My Memoirs - Citizen of the World

$500.00 and, every time they see me, they talk about that awful
night.
Another story from when I owned the travel agency involves an
older lady. She did not have a car, so she asked someone to take
her to Fall River, Massachusetts, about 12 miles from Bristol, so
she could purchase a trip to the Azores. On her way back, she
came to my office and asked me in Portuguese, “Do you have the
yellow forms so that I can get my vaccinations to travel to the
Azores?” I said that I did, and I asked her when she was leaving.
When she replied that she was leaving next week, I asked her if she
had already made her reservations. She told me that she had made
her reservations at Farinha’s Travel Agency in Fall River. I started
to laugh and she was bewildered.
I asked her why she went to another Travel Agency in Fall River,
passing my office, to purchase a trip for the same price that I
would charge. She replied that she didn’t know and that she didn’t
think it would make a difference. I looked at her and said in
Portuguese, “Do you realize that the other travel agent made a
commission when she sold you the trip and told you to come to me
for the vaccination forms?”
She looked regretful all of a sudden. She apologized and said
Yvonne Farinha had told her that she had run out of vaccination
forms and, since she lived in Bristol, she could go to Fred
Pacheco’s Agency to get them. I jokingly told her, “You have to
go to St. Elizabeth’s Church downtown and go to Father Diogo for
a confession.” She didn’t quite pick up on my joke, and she asked
if I thought what she did was a sin. Again, jokingly, I said, “Not a
mortal sin, so, in memory of my father who was a very generous
man, I will still give you the form for free, even though it cost me
10 cents.” I believe she actually went to confession, though, and
told the priest what I had said. Of course, I happen to be very good
friends with Father Diogo, so I felt compelled many times to ask
him if she had indeed gone for confession. But, naturally, he was
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