18 i went to a dance where they had a picture show and met irene there. she was attending the dance with her family, but was sitting alone at the time. i liked her immediately, but didn’t think i had much of a chance with her. later on, i spoke to her and asked her to dance. after the dance, i asked her if i could see her home, and a friend drove us. after that, we started dating. i played pool with e. j. and francis to get to know her better. beulah was away at school in new orleans. after a while, irene and i decided to get married. one day we went to new iberia, and i said, ‘let’s get married. ’ she agreed, so we went to the courthouse. the man at the courthouse said we couldn’t get married that day, that we would have to wait three days for blood tests, etc. so, we didn’t get married that day. the dredge was shut down at the time, in preparation for going to port arthur. 18 ...one night, in1931,