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Show 18 4 Dr. Richards took one look at the baby. "I'd have a Wasserman on this baby's father, " he suggested. The Wasserman test revealed that all three of them were syphilitic. The parents took the baby home to die. When the ambulance came down the canyon from the mines, siren screaming there would be a rash of calls from anxious women. "Who's hurt? How bad is i t ?" Sometimes we wouldn't have the victim's clothes off, or have his identity, and always we would be on the run, so these calls took precious minutes and were very annoying. It soon developed that I had no place to entertain Eldon when he came. After several tries he suggested I come to Bakers' and see him. They had a dingy parlor and a piano. It seemed half the miners boarded there, and where they all slept I had no way of knowing, but I gravitated to the piano, as usual, and Fernley Baker brought his violin sometimes. I paid little attention to the men who came off the afternoon shift, but they would gather around and listen to me play, and express regret when I had to leave to go on duty at seven P. M. I had one night off each week, that is, one half night. I didn't have to be on duty until twelve-thirty. Eldon usually took me to a show or a dance. One night I was preparing to go and Mrs. Baker's daughter called to say Eldon was working a double shift and wouldn't be able to take me to the dance. "Oh, dear! " I said. "All dressed up and no place to go. " |