Bert found out she was pregnant during the summer. She was such a tiny thing and carrying a baby was quite a feat. But Walt—you should have seen him—man, was he excited. For nine months he prepared for the arrival of the baby boy. He gathered together some of his boyhood things and created a sweet little nursery in the corner of their only bedroom. He hand carved a set of trains— the steam locomotive, boxcar, flatcar, and caboose. Walt could hardly wait to teach his son about sailing vessels, or to take the boy to the river and show him the bridge Walt watched being constructed—strut by tie—through the window of his elementary school. And so forth.
When Bert was nine months pregnant her doctor became concerned about her small frame and what evidently was going to be an enormous baby. The doctor reached for his schedule, deciding Bert needed a cesarean section within the week. “How about Tuesday?” the doctor asked. Walt pointed out that his birthday was Wednesday and wouldn’t it be swell if he and his son were born the same day? “Tuesday,” said Bert, who didn’t go in for sentimentality.
While on the other side of the world Francisco Franco took Madrid—and while all of Camden raced to the local movie theater, dubbed The Stinko, to catch the newly released Philadelphia Story—Bert gave birth to a healthy baby girl.
And that girl baby is Bossy’s mother.
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