A FBOW addendum: “The Godfather”

Chicago, Illinois —

November 22, 1963

12:34 p.m.

“Repeating a bulletin from CBS, President Kennedy has been shot by a would be assassin in Dallas, Texas.

“Stay tuned to CBS news for…”

In tears now. “Oh, my God!”

“Please, Marsha, can I come home?”

The line silent…

“Marsha?”

Needing him! Needing her husband’s arms to enfold her… To enfold their family.

“ ‘Yes’, baby, come home!”

Breathing a sigh of relief… “Thank you, Marcie! I’m downtown and have to pick up the car by the ‘El’, but I’m on my way right now… “I love you, Marcie!”

Sincerely said. “I love your, too, baby!” Looking out the window. “Looks like it’s starting to stick, drive carefully.”

Dropping the phone onto the cradle as he searched his pants pocket for another dime and his jacket pocket for Mister Leonard’s letterhead.

Dialling...

“Law Offices!”

“Ida, it’s Mitch Lipensky.”

“Mister Lipensky?”

Standing, Elizabeth approached Ida’s desk.

Said quickly, but each word heartfelt. “Ida! I’m so sorry! Please tell Liz that I am ‘so’ sorry. But I just ‘can’t’ do it! Send me any charges for today. And. ‘Oh, God’! In Dallas, just now, Kennedy... “

Mister Leonard’s door Bursting open. “ ‘Kennedy’s been shot’!”
Both Ida and Elizabeth looking in shock — as Mitchell slammed the phone onto the cradle and Ran to the ‘El’ station.

Telling Ida to send any charges to her, Elizabeth Herzon walked through the accumulating slushy snow the block and a half to her pre-paid parking spot.

Sitting a moment acclimatising herself, Elizabeth then crossed her arms across the steering wheel and — nestling her head withing, cried...

Elizabeth’s tears, however, were more for her assassinated president than for her lost love because, actually, she never believed Mitchell ‘would’ divorce his wife and — though she said she would and would have, relived of the responsibility of possibly eighteen years of ‘support’ for three young children…

Elizabeth Herzon did love Mitchell Lipensky, but did have the inkling of a plan for her immediate future that — if worked out, would take her away from Chicago, and the temptation of Mitchell.

DesPlains, Illinois,

Wednesday, November 27, 1963 —

6:17 p.m.

Catching the phone on the third ring. ..

“Mitchell.”

Recognising the voice. “Gene, hi!”

Concerned about getting an after hour phone call from the Transco sales manager, immediately wondering what, if anything Elizabeth might have said.

“Mitch, sorry to bother you this late…”

“Don’t worry about it, Gene. What’s up?”

“We’re adding five names to your customer list that need pretty quick attention.”

“Sure…” relieved this call had nothing to do with Elizabeth — or did it “...I’ll stop by your office tomorrow… Where’d they come from?”

“Elizabeth Herzon came in this afternoon with all her records and said she’s got a very sick aunt in Dayton and she’s ‘got’ to get there to hep her.

“So she quit without notice, and told me these five accounts need attention and suggested I pass them on to you.”

Chicago, Illinois

Wednesday, November 27. 1963

9:20 a.m. Waiting no more than a few minutes in the Midwestern Regional office of Mister Lester Harris, Midwestern Branch Training manager for ‘International Business Machines’.

****

An elderly, extremely well dressed man coming into the office, “Good morning, Miss Herzon.”

Wearing her best, dark blue business type skirt and jacket, “‘Morning, Mister Harris.”

Going to behind his desk, “Sit down, why don’t you.”

Sitting rather primly.

“Relax Elizabeth...You mind if I call you ‘Elizabeth’?”

Having at least two cute answers to this, but thinking it best to play it straight… “No, sir, Elizabeth’ll be fine.”

Lifting a rather elaborate multi page questionnaire and holding it forward… “I see it took almost two months to get this back to us.”

“I guess I thought that with my ‘city college’ education, filling that out would be completely futile, but figured, ‘what the hell’.”

“Elizabeth, here at IBM we’re formulating plans to bring a women’s division into our world wide ‘display and sales departments’ and, actually, we’d rather not have ‘high end’ college grads coming to us with ‘their’ ideas of how ‘they’d’ like to see things done because we want them to think as ‘IBM’ thinks.”

“You know, Elizabeth, that if you should decide to join us, you’ll go through a three month instruction course at our IBM institute in Endicott, New York.”

“Yes, sir.”

His ten fingers tented before his face, studying young woman for a long moment.

“You’re probably wondering how we got your name.” Without waiting for an answer. “One of my best friends is one of your customers and, aware of out plans for a ‘female division’, a few months back he told me about you and said that we’d better get hold of you because you’d make one hell of an IBM lady’.”

“Who ever he is…” Elizabeth said “...when you talk to him, please tell him I said, ‘thank you’.”

“If you should decide to join us, you’ll likely have the whole world to choose a territory from and you ‘will’ know IBM equipment ‘inside and out’. So much so that you’ll be able to make quick repairs, if need be on the spot. And just by looking at you, and from what my friend had to say, you are one terrific sales lady.”

Without the slightest hesitation. “My lease is up in a few days…” Elizabeth said “... when do you want me in Endicott?”

Skokie, Illinois

March 19, 1966

Skokie General Hospital —

Slumping in the chair, once again glancing at the large clock on the canary yellow wall, sighing, Mitchell Lipensky went back to studding the paper-back book he’d brought to the ‘husband’s waiting room’ at ‘Skokie General hospital’..

“This y our first?” A rather grizzly appearing young man sitting at the far end of the room asked.

“Nah…” looking up “...our fourth.” Thinking it rude not to ask, “You?”

“ ‘Four’! Jesus!” The grizzly appearing man said, “This our first.”

A conversation of sorts started…

“You are right, by the way.”

“How do you mean?” the grizzly man asked.”

“ ‘Four kids’? ‘Jesus! And I’m not even thirty-two yet.”

“Your wife? You don’t mind me asking, how old’s your wife?”

“Marsha?… Twenty-nine and I should have known.”

Both men glad to have a conversation, taking their minds off what might be happening in ‘delivery’.

“What should you have know?”

“When Marsha’n’me got married she was heading to twenty and me twenty-two and when she told me she wanted four kids before she was thirty…”

“You and your wife, you Catholic?”

“Nah, Jewish.”

“You believed her, then?”

“I asked her, ‘really’ four kids before you're thirty? And she said, ‘yeah’.”

“Us...” the grizzly man said “… she’s Catholic but I ain’t and I told her, ‘one’ okay, and ‘maybe’ two, but that’s ‘it’!”

“Well, so far we got two boys and one girl and Marsha figured one more would kind of even up the family.”

“Yeah, and what if it’s another boy?”

Shrugging his shoulders, “d’know.” Mitchell said, lifting the paperback, ‘Poker by Maverick’ and began to read.

...”Mitchell.”

Looking up. Standing. “Marsha? The baby? Everything okay, Doc?”

“Perfect, Mitch.”

“And?”

“You’ve another little girl.”

“Whew!” Breathing a sigh of relief. “Guess this is the first time ‘two pair’ beats ‘three of a kind’.”

“Yeah…” said the grizzly man from across the room “...but that makes you a really shitty poker player.

Evanston, Illinois

July 17, 1972

The Godfather...

Released in May of 1972, the epic film, ‘The Godfather’ — having taking two months to reach neighborhood theaters, a long ‘V’ shaped line of a couple hundred people snaking their way to the double ticket sellers kiosk.

Ellie, Sammy and five year old Sherrie being ‘baby sat’ by their fifteen year old brother, Michael — Marsha and Mitchell Lipensky, mid-way through the rapidly moving line, walking hand in hand were anxiously awaiting the transfer of cash for tickets when....

Sensing eyes upon him. Looking to the corresponding ‘V’ shaped double line...

On a near equal plane no further than fifteen feet distant, Mitchell's eyes made steady contact with the almond shaped, green eyes of Elizabeth Herzon, who’s arm was inked in the arm of a hansom, though much older man…

The ‘one’- ‘two’- ‘three’ second familiar, mutually heart piercing, eye locked stare projecting instantaneous thoughts that neither mind of Elizabeth nor Mitchell could properly process…

‘love’? ‘lust’? ‘loss’ ?

Elizabeth’s line moving five feet forward, the intense eye contact lost.

The face of the other lost to the other...

Throughout the lifetime of Elizabeth Herzon and Mitchell Lipensky, ‘never again’ will either meet.

Thus ends the “Becoming” and “For Better or worse” saga, however...

“Life Does Go On”