Another summer Ellis decided to spend a week at the beach. He drove to Wrightsville Beach and rented a hotel room right on the seaside. Opening his room windows, he felt the sea breeze move through the air. Seagulls soared gracefully in the breeze. Ellis swam in the water, sunbathed, walked down the beach for several miles, sat by the ocean at night to look at the sky, spoke to all sorts of people, ate at restaurants, went to bars, and collected a cardboard box of seashells. The ocean air was invigorating. He left his hum drum city life behind him. He lived a carefree careless week there. He drove back to Bland Street to resume his routine day by day life.
There were bars, pool halls, and night clubs all over the city. Ellis liked to visit these, meet with people there, and watch entertainment groups that did shows. Country, bluegrass, gospel, blues, and western music were all big there. There were several movie theaters in Charlotte. Ellis went to them from time to time to watch a good movie show. He sometimes went to church. For a time he went to different churches. One nearby Baptist church he liked the best.
Ellis opened the Bland Street Liquor Store that mostly sold whiskey. Whiskey came from Scotland, Ireland, Kentucky, and Tennessee. Vodka and Saki were whiskeys too. Whiskey filtered through charcoal was bourbon. Wine, beer, Champagne, fruit juice flavors, aperitifs, and soda seltzer additives were also sold there. Mostly the shelves were