Page 336 - WhyAsInY

Why (as in yaverbaum)
all of the proceeds in one pile for insertion into the biggest envelope, inscribed the numbers on a piece of Plaza stationery, and were very grateful for the results.
It should here be noted that one envelope enclosed a check in the sum of “One Thousand Five Hundred and no/100s Dollars,” courtesy of the Fishers, one of Harry’s clients (who were far too important to attend), and this was in 1969. (According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Standards, if one calculates the value today of $1,500 using the ratio of the 2016 Consumer Price Index to the 1969 Consumer Price Index, the result is $9,683.22!)
And there were many, many more envelopes. My respect for Harry and my sense that I was in a strange new world mounted by the minute. The one-night stay at the Plaza was courtesy of my parents, as was the balance of our honeymoon at the Aruba Caribe. Having due regard for their sensibilities, we never did tell them that yet another highlight of the Manhattan stopover was the swiftness with which the Plaza plumber
arrived to fix the toilet, which was already stuffed when we arrived. After a one-week stay in Aruba, where we learned about the effect on one’s ears of a rapid descent during landing (Harvey) and, thereafter, about banana daiquiris, divi divi trees, roulette wheels with not two green slots for zeros but one (better odds, but the usual results), the jew- elry store in Oranjestad (just a visit), and the likelihood of getting a bad sunburn near the equator, especially if you’re on antibiotics (Phyllis),
we returned to reality.
There was a gap before we escaped to our new apartment on West
100th Street, which we were compelled to fill by staying in a small bed- room that was provided to us at 137 Girard Street. It was a short visit—for good reason. On the first morning that we shared a bed in Phyllis’s home, we awoke to find a bald-headed man in blue pajamas running in place in our room and laughing, as exercising there (so as not to disturb Sylvia, I imagine) had been and, therefore, continued to be, his wont.
Once we got to our new one-bedroom apartment (for a monthly rent of $300, amounting to $1,936.64 in today’s dollars), I began to take serious stock of our situation. We had obtained a lease only because I
• 318 •