returned from Malone a couple weeks later, he brought some new products for the store. “Addie, come here,” he shouted through the open door of the store, “I have something for you to see.” Addie, in the stockroom, came through the door wiping her hands on her apron.
“Whatever do you want, I’m busy cleaning up after a shelf broke.” She sighed.
“Come see what I bought, it’s really fine,” said Will. “I know you’ll love it.” Outside at the curb was a motor car, a shiny black motor car.
“What in tarnation is this?” Addie asked. “And who does it belong to?”
“Why it’s a Chevrolet Automobile, a 1917 model, the first automobile in Potsdam, and it belongs to us, you and I.” It wasn’t the first automobile to pass through Potsdam, but Will was certain it was the first permanent one in town.
“Now, Addie, please help me unload the supplies. I will be here the rest of the day helping stock all this stuff,” Will said as he picked up two of the heavier boxes. “And having this automobile will cut down the amount of time it takes to get items quickly without waiting for them to be shipped.”
Addie and Will became instant celebrities as they drove around the town, especially when Will dropped her, Ralph, and the baby off at church Sunday morning, causing some members to be late for the service. Ironically, as fearless as Addie seemed to be, she never learned to drive.
In 1920 Gretchen Lorene was born, a healthy normal baby girl filling the gap left by the loss of Florence. Addie needed this, although she would never admit to the grief bound up inside her. Gretchen was quick to learn and progressed faster than the boys had. This pleased Addie. She often wondered if Florence had lived how she would have reacted to the bright and bubbly Gretchen. Just before she was about to start school, polio struck. She was six years old. It knotted her legs, crippling her. Her breathing became laboring. Addie rubbed her chest with liniment and applied hot and cold compresses on her. Within a short period of time, her breathing normalized.
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