More about the Duplin Times newspaper office in the 50s.
Through the window in the front of the newspaper office, you could see a wooden stairway with no risers. Climbing those stairs was pretty scary for a child who was afraid of heights and could see through those stairs while ascending. But the offices where my parents worked were at the top of those stairs. You could hear the rat-a-tat-tat of keys tapping on a black Underwood typewriter. Mom had long, red polished fingernails and those fingers could fly! She typed fast, and her hands flew from the keys to the carriage, across, and back. They also flew across the adding machine, which was a bulky manual “calculator” with a handle that she cranked down after she entered numbers.
There was no light switch. Just light bulbs hanging from the ceiling with pull strings made of tobacco twine. When my parents and sister had to work at night in the upstairs office, they had to dodge the bats. I heard about this, but I don’t remember it. When I was older, that upstairs room was air conditioned and bats didn’t live there any more. But whenever I had to go upstairs to turn on the lights at night, fumbling through the room waving my arms in the dark in search of the string hanging down from the light bulb, I remembered those bat stories!
Through the window in the front of the newspaper office, you could see a wooden stairway with no risers. Climbing those stairs was pretty scary for a child who was afraid of heights and could see through those stairs while ascending. But the offices where my parents worked were at the top of those stairs. You could hear the rat-a-tat-tat of keys tapping on a black Underwood typewriter. Mom had long, red polished fingernails and those fingers could fly! She typed fast, and her hands flew from the keys to the carriage, across, and back. They also flew across the adding machine, which was a bulky manual “calculator” with a handle that she cranked down after she entered numbers.
There was no light switch. Just light bulbs hanging from the ceiling with pull strings made of tobacco twine. When my parents and sister had to work at night in the upstairs office, they had to dodge the bats. I heard about this, but I don’t remember it. When I was older, that upstairs room was air conditioned and bats didn’t live there any more. But whenever I had to go upstairs to turn on the lights at night, fumbling through the room waving my arms in the dark in search of the string hanging down from the light bulb, I remembered those bat stories!
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