Back in the Real World

We must have arrived in Pawtucket in early April because I was finally drummed out of the Army on April 10, 1946. I spent the summer working at the Narragansett Beverage Corporation as the bookkeeper. The girl who had the job had planned her wedding for June and wanted to leave the job. Sam Pires in the meantime, was to marry Pat Nunes of Bristol on Labor Day. I intended to return to Boston College Law for my last year and Pat was to become the bookkeeper on their return from their honeymoon.

I can only assume that after Pat started to work on the books that she noted that Odie’s father was being paid more than [Eziquiel] Pires and that information reached Mrs. Pires, who was quite disturbed by the fact. In any event the families were at odds with each other with little contact until after Mr. & Mrs. Pires and Odie’s parents were dead. We used to see the Pires boys occasionally at some affair, but not until the parents passed on that we became friendly.

For my last year at Boston College, Odie and I lived in an apartment on Mount Vernon Street near Joy Street and only a short distance from the Boston Common. The Law School was only a short distance away, an easy 10-15 minute walk. Odie spent a great part of the time window shopping, walking through the Common and eating hot fudge sundaes. Mrs. Pires became very ill with cancer and Serafim Cardanha told his wife to go see her which she did until Mrs. Pires died. Odie often sat with her aunt and said the rosary which seemed to comfort her aunt.

I finished school in late May of 1947 and Carlos was born in February of 1948. I spent the summer taking a bar review course in Providence in preparation for the bar exam which took place in the fall. I passed the bar exam and was sworn in as a member of the Bar in December.