I kind of sort of doubt Anna went THAT far; but who am I to possibly know? What I DO remember, in this old leaky head of mine, is that she had been complicit for years, along with a number of other friends and family members, in keeping all knowledge of the ongoing romantic liaison from her mother. And it was Anna, finally, who had to tell Eleanor, before she found out in some other manner, that Lucy had been with FDR in Georgia that week and at the fateful hour. The press was very quiet about it at the time, but hey, this was back during a war time in which the entire media was careful what they said so as not to hurt public morale. Her name WAS listed as part of the group present down there, but nothing more was said about her AT THAT TIME. We had no televisions in those days: only radio, newspapers, and news magazines. The news was not so instant all over.
I will always remember I was cleaning shrimp in our home in Bunkie, Louisiana. They were grey and slimy, and I was taking the hulls off and knifing the guts out; preparing them for shrimp gumbo with rice for supper. Um, um good! Don't remember another thing about that day, just these moments: for the front screen door slammed, and I could hear footsteps coming through the living room and dining room of our bungalow. Poo-doo Goux, (his real name was Gladford), the 15 year old boy from next door came into the kitchen, stopping in the living room to turn the radio on. President Roosevelt is dead, he announced. I bout died, and that is all I remember. Fade out. Close the curtain. For all of eternity I will be cleaning shrimp when I hear mention of the death of FDR.
