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On the ¤rst day that I interviewed Richard, he asked me to come early in the afternoon. We talked for an hour while the tape recorder was running, and we spent some time visiting after I packed away all of the recording equipment . He explained that he needed to make sure that he had time open later in the afternoon because he was going to meet a friend. Richard told me that he had been spending time with her following his wife Daisy’s death,and they usually had dinner together every evening. Three years later, I am interviewing Richard once again, and he tells how he ¤rst met Annie. When I ¤rst come to Jacksonville and went to work for the Seaboard , I went to work in ’twenty-six, and I didn’t get married till ’thirty. But in 1929, I met Annie. She was a young girl—quite a bit younger than I was at the time. Still is. But anyhow, we used to go around. We were nothing serious— you know what I mean. We’d go to parties. Whenever it was convenient , we’d take a ride somewhere, or things like that. I didn’t consider marriage or anything like that. Finally we just sort of drifted around, and I met my wife.We got married.I lost all contact with her and didn’t see her all those years. I was married ¤fty-six years.1 196 11 The Icing on the Cake  When from a satchel, A ¤ddle, he drew. He played her a message, That made the hills ring. —From “The Nightingale’s Song”* Annie tells almost the same story as Richard. But she notes that she did see him after they had courted each other when she was in her late teens. She remembers catching glimpses of Richard during the 1930s: “He was staying at a boardinghouse, and my brother-in-law had a barber shop. And so when we’d go down to take his lunch to him—and things I’d go down there for—I used to see Richard. And just see him. We got together, but before then, I got married, see? Richard and I weren’t seeing each other, and I got married to T. K. Bivins.”2 Their story is emerging as Annie picks up the narrative after their initial courtship. I ask her to return to the earliertimewhenshewascourted by Richard. “Before you married Mr. Bevins, you went out with Richard a little bit?” Annie recollects that she went on only a few dates with Richard before they each met their different spouses, concluding that they were never serious and that he must have been just playing the ¤eld. For decades, Richard and Annie lived only a few miles away from each other, yet they never saw each other for over half a century. Annie continues her story: “I didn’t even see him, but when his wife passed away, I recognized the name. And that’s how we started back together. I didn’t know who he married or anything about him. I didn’t know anything about his family. So that started it.” Richard picks up their story: “She saw my wife’s obituary in the paper and called me up to offer condolences. I didn’t know what her name was. She’d married , and I didn’t know who she’d married. And so we started going together and sort of started up where we left off way back in time. I went to see her a couple times. We just went together for about a year after we met. And we went different places, saw different things, just traveled around—pass the time away and do different things—eat out.Whatever we’d want to do,just to pass the time away. And I guess she liked it. When I asked her to marry me, she said, ‘Huh?! Yeah, I guess so.’” Annie comments on receiving a marriage proposal while she was in her mid-seventies, explaining that Richard’s offer was unexpected: “I didn’t think he was ever going to propose. We were at the house, and he asked me would I marry him. And I kind of hesitated, and I told him ‘Yes.’ So that started being serious about it. It’s just been great. Great.” Annie reiterates that she hesitated to accept the proposal for a while, so I ask her if Richard had swept her off...

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