August 6, 1944

Sunday Morning

Dearest Ken,

It’s almost noon and I have just returned from Amelia’s. I told you that I did my washing in the “house” machine over there, didn’t I? Well, something quite distressing happened - - around eight o’ clock this morning, the door bell rang and Amelia threw on her housecoat and went to the door and there stood a cop! The lady who did a washing right after we did ours had 18 pairs of silk hose stolen from the line, plus three pre-war two-way stretch girdles! Imagine hanging such precious things out of doors and leaving them there all night! She called the cops and mentioned that we were the only ones who had been downstairs at the time she did her washing. She thought maybe we had seen someone molesting her goods. We took our wash down about seven last night. Well, I had stuffed my clean clothes in my laundry bag and had planned to transport them via University Avenue bus, but after this affair, I decided that the cops might nab me if they happened to see me leaving the place with a laundry bag over my shoulder; it wouldn’t look very good, huh? So, I filled both of Amelia’s suitcases with my worldly possessions and she had to help me bring them home! This gal either patronized the black market or she did some plain and fancy hording - - imagine 18 pairs of silk hose; I can’t keep 1 pair of .79 cent ones ahead; one of the disadvantages of being poor, isn’t it?

I love you,

Berna Lou