“I’M OUT” I still went to the restaurant every night that Herman worked and it was plain to see that our trou- bles with the restaurant were affecting both of us. We were really struggling financially. Herman was never lazy and he worked as hard as he could to make the business profitable but circumstances were working against us. Part of the problem had to do with the simple fact that Herman was eight years younger than his brother, Harry, and nine years younger than Izzy. He was always the junior partner, the kid brother in the equation, no matter how important his contribution was. Herman and Harry were always arguing. They loved each other and respected each other but they were both strong individuals who were quite capable of making their views known. When it was clear that the restaurant business was on its last legs, Harry and Izzy were proposing they go into the real estate business. At one point in a heated discussion Harry shouted at Herman, “Are you in or out?” Herman wasn’t about to be bullied and he responded, “I’m out.”
IMPOSSIBLE When Stephen was about three years old Herman took a business trip out of town. I picked him up at the airport a week later and told him on the drive home that I thought I was pregnant again. “Impossible,” Herman said facetiously, “I’ve been out of town for a week.” No, Honey, not impossible. As it turned out Herman and I were not just capable of making smart, cute boys but also a smart, beautiful girl. So, in the course of time, Wendy Shooster joined our merry band. One day, when I was pregnant with Wendy, Herman and I decided to go see a movie in Wilm- ington, Delaware. As we were driving along Herman looked in the rear view mirror and saw a police car obviously chasing us. Herman didn’t have his driver’s license with him so we decided to switch places so the policeman would think I was driving. This is not a brilliant idea when you are six or seven months pregnant and Wendy was not amused. When we had pulled over and stopped, the policeman asked for a driver’s license. While I was fumbling in my purse he said, “No, not yours, his.” Well it must have been our lucky day because the cop thought our stupid scheme was so funny he gave us a pass and didn’t write us a ticket. We told him we owned Shooster’s Drive-In and that any time he wanted to stop in that the hamburger was on us.
Police officers - Carl Morelli and Silvey Pompilii.
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