Chapter 16: The Beautiful Buick
In the fall of 1972, things were going okay for the Burton’s, but not perfect by a long shot. The ’63 LeSabre had been repaired and was running again, but it didn’t match the look I wanted for my new family.
I can’t remember all of the details, but it was about this time our relationship with the landlord deteriorated to the point where we needed to find another place to live as well. We set out to look for another apartment and quickly found a suitable place in a brand-new building on Groesbeck road in College Hill.
We happened to visit the place on a day when the landlord was there inspecting work which had been done and so we got a tour of the apartment and quickly struck a deal to move in as soon as the building was ready for occupancy. Naturally we needed new transportation to match our new digs so we headed to Reading road for a look see.
Vehicle #13
We went to the same lot where we had found the ’63 LeSabre and this time the man had
a beautiful green 1965 Electra 225 sitting there. Of course this car was not something we could really afford, but the man said the magic word, finance, and we were soon tooling around in our new ride.
Things once again seemed to be on-track and we were happy. The new place was nice, we had met a few of our neighbors and life was good. Having taken a slight break late in the pregnancy until shortly after the birth, our sex life was once again in full swing and happy go lucky as always.
Of course money always seems to be a problem for young couples and our situation was no different. I had been making enough money for us to be well off, but then things occur which changes the picture in a hurry. Several factors led up to these changes, but it was bound to happen sooner or later.
One of the things was at work, as I mentioned previously, my brother-in-law Huey also worked at the same place and in fact we worked pretty much side by side. But a funny thing was happening, Huey always seemed to make more money than I did. So I confronted him about it and discovered the reason, Huey was cheating!
It’s strange when you find out things about someone close to you and sometimes funny how you choose to deal with it. Being a basically honest person I could not do what he was doing, so this continued to weigh on my mind and add to my problems.
Of course Debbie did not help, we had been married now for close to a year and things hadn’t changed much with her. Although our love life was pretty good, the constant bickering over how well she kept house was very annoying and this also contributed to my problems.
The pressure of these things along with bills and the other normal problems for young couples was too much and my solution was not ideal either, but it was my only way out, or so I thought. I quit my job. Yeah, I know, DUMB!
It took a few weeks, but I did find another job, working at a car wash in College Hill. So I went from bringing home $300-$400 a week to making a dollar and a half an hour, plus tips. Let’s all say it again, DUMB, DUMB, DUMB!!!
In a way though it was kind of nice, Debbie would push the baby up in the stroller to the car wash to visit and we would have lunch together if the tips were good enough that day. Things were better at home, at least for awhile, but then the bills, rent, and other monetary problems got too much and so I needed to find a better job.
One of our friends had mentioned working as a security guard and said the starting pay was 2 bucks an hour, so I went to apply for a position there. In no time at all I found myself working for Wackenhut security at the Allis-Chalmers plant in Norwood. Things got a little better.
Debbie also decided to be more helpful and applied for a secretary position at the Western-Southern Life Insurance office in Seven Hills. To my amazement, she got the job and things were great until she went for the physical. Oops! Debbie was pregnant again. There went that job.
Okay, not the end of the world, we were doing okay until we got so far behind on the rent that we were served with an eviction notice. Time for another move, but that will have to wait for yet another chapter…
For those who would like to follow the count, I will keep a running tally of my vehicle list here.
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