A Little Story from my Life

The title of today's PaperBack reminds me of something that happened a long time ago, the summer of 1966.  I'd finished up my work on my M.A. at what was then called North Texas State University, and we were planning to move to Austin.  One weekend we drove to Austin and met a friend of ours, a very strait-laced guy, who was going to help us look for an apartment.  At the first place we looked, the apartment manager was a young woman, probably even younger than we were, and we were very young.  She took us into a one-bedroom apartment about which I remember nothing at all except for the bedroom, and the reason I remember that is because of what the young woman said when she took us into it.  She said, "It's a queen-size bed, and I'm sure it's big enough for all three of you."

For me, that moment marked the beginning the official beginning of that era known as "the '60s."  I knew for sure that I'd come a long way from my little old hometown, and even a long way from North Texas State.  I thought our friend was going to faint.  I still remember how red his face was.  I was laughing, and I think Judy was too.  We didn't rent that apartment, but I'll always remember that little episode fondly.