I walked on up the stairs and went into my room and got into my bed and went back to sleep. I was in my house. My mother and father were there. No one could harm me in any way.

In the morning we told my mother we were going to Kentucky to see Daddy’s coal mines and then we got into the car and drove to Nashville, Tennessee, and got on an airplane and flew to Houston, Texas.

A taxi took us from the airport to the new Hilton Hotel. A bellboy took us up to our rooms. Daddy had rented us a suite of rooms with a balcony overlooking the swimming pool. “Look here, Sister,” he said. “That’s part of the Olympic team. The manager said they were using the pool to work out in the afternoons. It’s an Olympic-sized pool. I want you to try it out later. I’ve always been sorry you didn’t keep up with your swimming. You could have been right out there with them. Well, that’s water under the bridge.” He sighed, walked back into the room and gave ten dollars to the bellboy and sat down on a chair. I felt terrible. Not only had I failed him by quitting swimming, I had gotten pregnant and was costing him all this money.

“I’d go swim now but I didn’t bring a bathing suit. I wish I had one with me.”

“Go buy one. There’s a gift shop down there.” He reached for his billfold and found a hundred-dollar bill and gave it to me. “Go get a suit and a robe to go over it. I’ll sit up here and watch you swim.”

“We have to call the doctor. We have to make an appointment. We have to make sure he’s there.”

“Uncle James is taking care of all that. I’ll call and check on it. You go on down and buy you a swimming suit.” So I took the money and went down on the elevator and found the gift shop. It was a beautiful little glassed-in area that smelled of cool perfumes and was presided over by an elegant woman with her hair up in a bun.

“I want a bathing suit,” I said. “Something really pretty.”

“Here’s the latest thing from the Caribbean.” She handed me a one-piece black maillot cut very low in the back. I slipped it on and stepped out to look in the mirror. It looked great. I might be pregnant but at least I still looked like a human being. While I was admiring myself in the mirror, the saleslady handed me a black-and-white beach robe and I put it on. “It’s the latest thing,” she said. “I sold one last week to Debbie Reynolds.”