.

But I do want to come back. I’ll have to go back to Helsinki, get a job there and save as much money as possible, so as to pay for my return trip. I want to sail again on the Gripsholm. Oh, luxury! Kert had a faraway look in her eyes, Rick thought. Maybe she had a shipboard romance with some guy.

That must be a real luxury liner, Rick said, to make conversation. He told a little bit about the luxurious accommodations on the two Cunard ocean liners—HMS Saxonia and HMS Caronia. He and Dave Lawson, his sailor and college friend, had sailed on these ships to and from Europe the preceding summer. Yeah, that sure was the trip of a lifetime, Rick concluded.

Yes, I certainly did enjoy seeing your slides.

They help to jog my memory. When I see a slide I recall a lot of details.

Kert volunteered to wash the dishes. Rick dried them. Ida put the extra food in the refrigerator.

After the work was finished, they sat in the living room. It was getting difficult to make conversation; there were some awkward lulls. Kert said, I brought my microphone and loudspeaker. Why don’t you let me sing a song to you?

O.K. Sounds great, Rick said.

Kert went to the new guest room, paneled in knotty pine like the living room and dining room, and returned with her microphone and small loudspeaker.

Rick plugged them in behind the sofa. Kert sang:

                 HEY THERE

           Hey there

           You with the stars in your eyes

           Love never made a fool of you

           You used to be too wise

           Hey there

           You are my high-flying cloud

           Though he won’t throw a crumb to you

           You think some day he will come to you

           Better forget him

           Him with his nose in the air

           He has you dancing on a string

           Break it and he won’t care

           Won’t you take this advice I hand you

           Like a mother

           Or are you not seeing things too clear

           Are you too much in love to hear

           Is it all going in one ear

           And out the other

When Kert was singing the last few lines, Rick noticed that Kert had tears running down her cheeks. He said, You really do have a nice voice. You sang that song with real feeling. His mother concurred, saying, That’s just lovely, Kert.

What Rick did not say was that the sentiment expressed in the song mirrored her relationship with his brother Mart. It seemed that Kert was really in love with him and that he had soundly rejected her, had dropped her like a hot potato as his mother expressed it. It was a case of unrequited love. She was disappointed in love. In a sense, Kert was a prisoner of love and hope. She was desperately loving Mart and hoping he would return her love.

The remainder of the evening, until Ida went to bed, was spent watching television.

It was about 9:00 p.m. when Ida retired. Rick and Kert had been sitting at opposite ends of the sofa. After his mother left the room, Rick stood up and sat down next to Kert. He tentatively reached for her hand. He said, Kert, I really did like your song. But it’s such a sad song, and it made you sad… He was going to continue, but Kert interrupted.

I think you know why. She looked into his eyes.

Well…

I might as well come right out with it. I was in love with Mart, and I thought he was in love with me. Now, I’m not sure about it anymore.

Though Rick wanted to, he did not feel that he had the right to pick up where Mart had left off. He was not sure what to say next.

Why don’t you kiss me? Kert said, staring straight into his eyes. She leaned her head toward his. Her lips were only inches from his.

He smelled her fragrant perfume and admired her low-cut red wool dress, ending slightly below her shapely knees. He hesitated. Kert moved forward and covered his lips with her own. He felt her tongue lightly brushing his lips. They maintained this union for about twenty seconds when they were interrupted by a rhythmic knocking sound on the ceiling above them.

Rick pulled away from Kert’s lips and laughed. Oh, that’s the young married couple in their bedroom. It’s the apartment right above us.

Kert smiled. She said, Do you hear this every night?

Just about. Rick blushed. At the moment he did not want to stand up; he was getting a hard-on and did not want Kert to see the bulge in his pants. But she’s been married and she’s probably had plenty of sex. Maybe she’ll want to have sex with me. She sure turns me on.

Why don’t we kiss some more? Kert suggested, bringing her lips against Rick’s. Rick had wanted to take a breather, but it was not in the cards, so to speak. They kissed for a couple of minutes during which time Rick’s heartbeat and breathing rate increased. His body became sweaty. He broke away from Kert’s lips and removed his sweater.

That’s more like it, Kert said. Then she began to unbutton his shirt and helped him to slip out of it. With her fingers and lips she lightly caressed his chest and nipples. Rick was beside himself. His crotch felt uncomfortable; his erection thrust itself forward against his pants as though it had a life of its own.

I can’t take much more of this. I feel like I’m going to explode.

Maybe you’d better, darling. You’ll feel better.

It was difficult for Rick to believe that all this was happening. Maybe she’s just trying to make me come, so that I won’t pressure her for sexual intercourse. I had no intention of doing that anyhow. This is all happening too fast. Though he was strongly tempted to undress Kert, he resisted this temptation.

Rick pulled away from Kert and said, Excuse me, I’ve got to go to the bathroom.

You’re leaving when things are just getting exciting.

I’ll be back.

In the bathroom Rick waited for his erection to subside and then he urinated. His breathing and heart rate decreased. When he left the bathroom he encountered his mother leaving her bedroom and walking toward the bathroom. Rick, why did you take off your shirt? Has Kert gone to bed yet?

I was too hot. No, we’re going to watch a movie on TV.

As Rick entered the living room, he told Kert that his mother might interrupt them at any moment. It was wisest to watch TV. So they watched a John Wayne movie, sitting side by side on the sofa and holding hands. During the last half hour Rick dozed. When the movie was over, Kert woke him up, kissed him on the cheek, and said Goodnight, darling.

The next couple of days of his Thanksgiving vacation he spent shoveling snow and making hazardous drives to downtown Salem on the Lake to buy food and medications at grocery and drug stores. Kert went with him on the shopping trips. She said, This is just like our winters in Finland. What the