My parents must have had a hard time in the beginning l<br >ing ends meet. Doctors were the last to be paid， and Mother<br >me， with real feeling， of the humiliation of buying the groc~<br >one bunch of carrots and a nickel s worth of spinach at a t<br >She never really got over it; it was probably the start of<br >lifelong tendency to economize on food.<br > They were an ill-assorted pair from the first. He liked ca<br >ing， duck shooting， and his work. His specialty was gynecol<br >so he was often out at all hours of the night delivering bal<br >She didn t care at all for duck shooting， but she was out all h，<br >of the night playing bridge. One of her partners once said to<br >"I know how Kitty was conceived. You said， Doctor， hanc<br >Culbertson s book on bridge and go ahead. "<br > After I was born， my parents settled down on St. Ch~<br >Avenue. Though the address was good， the house was slit<br >rickety. The furniture seemed to be in the wrong rooms， a]<br >all looked as if we were getting ready to move. There was<br >wicker in the dining room and heavy Victorian mahogany il<br >bedroom， while I longed for the dainty white enamel o<br >children had.<br > Daddy s brother， Uncle Moi se， had a drugstore right dowl<br >block from our house， and a drugstore in the family is a lc<br >thing for a child. Aunt Hattie had married well; she drove a<br >seater electric automobile， and she lived in a house witl<br >elevator， the first one I ever saw. My Aunt Sophie live(<br >Prytania Street， in a gray frame house with a big fig tree ir<br >backyard. She let me climb the tree to pick the figs. She put n<br >a bathing suit， because when I came down I d be covered<br >ants and so sticky that I d have to be hosed down. The pic<br >was fun， but the reward was better， a big bowl of figs in I<br >unpasteurized creammreal lagniappe.<br > When I was six， Mother started teaching me the piano. V~<br >the other children on the block were outside playing， I ha<br >practice the piano， two hours every day， with Mother rappinl<br >knuckles and ignoring my tears.<br ><br >