Henry's letter to his mom. Written on the first anniversary of Trotsky's murder, it is also an early description of Esperanza. Henry mentions Esp getting paid for her first two translations for Traven and showing his baby picture to Esperanza's mother. The photographer Henry talks about is Franz Pfemfert.
19 Av. Viena
Coyoacan, DF.
Wed. Aug 20, '41
Dear Mom,
I received your letter dated Sun. Aug. 10 on Friday of last week. Today is Wed. Aug. 20, just one year since L.D.T. was attacked. He died the next day. The "Old Lady" has been feeling bad the last week. She stays up late and gets up very early because she can't sleep. We had a small concrete monument put up in the garden in memory of L.D. I'll send you a picture of it sometime. I had just spent 4 days working in the garden, clearing the grass from the flowers etc - and now she has a gardener digging up all the lawns and sowing them over. We have only 22 hens left but are getting 12 eggs per day quite regularly. They suffer terribly from mites - I haven't had a good opportunity to get rid of them - may go to town today to buy creosote. Last Saturday - Aug 16, Esperanza and I went to the opera "Carmen" by Bizet. She had bought the tickets (main floor, must have cost $8.00 Mex. each, maybe more). Last December I had seen "Rigoletto", with Elda I had seen "The Magic Flute", this was the third - but I don't care for opera - a real good movie is better - and the girl friend says she feels the same way - after we had gone to the farewell concert given by Miliza Korjus last night. (She is from the N.Y. Metropolitan Opera and was the star in the "The Great Waltz") Esperanza had bought the tickets in advance knowing I would otherwise insist on buying them. She is one of the chief secretaries in the dept. of Education and told me last night that the president of the Banco Nacional de Mexico - an old acquaintance - had asked her to work for him - a good pay increase and much less work. She doesn't know if she will take it. She has many friends in the Dept of Ed. and likes the work. As the banker's secy she would be required to take shorthand in English, French and Spanish - but she is almost perfect in all three - In fact, she can do almost anything - and do it well. She just got paid for the two books she translated for Traven from English into Spanish. I have told you before most of the details about her and will send a picture as soon as I get one. I am enclosing on of me that was taken when I had 101F fever - just before I got the infected throat last May. The photographer is a friend whom I was helping that day. The picture is remarkably clear - notice the shadows of the glasses. I'm letting my hair grow long now and they part in the middle by themselves - just as on my baby pictures. Esperanza is very proud of it (the baby picture) and showed it to her mother - who thought it was a little girl.
I don't know when I'll come back to the states - and frankly - I'm almost satisfied here. When, and if, I return I hope to bring Esperanza along. She asks me to tell you that she considers you the world's greatest artist - and that I'm your masterpiece. She insists that I tell you - but I've assured her that John is the best looking of the three older boys but that Alvin is the lady killer - Walter and Ed of course will beat them both - according to the reports I get from home. Sometime when you find my typing practice book let me know- it's a large red book that opens like this. You are still canning peaches I guess - you should be here - pineapples from 10 to 25 cents Mex. Oranges 60 cents dozen and strawberries all year round. Beautiful gardenias 30-70 cents dozen. I've seen wreaths containing more than 500 for $5.00 mex.
Am enclosing a parasitic plant that grows in our English Walnut tree - have Walter find out what it is. Also - did any of that mistletoe grow whose seed I planted? Thanks for the letter, the news, the dollar, the flowers and for being my only mom.
Yours,
Henry
