Besides, Vera needed only one suitcase. She was just going for five days. All she was taking were two nighties, three sets of underwear, one dress, a skirt and blouse, a pair of slacks, two white nylon slips, several pairs of stockings, and a cardigan sweater. Vera didn’t need to pack expensive high-heeled shoes. In the first place she wasn’t intending to go anywhere fancy and in the second place she didn’t have any expensive high-heeled shoes. “My walking shoes with the thick crepe soles will do just fine,” she muttered to herself.

At the last minute Vera Bundle threw in a scarf and Norville’s old black woolen sailor’s watch cap with the red pom-pom on top. Norville had sewn the pom-pom on himself. Said he wanted a wool watch cap that was different from all the others. Vera figured it would be cold in New York City. It was cold here in Steubenville, so it must be cold there. It was February, for heaven’s sake, and if it was freezing in New York she’d just pull the wool watch cap down over her ears to keep them warm.

The flight to New York City was uneventful and uncomfortable. For one thing, Vera’s seat was in the last row of the economy section. She was unable to push her seat back if she wanted to relax due to the partition behind the last row, her row. Another major annoyance was Vera’s misfortune to be sitting between two overweight traveling salesmen. The thugs allowed her hardly any legroom at all. Finally, the food was abominable. A packaged tuna fish sandwich on stale whole wheat bread and a small can of warm tomato juice. The brochure said a luncheon meal would be served on board.

“Is a tuna fish sandwich on stale whole wheat bread any kind of meal?” she asked the men sitting on either side of her.

First one, then the other. Both men examined Vera’s face, then quickly returned to their magazines without saying a word.

“Hell, no,” Vera answered herself.

Vera Bundle vowed she would write a letter to the airline complaining about the food as soon as she returned home. And the partition behind her that prevented her from sitting back like everybody else.

She told the two men exactly what she was going to do.

They couldn’t have cared less.

And the two fat thugs sitting next to me, she would add in her letter. I’ll write the airline about them too. Yuck on them. Of course the airline won’t be able to do anything about who sits next to me. Next time I’ll simply ask for an aisle seat. If there ever is a next time. At least that would limit the number of potential thugs to one.

A broken-down van in desperate need of a fresh paint job shuttled the “Winter Surprise” tour members from Kennedy Airport into Manhattan. Vera sat on a seat by herself in the rear of the van. She didn’t feel like joining in the forced hilarity going on up front. It was mostly the men doing the carrying on there. The wives were peeing their pants with laughter in support of their raucous, red-faced husbands.