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of the nicest of his dates that he has introduced me
to. Most of them were hard-looking, hard sounding
blonds, but this one is a cute redhead.

Mon. Thank you for your letter & your dandy enclosures.
Glad to see you're still attentive to bike-racing.
They're not all like that, Mother dear, & you are
definitely in a minority as a spectator who has witnessed
a bike-race track fatality. Don't be snooty about it,
- do you remember the nice man who jumped all over
Uncle Josephine's chest in the interest of saftey &
sportsmanship. That was football, of course, &
only nice people play football, wearing lots of padding,
of course, so nobody ever gets hurt. You may
remember Le Mans last year when 75+ people were
killed. They were all patting themselves on the back
this year for such a safe race. Only one guy got
killed. As long as there are people, some of them
will race, whether anyone watches them or not.
Motor-racing can be a great sport, & with proper
regulations, the greatest good & enjoyment - both
for racer & spectator can be derived. Generally &
pragmatically speaking bike racing is safer than cars.

Sat. I got my badge at the cannery, & I think I
start Tues. I've got to go down there today & find
& get my apron, knives, gloves, hair-net, hat, &
stuff. All this they take out of your first pay-check.
Out of the second, they take $15.00 union initiation
fee, & $4.00 monthly dues. That 3rd pay check ought to
be something to behold. By the way, I make the
magnificent sum of $1.49 per hr. plus $.05 per hr. for night
shift. I have already met some of my fellow workers
& I think I am going to learn something. I'll be
working on fruit salad & fruit cocktail, doing
what, I don't know, but from all the talk about
knives, I guess I'll be pitting, chopping, or splitting.

Bud, the fellow who has been teaching me about
photography, tells me that his mother, sisters, & aunt
are all working down there this summer, so maybe
I'll run into them. It's kind of a huge place,
though.