Sex and the Single Girl

When I was in the cellar the other day, I was poking around and there was a box of books under a table. Old ones, some pretty well read, stashed away for storage. I pulled it out just enough to see what they might be and this one was on top and fell out.

I picked it up and was a little surprised as to what it was: Sex and the Single Girl, by Helen Gurley Brown. It says it's "The unmarried woman's guide to men." I'm thinking maybe it could've been my mom's or my aunt's, but I'm looking and this book was printed in 1963, and they were both married before that.

If I leave out my uncles and grandpa -- none of them would be the owner of course -- the matter remains a mystery. Unless, I don't know, there's always Grandma. But she also was married in 1963. But Grandpa died in '78, so its conceivable she could've gotten this book somewhere after that. She was still in her 70s then, so it's not impossible.

I think I can leave out my mom and aunt for another reason, which is they didn't live here in 1963 or any of the later years. They had their own place. So it about has to be Grandma, who may have even gotten the book earlier, like when it first came out, just as a thing of general interest and not because she was stepping out on Grandpa.

Now that I think of it, back then she did have some interesting reading habits, including "True Story," "True Confessions," "Secrets," those magazines lying around. They were pretty racy. I remember one that had a story called "I Was Raped on My Husband's Grave." So that about settles it. This was exactly her thing. And she liked Peyton Place, etc., so, now that I remember all that, there's no question about it. This book has to be Grandma's.

I wonder if she'd remember it now. Maybe I ought to sit there reading it at the dinner table. I doubt if she'd notice. She can't really be into it anymore. It's really hard to believe, in a way, that she ever cared about such things. But I guess she must have. She snagged Grandpa, and with five kids, they obviously did something right.