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of Bob Moats |
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The story continues...
To say the least, my marriage to Chris was rocky from the start. She sort of warmed up to the new house and we settled in by trying to remodel the place. I was working afternoons at the General Motors Technical Center, Chevrolet Engineering Center in Warren in their printing department and Chris worked what jobs she could find. The only one I really remember was at one of those Fotomat Booths, the kind you drove up to to get your film developed. I kept up with my magic when I could and decided to open a magic shop so I sent out requests for wholesale magic supplies and got enough support to order a good amount of stock. I was also lucky to find a very small store front building in Roseville that cost me only $75. a month even though the place was only one tiny main room with a tiny back room and tiny bathroom but it was perfect for my needs. We had our big grand opening of the Sorcerer's Apprentice Magic Shop and I convinced a local newspaper reporter to cover it. A good number of people showed up and I got to know some new magicians in the area. I worked during the day till it was time to go to work at GM and Chris would keep the shop going with the help of a few local young kids who liked magic. The shop went well and I even expanded into having magic classes and with the help of a number of local experienced magicians we taught classes. During this time I met two young guys who had an interest in magic, Ray Zink and Bob Benton. I let them help me with my shows and they hung around the store to help out and became pretty good friends. For more information about my magic history go to:
http://magicbob.biz which will provide more info about my life.
One other magician, who would later help turn a pivotal point in my life, was Don Hudson, he came into my shop one day and we got to be good friends. He worked as the Detroit area Ronald McDonald and it was eery to see him all made up in the clown outfit. More on him later.
At the time I was trying keep up with the demands to perform magic shows when I could and after about a year at GM, I was getting restless and unhappy with corporate policies. So I made a very dumb move but at the time I wasn't aware of my mistake, I quit GM to go to work for the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company. I tried my best to be a salesman but having to live on commissions that bounced up and down each week and ornery customers, I realized this wasn't for me. Again I quit and tried to spend more time on the magic shop. With bills piling up and money tight, I moved the magic shop into my home on the second floor. Around that time I would visit another magic shop owned by a person who went to my old high school and discovered a small print shop next door. I kept bugging the owner till he finally hired me and I so I was back to work. I worked there but the owner was one of those "big talk, no action" kind of person and I could see the business going down the tubes. He finally laid off myself and the secretary and I went on unemployment. Having to stand for hours in long lines was a pain but it was an income. Around that time Chris was going to apply for a state funded work program (CETA) and I drove her to the office to apply. I was looking at the list of classes they offered and figured, what the heck, I tried out for a barber training class. I was accepted and since I was, they couldn't accept Chris due to only one member of a family could be accepted. That didn't make Chris happy. Anyways, I started going to school in Hamtramck, Michigan and spent my next nine months there. In order to help with bills, I took in a couple of barber students to rent the upstairs of the house. The students were two young girls named Donna and Debbie and we all seemed to get along. Still the bills piled up and we took in one more student, another girl who's name eludes me right now. About my eight month into barber college, I was having a harder time in my marriage. We seemed to argue every day about minor things and my beer consumption increased just to dull myself from the daily annoyances. Finally I told her I wanted a break from marriage and she moved back with her parents. Her father was an annoying man to begin with and I heard he did his best to get her a lawyer to start divorce proceedings. They also would go back to the house when I wasn't there and take things, like the washer and dryer and my expensive Kirby vaccuum cleaner that I had before we were married. I felt like I was being pillaged, but I was glad she was gone after almost four years of marriage. Unfortunately since I was now a "single" male in the house, Donna and Debbie had to move out at their parents insistance. For a short time I let a guy I knew, Tom Wind, who was living in his van, live in the house, but he brought with him his St. Bernard that slobbered all over the place and he was also a thief as I found out, so I moved him out of the house. My finances were not the best and I decided to give up the house back to the Veterans Administration. During the time I was moving someone broke into my house and took all the packed moving boxes containing a great deal of personal things. I found out later that Tom Wind was trying to sell some of my stuff to people I knew, he wasn't very bright, and I tried to locate him but he hid well.
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