So let me set the stage.
George is 19 and Mary is 18. Apparently they’ve already passed a few notes back and forth and have been caught on at least one occasion by Mary’s mother, who disapproves. Nevertheless, things are clearly heating up between the two of them.
Feb 9 1897
Dear Mary,
I see you are going to write. Just the same, so am I. But if your Mother gets a holt of another note, she may go hard with us and then what. So don’t let her know it at all.
Well Mary, when you were up here the other night you came in the front door and I did not know you were in the house at all. So when your Mother came, she ask me if you was here yet and I said no. So I told her to go in to the other room and she saw your muff or hat on the bed and she said Mary is here. So I said I didn’t see her come in, she must of come in the front door. Maybe she thought I knowed you were here.
Well Mary, you don’t know how I felt that night. You were in the house a long time before you came out in the kitchen. And when you did come out, you looked at me and would not speak until I spoke so I did not know what to think. So I thought it was my place to speak first, for you were up here – so I did. And then you said “Hello George” in a sober way and went in the other room again so I knowed there was something up. Then I thought I would go downtown and then I thought I will stay and see what was up. So when you told me that your Mother had got that note, I felt better and also felt worse. I don’t know myself how I did feel but I got over it when we played cards. What did you mean by stopping so many times going down that night? I thought it meant for me to kiss you when we got close to the house. So I told you not to stop again but you did. I was just going to kiss you but Mama turned around and I got left. So the next time you know what stopping in my way will be . . .
Author’s note: Kiss Me, Stupid is a 1964 film starring Kim Novak and Dean Martin, and directed by Billy Wilder (better known for Some Like It Hot, Double Indemnity and The Apartment) . Somehow the name of that movie kept going through my head as I was writing this post – so I just had to go with it!
