Some other people and I had gone to a house where Birdie was living in New Boston. Although Birdie wasn't there when we arrived, we walked in anyway and made ourselves comfortable. After we had been there awhile, something happened to the electricity and all the lights went out. Some men who apparently lived next door (the house was a duplex) came into Birdie's house, apparently to fix the problem. They were there only a short time before the electricity was functioning again.
As they were leaving I noticed one of the men looked like Rick (Birdie's husband). He was slender, had brown hair and looked as if he were about 20 years old. I stepped up to him and saw that he indeed was Rick. I had never spoken to Rick before, but I began explaining to him that I hadn't seen Birdie in five or six years and I had simply come up there to pay her a visit. He didn't seem concerned and left.
I found a picture of Birdie in the house. It was about an 8" by 10" black and white photograph only of her head. She was wearing a military hat and shirt. Her hair had been cut very short and appeared to be brown instead of black. She looked about 25 in the picture. Her teeth seemed to stick out in the front slightly. Apparently, she had joined the military.
Birdie herself arrived and Rick came in with her. She also had a baby girl, about 1 year old, with her. I sat down on a couch, Rick sat near me on the same couch and Birdie and the baby sat in an arm chair to my left. Soon the baby came over to me and wanted to play. I tried to pinch its nose with my fingers but it was too small. Finally, I grabbed one of its big toes. It tried to pull away but I held on. Suddenly, the baby began crying and screaming and I let go.
The baby went back to its mother with tears in its eyes, but soon it came back to me wanting to play again. She stuck her toe into my hand and I again grabbed it. She started crying and I took one finger away so that only one finger was resting on the toe and I wasn't squeezing it. But the baby continued crying anyway. I pointed out to those present that I wasn't even squeezing its toe. The baby went back to Birdie.
It was early morning and I had to go to work soon. I wasn't exactly sure where I was working, but thought it was in a law office in Portsmouth. I also realized I was actually sitting in the living room of the Logan Street House. Birdie and Rick rose to leave. I was disappointed I hadn't been able to talk with Birdie alone without Rick's being present. I wondered if I would have hugged Birdie if Rick hadn't been here.
To my relief Rick walked out to the car and left Birdie and me alone. She spoke about a man named Eaton for whom she apparently worked. She said something about his recently having had a picture taken of himself and that even as the picture was being taken he had realized he was going to appear to be an intelligent person in it. He sounded like an egotist to me.
Birdie went on to say that when I had been at her house, Eaton had come to see her. But he had been very intoxicated and hadn't come in while I had been there. Instead, Birdie said, he had crawled into my car, a white Volkswagen Rabbit, and had gone to sleep. That news disturbed me because I didn't like the idea of someone being in my car. But it seemed little could be done about it now.
I told Birdie I would like to talk to her some more alone. I told her I was only going to be in Portsmouth for about a week and that she could call me at my mother's in the evenings after I got off work. Suddenly, someone else stood up in the room and I realized it was Mr. Eaton. He had been lying on another couch there and had fallen asleep. He walked past us and went outside. I didn't like the idea of his having heard me talking to Birdie about our telephoning each other.
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