During the Louisville, Kentucky Christmas season, Stewarts Department Store was open until 9:00 p.m. on Monday evenings so while attending Presentation Academy, I worked there and would take the late bus home from town out to our home in the Camp Taylor neighborhood.
Our father was employed at Selman’s Department Store across the Street from Stewarts. Our paths crossed only on one evening and I found myself sitting beside him on the ride home. I remember working on my French homework on the way along with talking to him and looking out the window as we rode to the suburbs.
During that year, using his employee discount, our father purchased matching car coats for the entire family. They hung inside the front closet on McKay Street. Mine journeyed with me through adult years of winters and other states beyond Kentucky’s borders. Car coats remind me of Molter J. Kernen, French homework, and a late-night bus ride home.