The Corner Bar was a good place to hear war stories, especially about actually dodging bullets and making it home in time for Christmas from WWII. This one was about a couple of lucky numbers: a five and a two or what was called a Natural if they came up together in a dice game. When Lou was looking into joining the Army in 1941 he looked closely at those two numbers and decided that a two could easily look like a five when they were written out. So his birth year was changed to 1905, and when Lou went from forty to thirty-seven in the blink of an eye he was just under the cut off age for new recruits in the army. He couldn't have been denied. For in the month after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the most patriotic of men enlisted in droves. Magazine and newspaper ads, radio spots and newsreels weren't necessary for people like Lou. He had his heart set on revenge. And so he was sent to London, out of harms way and got a support role in the war, a supply sergeant. If you needed supplies, you came to Sergeant Habick. But if you also needed a liitle levity, he'd have some of that too, for the men who came to him for supplies, kept him laughing. "Anything else, sir?" he asked a young Lieutenant who had a pretty long brown haired women at his side. "No. No, thank you," the Lieutenant said. "Anything for your wife, sir?" Lou asked. "Why, yes, Sergeant," said the Lieutenant. "Would you bring me a postcard." He took a quick look at the pretty girl, and they both burst out into laughter together. The army had a great "we're all in this together" feeling. Lou returned the joke. a beautiful young lady strolled through the zoo, and finally stopped in front of the monkey island. Mystified as to the whereabouts of the animals, she queried the keep, "Where are all the monkeys today?" "They're back in the cave, Miss, it's the mating season." "Will they come out if I throw them some peanuts?" The keeper scratched his head, "I don't know, Miss. Would you?" The Lieutenant and his girl joined Lou in a big laugh and that was how it went. Requisitions for supplies were routinely filled all day but what made the day go fast was the laughter. As the only brother with five sisters, knowing how to tell a good joke fell right into what he called, "surviving within friendly fire". While men in combat outfits kid each other around, anybody who does such dangerous job in war knows how important it is to laugh. Although he felt glad to be out of harms way in London, the burnt out shells of buildings only blocks away from where he worked, served as a constant reminder of the war that raged on in battlefields all over Europe. One joke he only told to family members, came from his own experience outside the supply depot. He'd just got his jeep, headed out into the streets of London and hadn't been driving for more than a few minutes when he got into a traffic circle. This one, the largest in England, was called Piccadilly Circus. He wouldn't wish this on anyone. After driving around it five times too many, he figured out what the problem was, a young red haired lady who sat low in her silver Morgan sportscar, looked paralyzed in fear at the prospect that she might well be driving around the circle all night. She kept to the outside of him and he couldn't get out of the circle! He had to lock bumpers with hers and push her off the street, just to get out. The policeman who'd been watching said he didn't blame Lou at all for doing what he had to, for he could have been there all day (or at least until the red haired lady ran out of gas) . When both were stopped, Ursula explained that the silver Morgan had been loaned to her by a friend, who had thought it "would help"her get her drivers license. But she said that she had never"gotten stuck in the circle" before, and that she only lived two blocks to the South. While he was trying to separate the cars, he told her that he wouldn't file any charges if she'd give him her phone number and a promise to "have a cup of coffee" with him. She said yes, except she changed it to tea. To which he said: "Fine, but we have to get you out from behind the wheel. From now on I do the driving." Lou hadn't much experience with relationships in the past, If there was a saying that life begins at forty, it was made for him. Ursula was perfect for him. She answered all his questions with a yes, and she smiled a lot and talked about the weather. He found himself proposing marriage to her on their first date, if she would just fly back to America with him. He was joking. He hadn't thought she'd say yes. But she did! Although she scarcely knew him, she said that she trusted him. He seemed gentle and she always wanted to "go abroad." As he told her all about all his sisters, their husbands and families, she gave him the sweetest smile. To those who say you can't roll a natural on the come out roll, Lou would say otherwise. That night he rolled a Little Joe on the next roll and the guys in the barracks noticed something different about him. They were qualified to notice the difference for everyday in the past they had been the ones to have all the women. 'You got a woman, Habick?" expecting him to say a one night stand. "I've just got engaged," he said proudly. This brought laughter and strange looks, but at least one older man understood, Lou wasn't one of the younger recruits. He didn't mention that Ursulas favorite place to have tea was next to a nursery school where the children never stopped screaming and crying. One time in font of the place while a diaper truck was picking up another load, he made a promise to Ursula. "I never want to have a baby. Yhey're too loud," he said. "And they stink too!" she said, holding her nose and laughing with such abandon he thought she'd get the hiccups. When Lou got back to America, he brought the fruits of his trip along. After their wartime courtship, Ursula was ready for America, although she still loved the English countryside in her area of Cambridgeshire. Everyone assembled to meet her and waited with baited breath for a big story, and after a pause so long you could hear a pin drop, she finally started to say something. She said it was much the same as England here except that the steering wheels were on the wrong side of the car. "Watch it. Over here thats the right side," Lou said. Later he thought that she might have been confused when he found her driving on the left side of the road. It was the last time she ever drove. "I'll do the driving, thankyou. I want to keep you and my car around a little longer," Lou told her. Everyone liked Ursula. They noticed that she said "yes" a lot and could be quite happy with just a nice day and good health. As a bus driver Lou got interested in coins. He had quite a coin collection too. Uncle Lou had quite a collection of old coins. When he got an old one on his bus, he would trade it for a newer one in his pocket. This clever and easy plan allowed him to have a valuble collection of older coins that could press into the small hands of children of friends and family (they had no children), with the advice: "save this. It will be the beginning of your first million." The kid's all thought that Ursula had a collection too, of candied cherries, chocolate cigarettes, and fudge. For she worked at Baracini chocolates! No children were forthcoming and the honeymoon never ended.