When I first moved to Dallas, TX to be the Counter Manager for Charles of the Ritz in the Sanger-Harris Department store I received an unusual welcome. That cosmetics department employed 40 people; I met 39 of them. One of them was on vacation and she was reputed to be the "queen bee." I spent my breaks and lunchtime alone. The people were nice enough, but as one explained, "Mama Fran decides who stays and who goes around here. She's on vacation, but once she comes back if she likes you, the others will come around." This was on top of the fact that my counter mate had wanted the position I had gotten. The temperature in Texas that week in early August lingered somewhere around 20 below zero!
Finally, Mama Fran arrived. Everyone gathered around her to welcome her back. I caught her eye and moved toward her. I introduced myself. "I'm Nanuck of the North," I said as I took her hand, "But you can call me Dan." This henna redhead looked me over and replied, "You don't look much like an eskimo, Mr. Dan. My name is Francesca, but you can call me Fran. Honey, if you're cold in Dallas, Tx, it must be cuz you need to eat something. How about you and me getting some breakfast and get to know each other." I smiled and said, "Sure." Fran grabbed her bag with one hand and my elbow with the other to move me along. "C'mon, Honey, we have to get outta here before those mucky-mucks come around with their goddam break sign-up sheets!" So began one of my most precious friendships.
Francesca Slack is one of my life's most memorable characters. She was born and raised in Florida before moving to Atlanta and then Dallas. Her version of the great western migration. She was Miss Florida of 1946, or maybe '48. I have forgotten which. She was also one of Pan Am's first flight attendants. She did the Washington, D.C. to New York route. Oddly enough another Sanger-Harris gran dame was also a member of that first Pan Am team. However, March Walker flew D.C. to South America. March is another story! All I'll tell you about her now is that she didn't like her birth name and had it legally changed to March, much to her mother's dismay.
Fran had grown into a good ole Texas gal with a wicked sense of humor and a tongue to go with it. Some of my favorite Fran-isms include, "Honey, that man over there is slicker than dogshit on a linoleum floor...kinda cute, though." The one I heard the most, usually on a Saturday morning on the way to breakfast following Friday after work cocktails was, "Honey, how in the world could your Mama Fran have been so cute and darling last night and feel like catshit under the rug this morning?" Fran was a party girl from the word go, with a warm and generous heart. She could get her own way either by batting her big brown eyes, or take it by force. It was up to you; it didn't matter to her. We didn't use the word "avatar" in those days, but Bette Boop was hers.
One of those Friday nights, she was out with a lady friend at the bar of one of the finer hotels in North Dallas. They were sitting at a table when a group of men asked to join them. After everybody was settled around the table and introduced, Fran asked them about their line of work. "We're high school principals."
"Principals," Fran repeated thoughtfully, "I ain't ever had any of those." Everyone laughed and that called for a round of drinks. One of the guys asked if Fran and Patty worked together and what type of work they did. Fran explained that they did indeed work together as research surgeons. "Really? What exactly do you do?" someone asked.
"Oh, well, we're occu-proctologists. It's an entirely new field."
"Occu- what?"
"We're occu-proctologists. We're about to win a prize for our discovery. We discovered that in some people the optic nerve doesn't stop at the brain, but continues to grow down the spine to the rectum. Patty here, and myself have perfected a technique of severing that extended nerve."
"My, god!" exclaimed one of the guys. "What good does that do?"
Fran smiled, tilted her head as Scarlet O'Hara would have done and said, "It keeps them from having a shitty outlook on life." This was Mama Fran at her best! Now you know why she and I were such great friends!
Then one day she was informed she had an advanced form of breast cancer. She decided to have both of them removed. "I don't want to be left lopsided; then people will know." This brought out a spiritual side no one suspected was within her. She joined a meditation group and took me and couple of mutual friends with her. It was the first time I ever meditated. It was the first time I heard the voice that instructed me to, "Be still and know I am God." She gave me my first Shirley MacLaine book, "Out on a Limb." I learned about the ascended Masters, teachers, and guides. I was introduced to Matreia, St. Germaine, Dion Fortune and the Dalai Lama. Fran became an avid reader and practioner of metaphysics and the spiritual realm. She took me with her on her journey. Our friendship truly reached a soul level.
At this same time, I became friends with her friend, Laurie. This is an entire other story also. I don't intend to be a tease, but there is one point about our mutual friend I wish to share here. Laurie and I were as close as two people could be. We used to say that we could only be friends because I am gay and she isn't. Otherwise our respective partners would be jealous of the time we spent together. Suddenly, the Laurie and Dan show was over. I didn't know why then, don't know why now. It doesn't matter. Fran would try to discuss this with Laurie who would not answer and would not permit anyone to mention my name in her presence. In the blink of an eye I had ceased to exist in her world.
Fran's cancer eventually returned and took up residence in her brain. This time nothing could be done. When she knew death was eminent, she called for Laurie to come see her. Laurie rushed to Fran's bedside, held her hand and talked to her then semiconscious body. Suddenly Fran looked at Laurie and made her swear a promise for after she had passed. Laurie promised to do whatever Fran asked. Now bear in mind, that Laurie and I had not spoken for two years before I moved to New York, and this was a couple years after that. Fran made Laurie promise to be the one who called to tell me she had "moved on."
When I answered the phone that evening and heard a voice say, "Dan, this is Laurie." I said, "She left us, didn't she?" Laurie confirmed that she had, and told me about the promise she had made.
Fran was my spiritual guide, and still is. Whenever I notice Betty Boop in a store window, I stop and say hello to her. Sometimes I hear her tell a joke, sometimes she gives me words of encouragement. Laurie and I call each other periodically and I am grateful to Fran for initiating our resumed communication. My spiritual journey has taken me on paths I had never imagined. It will no doubt continue until I meet up with Fran one of these distant days. I am more grateful to her than mortal words can express. The only thing that gets me about Fran, is that she always said, "Honey, whenever I take the deep six to the other side, I'm gonna get you the winning lotto numbers." Sometimes when she pops in during one of my meditations, I remind her of this. I swear to you I hear her clear as day say, "Honey! That's why I'm here. Write these down. The numbers are...." Then her voice fades out to an inaudible whisper. It is then I remember another thing she used to always tell me. "Dan, Honey, whenever you need an extra twenty dollars remember this: it is a lot easier to find twenty men with a buck a piece than it is to find one man with the entire twenty dollars. You just have to be willing to climb the stairs a few more times." It was her way of saying there's no such thing as an easy buck. I suppose there is only so much a spirit can do, even if it's as legendary as my Mama Fran!
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