And You Will Find Love

"On Saturday nights, Buck and I treat ourselves to an ice-cold Vodka tonic," Edna said. "You probably need one, after the day you said you put in at the airport."

The three friends sat on the front porch as the blazing sun started going down, and drank the cold drinks Edna prepared. Buck looked and sounded like one of his more "with it" nights.

"Edna and I went to wrestling matches back in the Bronx," he said. "They're like a circus, with men instead of animals. Never saw Moose Mondrowski wrestle, but heard of him. They say he can break a man's arm or leg like I snap a spike of crisp celery between my false teeth."

Edna confided in Barbara in a whisper, "He gets into spells of remembering and joking now and then. I love it. It breaks up the monotony of his quiet times."

Buck didn't mind, nodding his head up and down and smiling. "Women talk. Need it like a baby needs mother's milk."

Barbara was not sure she was up for some wrestling matches but was glad there wasn't going to be any boxing. She recognized Moose Mondrowski right away among the gladiators in the Armory ring. He was the one wearing a taxidermist's Moose head.

She closed her eyes during most of his match. Especially when he picked up his pint-sized opponent and swung him around over his head several times like he was a store window mannequin. When he threw him out of the ring, the unfortunate fellow landed in a lady's lap and she screamed until someone pulled him off of her. Then Moose tossed him back into the ring.

Barbara was relieved the Moose had not broken his opponent's arm or any other visible part of his anatomy. Mostly, he wrestled like a mountain to his opponent's mole hill, burying him under his huge hulk. Finally, he pinned his victim, which he could have done in the first minute of their match. The referee raised Moose's right arm proclaiming him the victor, and Moose waved his left one at Barbara.

Afterward, Moose introduced Barbara and her guests to some of his friends in attendance. They were either wrestlers or merchants dealing in agricultural products such as manure. Most of their talk centered on wrestling holds or what fertilizer was currently the best for growing alfalfa or wheat for cattle grazing.

When she thought she couldn't listen to another discussion about cow shit, a tall, thin, nice-looking young black man came up to her as she stood talking to Buck and Edna. She hadn't seen many blacks around Mohave, and had hardly known any in Chicago. He looked neat in dark trousers and blue work shirt and she wondered what he had on his mind to say to her. He seemed very polite and gentlemanly.