Red Burtts Storys

It happened out behind my Flag Pole; today was the day that I finally, really and truly realized that my wife and I are not going to live forever,

1946 Cambridge Massachusetts:
My wife and I have been married for almost 63 years as I write this, we were children ourselves when our first child was born, we were told by many that we were “to young” to handle all those unthought of things that come with marriage, the bills, the children, and all of the other little troubles, the worries and the temptations in life that come out of nowhere.
The day my girlfriend and myself went into Cambridge City Hall and told the old women behind the counter that we wanted a “marriage license” she said she was going to have us arrested, she actually got mad at us, she said “you both look like you belong in grammar school” then she said “your not getting any marriage license from me” I wanted to call her a dirty name but I knew she would call the police and make a big scene then all that stuff would get my girlfriend crying and sniveling so we just walked away and went out in the hall, my girlfriend started to fill up and her lips were quivering, she said “what are we going to do” I had my plan all made as soon as the old lady said she wouldn’t give us the license, I said “follow me”.

The benefits of living in a large city neighborhood in those days were “people” knowing people, we were all like family and we were always doing favors for each other, today was the day I needed a favor, right down the hall from the old lady’s office was the City Councilors office, my girlfriend and I had our own City Councilor, his name was Charlie W. (I don’t like using last peoples names on the internet, he has passed away but still has family living in Cambridge) he was from our neighborhood, he grew up on the same streets we did he was of the generation ahead of us, I worked for Charlie putting signs up for him when he was running for the City Council, I grabbed my girl’s hand and we barged right into his office, he started laughing and said ‘what the hell are you two doing’ he knew my wife as her family also lived in the neighborhood, I said “we want to get married” that really cracked him up, he said “I’m not a priest what the hell do you want me to do” I did that on purpose I knew it would get him going, I told him about the old lady down the hall in the license division, I said “that old women won’t give us a marriage license, she said we were to young” Charlie said “can you get your parents permission” we both said “yes” Charlie said “get a letter from your parents then come back to see me” then he said “don’t go down the street and write the letter yourself, get it from your parents” my girlfriend ran right home and had her mother write the letter and sign it, I sat in a booth in the Village Spa the variety store we all hung around in and wrote my own letter then one of the guys I hung around with signed my fathers name.

Two days later we marched into Charlie’s office and handed him our letters, he took us both down to see “Grammy” he said to her “give these people a marriage license” then he just walked out, the old lady was furious but said nothing, she typed everything up and handed us the license, I just grinned at her I thought she was going to faint, then I said “thank you, god bless you” revenge, but do you know what, that old women was right, we were just two kids getting ready to “Play House” we were to young.

February 1947
We took our license, put Fifty Cents worth of gas in my old 32 Ford, grabbed two of our friends from the corner and headed for a Justice Of The Peace in Somerville, our wedding was like getting sworn into the army, say “I Do” that was it,

Mr & Mrs Teenager.

The years started to fly by, we had two children and all of the little worry’s that go with “kids” then we had some problems that would be cause for divorce in many of today’s marriages but we hung in there we put things behind us then eleven years after the birth of our second child we had another one, four years after that one we had one more, today 2009 we have Four children, Eleven grandchildren and Nine great grandchildren, we are still here, still married, the clock is ticking, we no longer look in mirrors unless there is an emergency taking place somewhere on our wrinkled scrawny old bodies.

I wish I could meet that wise old lady in City Hall that scolded us so many, many years ago, I would hold her hand and say “old women, you were right, we were way to young to take on that great responsibility called marriage” then I would kiss her and say “but we made it, and we are leaving our mark with the family we alone created”

The Flagpole:
Today is a beautiful day in June, 2009, I Have just finished a phone call from my oldest son, he was our firstborn way back then, when he calls one of the first things he will always say is “how’s Mum” Mum of course is his mother, my wife, the young girl that excitedly walked up the stairs and into Cambridge City Hall with me to apply for our license To Marry so many years ago, my other children do the same, “how’s mom” are the first words I hear when they call, today as we sat in our golf cart out behind the Flagpole I looked over at my wife, her hair is full but has all turned to white, she seems frail, she is having some problems but won’t speak of them, she has always been a very quiet women who keeps everything to herself (she’s Danish, stubborn and private) she alone knows what goes on in her head, we are both in our Eighties now and as I watched her I was wondering “what does she think about, does she also like me, think well we made it, this is it, the end of the line gets closer with each passing day” she still at times looks like that beautiful young teenage girl that held my hand in the Cambridge City Hall as we stood together and listened to the old women scold us so long, long ago but on that day we both thought that we would live forever, how fast the time has gone.

Today, behind the Flagpole something happened to me that has only happened once before in our many years of marriage something that I have long ago buried in the past, today I had that same feeling, I suddenly became frightened, today I truly became aware of our mortality, for all of our lives my wife and myself have been blessed with excellent health, sickness, prescriptions, pills, doctors, hospitals all those things were for other people, but, now, today, sitting in our golf cart beside our flagpole I realize that all the new little feelings that we are suddenly aware of are the signs, as with all living things we are part of Gods Plan, the next phase of God’s Plan for my wife and myself are right over the next hill, God has been good to us.

When my time comes to travel through the tunnel into the hereafter and if I should meet the Little Old Lady who was the Clerk for the City Of Cambridge I will tell her “you were right old girl we were to young, but we did it”

When the trumpet of the lord shall sound and time will be no more
And the morning breaks eternal light and fair
When the saved on earth shall gather over on the other shore
And the roll is called up yonder I’ll be there

Author: Red Burtt