was that we would buy three of the same item – one for me, one for Selma, and one for sale. Not a good busi- ness plan. Then I had an idea. How about those framed fabrics in Herman’s offices? We could do that. The framed fabrics were beautiful and Selma and I had fun working on them together. One Sunday we were at her house working on a very large wall hang- ing. When we finished I was going to take it across the street to my house to store it. I took it in both hands and went out the kitchen door. Then I noticed how windy it had gotten. I held the framed fabric on top of my head with my arms raised to support it. But the giant wall hanging had turned into a giant kite and was trying very hard to launch itself and me into the sky. But I had worked too hard on the thing to let it go easily. I hung on with my arms straight up in the air until I thought my shoulders were going to be dislocated and finally wrestled it back into Selma’s house. Our business lasted until we real- ized that with eight children between the two of us we had more than enough to do. FRENCH? One example of how much we had to do and how busy we were is this simple example. Frankie, who was
about nine at the time, told me he had a leading role in a French play at school. I didn’t even know he was taking French. TARZAN OF THE GOLF COURSE And here’s another example: Michael loved animals of all kinds. The golf course behind our house was a great place to poke around and find interesting animals. Once Michael asked his classmates if any of them would like a tadpole. They all wanted one. So the next day Michael arrived with a bucket filled with tadpoles. One summer day we saw him walking back from the pond on the golf course with a giant snapping
Al DeMartini with Herman
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