Along the same lines, she went to the movies every Wednesday night to play Bingo. The newly popular games were shown on the screen between pictures in a double feature and Friday which was also Dish Night. She resold anything she won at Bingo, but kept the dishes and began collecting a service for six of imitation Delft china. She loved the blue and white seasonal patterns on the plates, saucers, and cups and wished they were authentic, but doubted she would ever be able to afford real Delft.
It became part of her dream of being happily married. The first thing she would do if she knew she were going to marry Ivanhoe and set up housekeeping would be to buy a set of real Delft china for her home.
While delivering some yard goods to the bedridden lady who liked to hand-sew, Barbara could listen to one of the radio soap operas she seldom had time to hear. They came on in the afternoon when she was usually working.
Wouldn't it be wonderful if someone invented a radio you could listen to in your car while you were driving? There it was, another million-dollar idea she didn't have time or money to do anything about. It reminded her of an earlier idea... throwaway diapers for babies. But both ideas were too pie-in-the-sky, she thought, then began singing "I'm Always Chasing Rainbows," which had been her mother's favorite.
Barbara's schedule left little time for dating. However, after two months of turning Ken Knowland's invitations down, and they became fewer, she was afraid she would discourage him from asking her again. She found the time for dinner and a movie.
Knowland took her to dinner at the best restaurant in Bakersfield, but Barbara nearly slept through it. She didn't even hear him say how beautiful he thought she looked, in a low-cut black dinner dress held up by thin straps over her shoulders.
Yawning while eating her prime rib, she apologized. "It's delicious, but I'm afraid the Cabernet Sauvignon must be making me sleepy. What movie are we going to see?"
"The new Errol Flynn movie, 'Charge of the Light Brigade.'"
Just hearing the actor's name was enough to do it. Barbara bolted up from her chair, overcome by a gas attack. Starting almost to run to the ladies' room, she just held up an index finger to Ken. She couldn't even tell him she would be right back, because she couldn't speak from a bloated stomach and phlegm that instantly filled her mouth.
Coughing and spitting into a wash basin, and after taking some Alka-Seltzer she always kept in her purse, Barbara took several deep, calming breaths. After almost ten minutes of gasping and spitting, she thought she was over the attack enough to return to the table, praying she wouldn't have another.