Henry and Juliette were excited to see that Governor Warren was a
possible presidential candidate in this year’s elections, but when
he dropped out of the race to support General Eisenhower, Henry and
Juliette followed suit and supported the new candidate as well.
Although Juliette wasn’t old enough to vote, Henry was looking
forward to casting his first presidential vote.
Juliette proudly wore her “I Like Ike” button at the grocery store,
and drew some criticism from those customers that supported
Governor Stevenson. Both Juliette and Henry liked to watch the TV
ads for the campaigns, and felt like they were part of the process,
even though most of the action was on the East Coast.
Hardy Rochester was at his peak in the reporting of the campaign,
and was nominated for several broadcasting awards, increasing his
own stature as a newsman to watch. When Hardy announced the
nomination of Eisenhower to be the party’s candidate, it was one of
his highest rated airings.
But outside of the presidential race, both Henry’s and Juliette’s
families were pressuring them to start a family. They were still
not ready, but to appease the family, they capitulated and adopted
Greta. Greta was beautiful, had blonde hair and brought a touch of
magic into the Mall household. Juliette would cradle her, and Henry
enjoyed feeding her from a bottle, and before long she was eating
solid food.
In the late summer, the three of them began taking long walks in
the park, and Greta grew quickly. Before long, Henry and Greta
would run in the park, and Greta would love to fetch the stick. She
would come back, drop it at Henry’s feet, and then jump up in his
lap and lick him on the face.
Henry and Juliette loved Greta, and Greta loved to spend time with
Henry at the hatchery. Greta would lie at his feet as he manned the
conveyor belt, and occasionally chased after the brave rat that did
not pay heed to the Rat Deflector and tried to enter the
building.
Sometimes Greta would sit and listen to the chickens cluck. It was
as if they were having a conversation, and Greta was their silent
confidante. One particular pair seemed to catch her fancy, and
sometimes she would sit by their cage for hours on end.
The crisp autumn nights were a real treat for the trio. Henry would
set fire to the week’s trash pile, and he and Juliette would sit in
the swing, watching the flames flicker until the entire pile burnt
down to a few embers. Greta would run excitedly around the fire
while the flames were licking at the sky, so fierce, yet so
beautiful. Eventually, she would calm down, move into a position by
Henry and Juliette and enjoy the ember glow together.
The November elections came and Henry proudly cast his vote for
Eisenhower. By the next morning, the results were coming in, and it
looked like a sure victory for their candidate.