Jane's Window: My Spirited Life in West Texas and Austin

23. Hiram: 1957–

334 W Hen HiRaM WaS only six months old, D. J. became chair of a committee of the Texas Medical Society . They had a big meeting in Dallas and he wanted me to go with him. i was still nursing Hiram, so we took him and our maid with us, leaving Jake and Mahala in the care of their grandmothers back home in Fort Stockton. Hiram was a stunning baby. i realize every mother thinks her baby is beautiful, but Hiram stopped traffic in the aisles of neiman-Marcus. That weekend in Dallas, he was wearing a white piqué double-breasted coat, a matching cap with a tiny bill, white shoes, and socks. i wanted to go to neiman’s, so i brought along eudelia, our maid, who was overwhelmed by the store. She had never seen anything like neiman-Marcus. Her eyes widened and she said, “Oh, Janie!” i noticed a definite Christmas morning expression on eudelia’s face. The clerks at neiman’s thought Hiram was a little prince. as we were leaving the store, Charles Laughton, the well-known British actor who often played villains in the movies, walked all the way across the lobby to see my handsome baby. He admired Hiram extravagantly and talked to him for several minutes. i was shocked at how charming Laughton was. This distinguished actor was such a far cry from the characters he often played. He was warm and pleasant in person and could not get over Hiram. Our youngest son had that effect on people. When we returned to our room at the Baker Hotel and took off 23 a Hiram 1 9 5 7 – 335 H I R A M Hiram’s white cap, there was a big red bump—a pox. He had come down with chicken pox, which destroyed the myth that a nursing baby will carry its mother’s immunity to the disease. i had chicken pox as a child, but that did not stop Hiram from getting it. He was unable to appear in public for several weeks while covered with chicken pox, but he did have that single moment of perfect glory at neiman-Marcus, fawned over by Charles Laughton. Hiram appreciated elegance at an early age. When we were living in Houston, he was only four, but loved to go to lunch with me at Sakowitz on the day of their weekly fashion show. He was smitten by a beautiful model and made his feelings clear to her and everyone else. When she walked out on the runway, his eyes lit up. Hiram had a taste for beauty very early. The model he admired was sweet and she smiled and waved to him as she passed. We went to the fashion show almost every week, and there and then, Hiram became a four-year-old stage door Johnny. When we moved to austin a year later, Hiram went to St. andrew’s, a private school with an excellent reputation. He had a hard time there because every day after lunch he developed a terrible headache. His teachers were completely unsympathetic. They thought he was faking, as some students have been known to do. Since Hiram got a headache every day at exactly the same time, right after he had eaten lunch, the faculty should have taken his problem more seriously. instead of trying to find the cause of Hiram’s headaches, they told us he was going to fail third grade and would have to repeat the class the following year. He should also visit a psychiatrist. at that time, D. J. and i had planned a trip to england. Since Hiram was getting no support from his school, we told him he could come with us, but under certain conditions. We told him there would be no hamburgers or Cokes on the trip and warned him we would be spending a lot of time in castles and museums. Surprising us, he said, “i’d love to go to castles and museums.” i think he would have been happy to go anywhere to get out of that school. We took Hiram with us and he lived up to his promises. He had a wonderful time, displayed a natural curiosity, and turned out to be a great traveler. in London, Hiram was in his element. He wore a beautiful camel’s 336 C H A p T e R 2...