Daily Life Disrupted by Assassination

By Georgiana Ploss

   Waking up to her 6:45 alarm, Beth could already hear her five-and-a-half-month-old and three-year-old daughters blabbering to themselves. Daintily slipping out of bed onto an ornate rug, Beth could feel the November chill that was beginning to permeate New Jersey’s air and changed into a pair of slacks and a top to combat the coolness. Gracefully passing the bathroom door, where her husband was tying his tie, Beth sang out a Morning, Ed. Ed nodded towards her general direction and continued getting ready for the day.

   Crossing the upstairs landing, Beth floated into the nursery and picked the five-and-a-half-month-old from her crib, where she had been attentively watching Beth. Good morning to you too, Eileen, Beth crooned as the baby babbled with excitement. Changing Eileen’s diaper and returning her to her pajamas, Beth put Eileen on the floor where she almost instantaneously crawled towards the door to her sister’s room. Following Eileen, Beth had just enough time to wish Ed luck in him meeting while he rushed downstairs to a car awaiting his arrival.

   Walking into the bedroom adjacent to Eileen’s, Beth saw Meg sitting cross-legged on her ‘big-girl bed’ playing with her stuffed-doll affectionately named Doll-Doll. Perking up, just as her little sister did when Beth entered the nursery, Meg leaped off the bed in total preparedness for the day. Beth smiled and greeted her eldest child before scooping up Eileen and turning back to the upstairs landing to head downstairs. Confident that Meg was trailing behind her, as she could hear the familiar squeaks of the stairs, Beth went into the kitchen to prepare their breakfast.

   After giving each child a cupful of Cheerios to tied them over, Beth turned towards the stove to cook some oatmeal. Glancing out the window to her left, Beth could see her neighbor, Mr. Urion getting into his car, which, no matter the make or model, was always white. Deciding it was a beautiful day to go shopping for some food necessities, Beth turned back to her children, who had successfully made a mess of their food, with two fresh-made bowls of oatmeal and four sippy cups: two with milk and two with orange juice. After breakfast, Beth took the kids upstairs to get dressed and then sat them down in front of her bedroom’s small television with Captain Kangaroo playing as she took her own shower and got ready for the day.

***

   Finishing getting on the kids’ jackets and shoes, Beth put Eileen into the baby carriage, took Meg’s hand, and walked out the front door headed for town. The walk to the store, which was across town, took Beth nine minutes to complete on her own, but took 20 minutes with the kids since Meg was at the age where she wanted to pick up every stick and rock. It was nice to go slowly, though, Beth admitted to herself. The tree’s leaves were just finishing to change color from a dull green to bright reds and oranges, making the Victorian houses and office buildings look like they were part of a movie set.

   Arriving at the store, Beth picked up milk, bread, and a bag of chocolate chips: it seemed like the perfect day to have cookies, with which Meg agreed. Finalizing her purchase, Beth exited the store and instead of turning left to go home, turned right: it was also the perfect day to window shop. At this point, Eileen had fallen asleep, and Meg had crawled onto the seat of the baby carriage, which made the walk slightly easier and much quicker. Noting a few stores in which Beth wanted to look in, she turned around a made the journey back to her house.

   Once home and the kids had had a lunch of Spaghetti-O's and carrots, Beth put the two kids down for their afternoon naps and went back into the kitchen to prepare her own lunch. Flipping on the radio for a bit of noise, Beth turned to WCAU Philadelphia.

   “… was shot today just as his motorcade left downtown Dallas. Mrs. Kennedy jumped up and grabbed Mr. Kennedy. She cried, ‘oh no.’ The motorcade sped on. A photographer said he saw blood on the president’s head…” was all Beth heard before she sprinted into the living room to flip on the television.

   CBS NEWS BULLETIN was all the television screen read, but a reporter was calmly, yet urgently, saying, “… a Secret Serviceman has been, uh was heard to shout from the car, ‘he’s dead.’ whether he referred to President Kennedy or not is not yet known.

   Standing in shock only for a moment, Beth sprinted back into the kitchen, lunch forgotten, to telephone Ed, who was still at work. Not being able to reach him, since the line was jammed, Beth ran upstairs to check on the kids. They were peacefully asleep. She was alone. Should I wake them? Beth wondered. She did not. Instead, she raced back downstairs to try the phone again. Still blocked.

   Walking into the living room again and staring at the CBS NEWS BULLETIN screen, thoughts darted around Beth’s head: What’s going to happen next? Is this a war? Will my children be okay? Is my husband okay? There were no answers, but there was a child crying from upstairs. The sound surprised her at first since it seemed so simple and insignificant, but she shook her head, told herself to keep it together, and went upstairs to calm the crying child. Feeling comfort in holding the child, Beth brought Meg downstairs to the living room where, on the television, the blank screen had changed to Walter Cronkite, giving his news report confirming the shooting of President Kennedy.

   “Mommy,” Meg’s little voice caught the attention of Beth. “I hungry.”

   Beth nodded slowly and, without turning off the television, headed back to the kitchen to give Meg an afternoon snack of Cheerios and Hawaiian Punch. It was a normal day for the children, who were not old enough to understand. It gave the day a weird vibe, Beth decided, having to act so normally when something so life-changing had happened.

   Upon hearing the front door open, Beth scrambled from the kitchen into the front hall, where Ed had just walked in. “Did you hear?” Beth asked. Ed nodded.

   “Yes. It’s a room with no doors. What’s going to happen? Where are the windows in this room? What are we going to do?” Ed abruptly headed towards the television, where the report was still playing, as Beth went back to the kitchen to collect Meg.

   The telephone rang suddenly. Everything seemed sudden at the moment. Beth answered. It was a church member calling asking if she and her husband would like to join at church tonight, at 7, to pray. She did, Ed had to stay home with the kids. The rest of the afternoon followed as a normal day since it revolved around the kids, except the radio and television stayed on all afternoon.

   When Beth arrived at the church at 6:30, it was packed. Many there were not regular churchgoers: they came to give comfort and be comforted. The church was a good place to go. People seemed to become one, praying for happiness and answers.