My resume (6)

And so it was that I found myself living in Palm Beach, as if I belonged there. Many days were spent riding around in my convertible with the top down, perusing shops on Worth Avenue, dating various young men whose families and fortunes were well known and therefore eating at some of the best restaurants and drinking at some of the best lounges. The sun was almost always shining, the exotic tropical plants and flowers were everywhere, the clear waters of the intercoastal and the ocean were practically at my doorstep and I was far away from reality.
So, it became necessary to get a job. I'm not really sure how I found this job in the first place. There was a man who was opening a perfume shop on Worth Avenue. My job was sort of a glorified gopher (go for this, go for that) and whatever he needed, I arranged it. Remember, this was before cellphones and blackberries, computers and such. The telephone was my link to everyone and everything. Marketing, models, photo shoots, newspapers, contractors all brought together to produce a business venture which I had envisioned as this very classy perfume shop. Did I mention the bodyguard? He had a bodyguard. I guess I should have wondered why.
Then he told me we were going to the Bahamas for the weekend. Been there, no big deal. Light dawns and I told him no. He insisted it was for business and he needed me there. I agreed as long as he understood it was business only and I wasn't " staying" with him for the weekend. He agreed. As it was , there was a lovely room and he sent me to the hairdresser at the hotel to have my hair done. We went to the casino and he gave me money to play the slot machines while he did serious gambling. I don't know that he ever did anything that had to do with his business venture.
Then there was the bodyguard and the phone calls and somewhere along the line a connection to the "Canadian Mafia". I didn't know there was such a thing. What I did know was it was time to find another job and all the while looking over my shoulder again and wondering if someone was going to come and get me in the dead of night, again.
So I crossed the bridge, literally, into West Palm Beach. The fairy tale life was over and it was time for reality to set in. Time to get an apartment and a real job.

My resume (5 continues)

Most of my days were spent cleaning up after the guests and serving meals. See the world thru a porthole; not exactly the glamorous lifestyle you were imagining. One day, on our trip back up to Maine, the cook got off the boat and never came back. So, here we are off the coast of Maine and the owner says "can you make clam chowder?" I said, "of course". Then he said there would be twenty people for lunch tomorrow and if the chowder was any good I was the new cook. You have to realize that all my worldly possessions were in one little suitcase. Other than clothes it contained my Fannie Farmer cookbook. What was I thinking? My experience was cooking for two and quite probably not well. Lunch for 20? And so it was that Fannie and I made clam chowder and thus began my new career as a cook.
The owner was pretty set in his ways as far as food went. No matter what was served for lunch, there had to be a platter of sliced tomatoes and cucumbers. Cocktail hour at 5:00. Dinner was very basic meat and potatoes and vegetables. Lamb chops were one of his favorites. He liked them rare, which I had never heard of, and it didn't matter what the guest's preference might be because everyone got rare lamb chops.
One of the places he had for the boat was a slip on Australian Docks in Palm Beach. He had a home in Palm Beach also. Every day he was in Palm Beach his table was set for him for lunch at the Bath and Tennis Club. I don't know that he ever ate there while I was cooking for him.
I had carte blanche as far as providing food. When we were in Palm Beach, I would call and everything would be delivered. When we were in Maine I actually shopped at a grocery but never paid for anything as they would send a bill. And then there was the lobster fisherman who would drop off a mesh bag from his boat to the bow of our boat and I would wake up in the morning and find live lobsters on the deck. How many ways can you cook lobster? Fannie and I were in lobster heaven.

My resume (5)

So, after that sojurn to Puerto Rico, which still needs to find it's proper time frame, we are back in St. Thomas. Back on the radio at WAH.
Some people really had a hard time with the radio communications and just couldn't master the press and release. They would cut people off or talk over them and it took a great deal of patience to get them to properly use the radio. One gentleman in particular was really having difficulty. He was often conducting business so it was very frustrating for him. I spent a lot of time making sure that everything was understood on both sides of the conversations. One day, after a particularly trying call, a man came in and delivered chocolates and flowers. He was one of the crew from the boat that belonged to the radio challenged owner. He thanked me profusely and said that his boss would really like to meet me. So it was that we found ourselves on an 83' yacht, waving to the Mellons on their yacht and coming to terms with the fact that my husband was now the captain and I was part of the crew. The yacht was out of Maine and Palm Beach and the owner was Sprague Coal and Oil and Sprague Steamship Lines and who knows how many other businesses. And so it was, job number five.