| [Finca Vigia-de Cuba] | | | | blood for me, and Habana was simply a stopping spot |
| Who would be better than I to tell this story, I thought | | | | for spring vacation. |
| about it and I could not come up with anyone but me. I | | | | My property is what supported me on my long trips, |
| was in La Habana Cuba it was in the months of | | | | and writing. I had three books out, all self-supporting. I |
| March and April of 1948. I liked toasting and eating at | | | | was more hopeful than anything. And here was the |
| the bar-café-club, called La Bodeguita del | | | | man of the century talking to me. It reminds me of |
| Medio, I knew the manager slightly, and my wife Delia, | | | | when Jack Benny bumped into me, that is, bumped into |
| loved to sit with me at the front bar, as the musicians | | | | my arm when I was in Erie, Penn, some time ago, in |
| played against the wall, and the crowd would stand | | | | the Russian Club, I was sitting at the counter and he |
| halfway outside the door: --everyone singing together. | | | | bumped me, I said 'hay,' you know how you get when |
| James would capture a picture of me now and then; | | | | you got a few drinks, than I paid no attention, as I was |
| sell them to me for a buck and save the rest. Had me | | | | turned about, and continued my drinking, I turned |
| sign a few, I was a writer back then, or trying to be, I'm | | | | around, and the guy walked away: Jack Benny. I really |
| retired now, that's when I met Mr. Hemingway in that | | | | only knew the name Jack Benny slightly as a |
| very bar. He was standing behind me. Matter-of-fact, it | | | | comedian on TV, not much else, the drunk next to me |
| was on three different occasions I met him, once in the | | | | said |
| front, that day with my wife sitting at the bar when | | | | "...it's just that Jack Benny again, he never talks to any |
| James took all them pictures, also in the backroom | | | | one, thinks he's too good." |
| where another promising writer was, named Gabriel | | | | I paid little attention to him also. When I got to a TV set |
| Garcia Marquez; or at least I thought it was him. He | | | | again a few days later, he was on it, and I check it out, |
| was there one night and James took a picture of him, | | | | it was he all right. Then I found out it was a place he |
| they put it up on the wall the next day, as they did with | | | | went to when he came to Erie each time, a drinking |
| Hemingway's. | | | | hole, one of his drinking holes; and he was Russian like |
| Anyways, Hemingway was back their once in April | | | | me. |
| when I was eating, and once in the front, in back of me | | | | Funny how you meet people sometimes: well, as |
| as I was saying. And then there was the time I seen | | | | Hemingway was putting some of his famous drinks |
| him in the month of March there, it looked like he was | | | | down, he ordered me one, they called it Mojito and as |
| talking to the bar keep, or perhaps he was the | | | | we got talking and I guess now drinking together he |
| manager. | | | | mentined a farm boy who was a baseball player, or |
| I introduced myself to him and my wife, he was huge | | | | could be one some day. But needed a job in America |
| compared to me, at 5'8", 160 lbs; he was also very | | | | to get him started, you know, while he was seeking |
| rustic looking. In 1948, I was a young man he was close | | | | out the teams. Well, I told him I was not a player of the |
| to fifty I think, I was thirty-three, again I say trying to be | | | | sport, I liked boxing, and karate, and other such |
| a writer, as I explained to him. I had been living in San | | | | one-to-one sports, and I think it was the Saints, back |
| Francisco, California for a while, coming down from the | | | | then who played in St. Paul, Minnesota, and I didn't |
| Midwest, and I worked for Lilly Ann, a dress designing | | | | know them well. |
| top-notch label. Oh well, that didn't turn out. I work for | | | | As the night went on he asked for my address, and if |
| Adof Shoeman, an anxious kind of guy--a Jew with a | | | | he sent a Cuban boy to Minnesota if I could rent an |
| sensitive disposition. He once told me not to drop the | | | | apartment out for him, while he sought out possibilities, |
| fabrics, he actually fired me, but the general manager | | | | and if possible even call the Saints manager up for him, |
| of the three-story shop rehired me back--instantly, that | | | | if the boy wanted to. I said sure. And we exchanged |
| is to say, as soon as he walked out the door, and he | | | | handshakes; I gave him a card of mine. And that was |
| went back to having his models chasing him around | | | | that. |
| the premises. One new gal he was stroking had this | | | | The boy from the farm land never did show up, and I |
| huge pearl ring on, man she held the door tight and | | | | never did follow through on this, and so I cannot tell you |
| asked me to take it and I said no, for I had gotten into | | | | the rest of the story, except, I did once stop at |
| enough trouble with him. That was the end of my | | | | Ernest's apartment, sat in his wooden chair, typed on |
| dress-designing career. | | | | his typewriter, looked over the street from its 5th story, |
| But back in old Habana, Mr. Hemingway was very | | | | that was in April, 2002, when I went back to Cuba with |
| gracious with his time for me. And although this was | | | | my wife, and visited the Hotel, Ambos Mundos where I |
| our only real conversation, for when he seen me | | | | walked by his apartment 100-times before, never going |
| before he'd just nod his head, that was when I was | | | | up to it. |
| eating, and the time I saw him with the manager he | | | | Notes: Historical Fiction: never before in print, and of |
| looked up, and that was it, he acted as if I didn't exist. | | | | some actual events that took place. Written 2001, from |
| But he was a busy man I suppose writing all those | | | | information gathered from a letter written by |
| books and drinking and so on and so forth, and I know | | | | Hemingway, now kept in England, that the Author |
| our conversation went well. | | | | received a copy of and was going to purchase the |
| As I was saying, he was behind me in the bar, and I | | | | original. The author went to Cuba in 2002, to |
| was talking to the barkeep, and my wife and I owned | | | | investigate, and to the bar mentioned here, and the |
| a business in Minnesota, a Rental Business. I had at | | | | hotel he stayed at in Havana itself; gathered additional |
| that time several things going through my head, | | | | information concerning this event, and here is the story, |
| wanting to be a business sort of person, and looking at | | | | with his added fictional characters. In 1972, Jack Benny |
| designing cloths, but being a writer was thicker than | | | | did bump into the author in a Russian Club in Erie, PA. |