My Second Husband ~ Part One

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When I came home off the road with the carnival my daughter was about 2. I remember like it was yesterday her walking across the living room at my grandparents' place. We were both so glad to see one another. It's weird to look back at that time when she was only 2. She is 54 now and we have been through a lot. Maybe I will tell that story later on down the road a piece. But....... I began working as a cocktail waitress. The story is that I was out drinking with friends catching up on life and the place we were at needed a cocktail waitress. The manager asked over the mike if anyone would help out. They were really busy and I was feeling that adventurous spirit, so I took the job. Ended up working there about two years before I got the job at the telephone company. (Mountain Bell which later became AT&T) A co-worker and I became friends. She was someone the other women whispered about and thought it funny to call her names. I was always one to have a soft spot in my heart for the underdog, those being ridiculed by society for whatever reason. So, she and I became friends. She was dating a guy who was in prison. Now this was when I was young and looking for adventure in my life. She kept trying to get me to become pen pals with one of her boyfriend's friends. I thought to myself. Uh, no way. Right! Well, the adventure and curiosity soon got the better of me, and I told her to go ahead and have her boyfriend have some of his friends write to me. (I had them write to her address not mine. Gheez! Give me some credit) There were several that wrote. I tried to be nice and graciously eliminated most. But one stood out. He had nice penmanship, he could form actual sentences, he wasn't a creep with the bad language and nasty flirting. He seemed like a nice enough guy. He wrote about his life and his mom. He didn't flirt and was very polite. He could draw and drew some lovely flowers and such on the envelopes. I enjoyed hearing from him. Months went by and he kept asking me to go out there and visit him. The prison was miles out away from Boise. This was getting into some bad territory for me. I was scared to death. Writing to someone was one thing but actually going out to a prison to meet them was something I never thought I would ever do. No, not ever. My double thinking mind went to work on me. He is nice. But he's a gangster. This is prison my dear, not high school. But, I am curious. It would be such an adventure. Just the one time couldn't hurt. Right? I never thought I'd travel with the carnival, but I had done it. So my name and info went on a visitor's list and I went out there. During the drive out there that first time I must have nearly turned back 2 or 3 times. It was scary. Pulling up to this cement building with wire fencing all around it was something that made me nearly lose my bladder contents. Here I would like to make something very clear. I was not looking for love and another marriage. I had the one marriage where I married for love. I married to give the man I loved a child. All that romantic rot. I was through with that. I was out for adventure and only adventure. Sure, there were feelings. Some attraction and some downright caring but not lifetime commitment by any means. I was learning and maybe I'd write a book about my adventures. Who knows. Walked down the hall, signed my name and waited. A female guard came out and took me back to a room where I was searched. A very thorough search too. Dewey Napier looked sort of like Vin Desil. He was low key and seemed shy. Me being shy too you can imagine how great our first visit was. He was nice and we made it through. And, yes, I did start going out there weekly to see him. Over the months that followed I learned about prison life. How boring, stringent and just what DN was going through. He had a rather flip way of looking at it all. He was tough and could handle himself. Men in prison were players and would rather fight you than take any guff. That is putting it mildly. He introduced me to some that happened to be nearby when we visited. Scary thugs they were. Their families were about the same. Life went into a tailspin. Here I was about 21 and had a boyfriend in prison. My daughter was getting older. She and I were very close, and I was very close with my family. I had made some fast rules with Dewey. My daughter would not be going out there. I expected him to work on getting his GED. I sent him art supplies, a radio, all sorts of things. I spent a lot of money on him. He was my project. I will end this first part here.