It’s October 1957. Everyone’s singing “Honeycomb” with Jimmie Rodgers on their radios. Some are going to see the #1 movie of the year, “12 Angry Men.”
And, Ray Dombeck, a thirty-one-year-old Chicago resident, walked into his house at 1620 North Claremont Ave. to find a note from his wife on the kitchen table.
Yeah, it was a “Dear Ray” letter. Thirty-one-year-old Edna had taken pen to paper to announce she was leaving her old man.
That was last Friday. What a hell of a way to end the work week.
Then, the next day, Ray got a letter from Edna telling him to “see Charlotte at 858 North Paulina.”
What the hell? Saturday. His day off. And his life is going to get worse?
Well, Ray walked over to see Charlotte, and the two of them put their heads together.
Charlotte told Ray that, like Edna, her husband, Tony, who worked as a pickup man for a dry cleaner’s shop, left her a note Friday saying he was leaving her.
Just like Edna, Ray thought as he scratched his head.
Charlotte leaned back in her kitchen table chair, fired up another Lucky Strike, and, as she inhaled, pushed a ledger book toward Ray.
Charlotte kept the books for her husband’s business. And this one showed his daily schedule.
Charlotte reached over and, with her finger, pointed to one address that showed up every single day. Tap. Tap. Tap her fingertip went on the ledger pages.
1620 N. Claremont. Every day. Day after day.
“That’s where I live. Me and Edna,” Ray whispered. He couldn’t believe what he’d just said.
“Yeah,” said Charlotte. She ground the cigarette out in the green glass ashtray on her kitchen table like the Lucky owed her money.
Charlotte squinted at Ray through the smoke she’d just exhaled.
“Now you know why your clothes were always so clean.”
Inspired by: Chicago Tribune Staff. “Deserted Spouses Wonder: Were They Taken to The Cleaners?” Chicago Daily Tribune, published 15 October 1957.
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