A MARRIAGE THAT WASN’T...

or the best laid plans of mice….

When I left Michigan for Italy I had planned that we would get married and Angelina would get her passport and we would depart for the promised land at the most within 3 or 4 weeks.
That was the plan but of course, maybe not a good one. The first thing that went wrong was due to a ‘stupid’ Doctor at the American Embassy, there was a hold on her passport. There was a physical that Angelina had to pass which included a chest X-Ray. I don’t believe it to this day but that Doctor claimed that there was a ‘spot’ on her x-ray that had to be “evaluated”. There was not an open arms policy that welcomed Americans marrying foreigners by any means. I didn’t have the money or the standing to have a voice about this. At any rate, there was an obstacle that had put things on hold.
We went back to Casagiove and her parents home. Her father was a wonderful old gentleman whom I got along very well with as well as her sister and 2 brothers. It went well for a little while but the money was running out quickly. There wasn’t much to begin with. There is an American monthly paper that is distributed throughout Italy. In the last issue was an ad for employment that required English. “No experience Necessary”. So far so good. Any applicants had to go to Livorno, Italy to apply. With no other options available I decided to try it out. Things between Angelina were not great anyway. I found that she had a boyfriend while I was gone and evidently he was still around after I came back and even after we were married. It would be better for both of us if we separated for a while.
I got the job. It was selling Encyclopedia’s to American military all around Europe. There were teams of several, 4 to 6 salesmen, that would go into a town or city and would seek out (canvass) buildings that housed Americans during the day and went in the evening to sell. It turned out to be pleasingly challenging and a lot of the guys were just like me. Traveling around Europe and trying to hang on. There was Boris from England who fancied himself a Poet. He talked like someone out of a Shakespearian play who was never off the stage. Pleasant guy who really loved women. All women. And there was Mark who had come from America through Caracas, Venezuela. He was a Geologist working in Caracas until someone, more than fairly important, found him with his wife and he decided Italy would be a nice change of pace. I liked him. He introduced me to a lot of things. Aperitifs, French foods, philosophy and Philip Wylie’s books. Because of Mark I read and enjoyed a few of Wylie’s books such as An ‘Essay on Morals’, ‘Generation of Vipers’ and my favorite ‘Finnley Wren: His Notions and Opinions’. He could talk for hours and I hung on almost every word. He had been formerly educated, which I had not, and street educated which I was, a little. There were others but rather non descript. Just guys trying to make a living.
While we were in Kaiserslautern, Germany some of us stayed in the Hotel Kaiserhauf. It was there that I met a very beautiful blond girl named Kitty. She was from Belgium and spoke 5 languages. Flemish, Spanish, English, French and German. She was amazing. She looked a lot like May Britt of the movies in the 50’s. When she found out what work we were doing she wanted to try it. Our manager, Nicholas, said why not so I more or less trained her on the ‘pitch’ we used. She did pretty good. In Germany we all made good sales. There were American military everywhere in hi-rise apartment buildings in all the larger cities. A lot of them with children. It was good times. We ate in the best restaurants and drank the best wines.
And then we went to France. Not all of us. Just Mark and a guy named Jules. Kitty and I had lost interest in each other by that time.