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Antigua #52

but he said he likes to send stamps to people who do collect. 
In the afternoon we went to play bridge at Mrs Christian Branch's. While we were waiting for Miss Millie Branch - one of the teachers - to arrive, we some way or other got in conversation about Mrs C. Branch's son who lives in San Francisco. Miss May Branch had told me that they had some relatives, other than her brother Gerald, in California but "they didn't ^ [[insertion]] associate or [[/insertion]] know each other very well." Naturally I didn't suspect that the relationship was as close as nephew & uncle. 
When Mrs Christian said her son's name was James and asked me if I knew him "as [[strikethrough]] I [[/strikethrough]] [[insertion]] you [[/insertion]] must of seen his name in the papers", the only James Branch I could think of was the Communist agitator who became so notorious during the longshoreman's strike of 1934. As most of the family I know are quite conservative & straight laced - altho Mrs C is a joker - I said  [[strikethrough]] "the only [[/strikethrough]] in a joking manner "the only James Branch [[underlined]] I [[/underlined]] know of is a Communist". Imagine my chagrin when she

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calmly announces "[[underlined]] that [[/underlined]] is my son". I now know why the other Branches dont "associate". Mrs Christian is not the least politically minded so being a Communist or any other "ist" means little to [[strikethrough]] me [[/strikethrough]] [[insertion]] her. [[/insertion]] Later on in the same conversation she says in a horrified tone "James says that the capitalists are ruining the State of California" - you'd think capitalists were a form of 7 year plague - I couldn't resist the crack "Well they're doing the same to the British Empire". To which she answered "Oh no, [[underlined]] we're [[/underlined]] too conservative for that." I let her have the last word - she deserved it!
After dinner Ginger asked me to make a 4th at bridge. He had invited Dr & Mrs Winter to play and at the last minute the doctor was called away to the country. Miss Marjorie Branch was the other person invited. I lost 1/4 which leaves me with ^ [[insertion]] about [[/insertion]] 1/ ahead in winnings in Antigua. About 11 Dr Winter came in and we played another rubber with him. We went towards bed at 12 and I talked to Dick until almost 1 telling him A.D.T. gossip he didnt know.