The Red Flannel Rag

was still very small and therefore my radius of comfort was limited. This interview was

going to be the first time I had interacted in the everyday world with a person who

wasn’ t somehow connected to my community.

As the time for the interview grew near, I got more and more scared. Mom

wanted me to have a job as a secretary so finally she said she would go with me to the

interview. I assumed she meant she would actually sit with me while I was meeting with

Dr. Smith, so I said I would go. When we arrived on campus and parked the car near his

office, Mom said, “You go on in and talk to him. I’ll wait in the car.” I told her she had

tricked me. She argued, “He’s not going to hire somebody who has to bring their mother

with them. Now you go on.” I was so scared. He would figure out I was from the

mountains and never hire me. I wanted to run back to the lingerie factory and work

with Cousin Ruby, but there was Mom sitting in the car watching me. For some reason,

she didn’t want me to work in a factory for the rest of my life. I shivered in my shoes as I

slowly walked to Dr. Smith’s office and knocked on the door. Dr. Smith interviewed me

and had me type for him. A few days later he called and offered me the job.

I worked six hours a day for Dr. Smith and two hours for Dr. Dorothy Rowe. She

was a nutritionist and headed the Home Economics Department. Both of these people

immediately became very important influences in my life. Dr. Rowe went to Ohio State

University to do some additional graduate work, and she invited me to ride the train to

Columbus and spend the weekend with her. It was the first time I had been away from

home overnight and definitely the first time I had left my community. That trip gave me

the urge to travel and see more of the country someday.

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