OUR SISTER LOUISE

Wren and I loved our only sister. She lived in Arkansas and Wren lived in Dallas while we were in Baton Rouge. Wren and I would try to be in Arkansas at the same time so we could visit with Louise and her three daughters.

Once we decided to take her to New Orleans, just the three of us. Wren picked her up in Arkansas and then drove to Baton Rouge. We planned to spend two nights in New Orleans to show her some of the sights and sounds of the "big easy".
The three of us left my house and drove to Hammond for a big lunch of thin-fried catfish at one of my favorite restaurants called Middendorf’s. Then we proceeded to drive into New Orleans. We had made reservations at the Hilton Hotel overlooking the Mississippi river. It is a beautiful place.

That night, we took a taxi to one of the most famous restaurants in town, called Commander’s Palace. This is a super elegant restaurant with food and service "fit for a king". I think Louise fell in love with our waiter. He was excellent. He even gave Louise his business card and invited us all back to see him again. The evening was most enjoyable.

The next day, we visited the Aquarium of the Americas. It is also magnificent and we enjoyed this very much. That evening we drove into the French Quarter area. We just sat a while in our parked card and watched the people and heard some of the finest New Orleans jazz music ever from a band that was playing right on the street corner. Before leaving New Orleans the next day we stopped at Cafe Dumond for beignets and cafe au lait. What a treat!

Another memorable trip to see Louise was when she lived in Wyoming. She suggested a picnic in the mountains which were beautiful at that time. She and her husband and Virginia and I drove at least 100 miles into the most scenic mountainous country I had ever seen. The picnic was just great.

We also took her to Yellowstone Park one summer. It was a thrilling sight to see all the natural beauty of the park. The animals were all very interesting, especially a huge female moose feeding in a small stream alongside the road. We had stopped the car and Louise practically jumped out of the car with her little box camera to take a picture of "Mama Moose". The moose quickly jumped away as soon as Louise shouted, "Hold still, you old Hussy".
On the trip back home we happened to drive up behind a car pulling a horse trailer. Naturally, the horse’s tail was hanging out the back of the trailer. She looked right at me and said, "Arthur Gene, do not be what you see"

Louise loved country music and Roy Clark was her favorite performer. He was performing in his theater in Branson so Wren and I decided to invite her to Branson to see him in person. On the way we made several rest stops for gas, etc. We were in no hurry to get there so we leisurely drove on while having a real good visit with each other along with plenty of laughs.
Once we made a stop north of Little Rock at an open-front service station and store. We walked into the store and found a young, fairly attractive girl-clerk. She was busy filing her fingernails, chewing gum, and reading a copy of "Cosmopolitan" magazine. Louise asked her for directions to the ladies’ room. She popped her gum and pointed down the hall.

When Louise returned, the young lady asked her, "What do you and these two dudes have in mind?" Without hesitation, she replied, "Oh, we’re just going up to Branson and "shack-up" for a couple of days". Wren and I looked at each other in amazement and ran out of the station as fast as possible and nearly died laughing at what our sister had said and the amazed look on the young girl’s face.

On the return trip, Louise wanted to stop again at the same store where the young girl had been earlier. There she sat, still chewing gum and reading another "girlie" magazine. The first thing she asked Louise was, "Well, how was your weekend?". Louise could not wait to reply, "Forget it, it wasn’t worth it". Again Wren and I almost doubled up laughing at our sister.