After my divorce, I temporarily moved in with my friend, Gusta.

Her apt. was a small one in Chelsea...on West 18th street and 8th Avenue, in New York City. It was in a 6 story apartment house. In a city as crowded as NYC, most of us don't even know our neighbors. We were no exception.

The East end of the 3rd floor contained just 2 apartments...ours and another, right next door. One day we realized that we had new neighbors. In the evenings, we would be disturbed by frequent knockings at our door. The visitors usually appeared to be older, foreign-looking men. They never would say anything, but just smile at us. We simply directed them to the apartment next door.

One day before Thanksgiving, as we left our apartment, there was a woman who Gusta described as "Becky-off-the pickle-boat" waiting at the elevator. She appeared to be in her mid-fifties, non-descript looking and wore a shabby coat and a scarf over her head. When she saw us leaving our apartment, she smiled and thanked us for directing her guests to the proper apartment. She then asked,

"What will you girls be drinking for the holidays?" Gusta immediately replied,

"Harvey's Bristol Cream."

When we returned, outside of our door, was the largest bottle of Harvey's Bristol Cream that I had ever seen.

Becky-off-the-Pickle-Boat had quite a few daughters...very sweet looking "girl-next-door" types. They also had many "uncles" knocking at our door. I was always very impressed with those fortunate people who had large families; being an only child.

One evening, as we were leaving our apartment, "Becky's" door opened and what a shock we had...We couldn't believe our eyes.

The wallpaper was gold with heavy red flocking...the hallway contained a huge hanging crystal chandelier and "Becky" was at the door wearing a black formal evening gown, lots of makeup, a well-coiffed hairdo and dangling earrings. Well, after that we understood all the "uncles" and "daughters".

We had a huge bottle of Harvey's Bristol Cream at our door every month. They were very quiet neighbors and created no problems for us. When we were ready to move, we asked "Becky" whether she wanted to expand her business but she declined and thanked us.

We proceeded to sublet it to a sweet young man, named Arthur. We told Arthur that he could name the liquor of his choice, the way we did...but he said that he preferred to "take it out in trade".

From that time on, we had to purchase our own small bottles of Harvey's Bristol Cream.