Denise Bledsoe Slaughter

Providence weather is not that bad, but it can get cold in the winter, and it did.

It changed the trajectory of my life in many ways, and one of those was that I had to work.

And the money that I made was not enough for that first oil delivery.

So we were cold.

And I called family members around the country.

We were not poverty-stricken, but it wasn't a whole lot of extra money.

I called my older sister.

Well, I wish you had called me a couple of weeks ago.

I just got back from Nassau.

And, you know, I don't have any money to spare.

I called my mother's famous sister Velma, whose husband's name was Jacques.

Actually, it was Jack when I first met him.

And as soon as I mentioned money, she says, oh, you need to speak to Jacques.

Jacques, of course, says, we don't have any money.

And I knew it was a lie.

I needed $180, which today is, it doesn't sound like a lot, but what's this, 1976?

That was a lot of money.

So I'm whining to Pearl, with whom I work.

And Pearl, you've got to imagine, is this short squat woman.

You know, she looked like she was a bodybuilder in her youth or something.