Cocktail Hour - Transcript

[Evie Zysman:] "Look who's here!"

[Helen Houston:] "And here's your paper."

[Evie Zysman:] "I make the best martinis in the whole entire world.

"Do you want on olive or two?"

[Helen Houston:] "I want two."

A martini is a drink for which one must acquire a taste. Like many things in life, a good drink requires a balance of opposites. When mixed well you never notice the difference because the combination seems so natural.

Friendships too, often evolve from that delicate and complementary balance of opposites.

[Helen Houston:] "I've always been a Catholic. I became politically active more so since my husband died, I think."

[Zysman:] "I love being Jewish. There's room for me and besides, social action is very much part of Judaism. Helen is a devout Catholic, and that makes a difference."

[Houston:] "She's a Democrat and I'm a Republican. We always had different views on the way we thought things should be."

[Zysman:] "She's not going to change and I'm not going to change."

[Houston:] "To another year. To Joe and Jack."

In this Omaha neighborhood Helen Houston and Evie Zysman have lived side by side for over forty years. As time passed and their families grew and changed they kept track of each other the way that good neighbors do. From a distance.

[Evie Zysman:] "We talked about who's doing your yard and yeah, and stuff like that. Family kind of stuff, neighbor kind of stuff."

[Houston:] "I think we were too busy with what we were doing. I was too busy with my six children and she was busy running her toyshop. That we really didn't have time for each other."

[Zysman:] "I may have been more critical. I was young, Honey, I was young and full of causes."

According to Helen their friendship began sometime in the 1970s, at least a decade after becoming neighbors.

[Houston:] "One day she turned to me and she said, 'Oh, by the way, I think we've known each other long enough that you can call me Evie.'"

But it wasn't until Helen's husband died while they were on vacation in China that a true camaraderie began to take shape.

[Zysman:] "When Joe died and she cam back I took a bottle of champagne and went over there and wept with her. To have that kind of thing happen is, come on.

"Do I make as good a martini as Joe used to?"

[Houston:] "Oh yes, you certainly do."

[Zysman:] "Well, I remember, Honey, I don't know how you lived through it being in China and having him drop dead."

[Houston:] "Well, it wasn't easy, but I always say it's the power of God that helps you."

[Zysman:] "That's what's wonderful, that's what's wonderful about being a devout Catholic."

[Houston:] "Well, you don't have to be a devout Catholic to have faith in God. Anybody can have faith in God. You believe in God."

[Zysman:] "I don't worry about it to tell you the truth."

Helen and Evie share more than the loss of their husbands. Both women are actively involved in their community.

[Houston:] "We're all apart of society, and everybody should be contributing to make it a better place. You can't just sit back and let other people do everything."

Part of what bonds them are common memories and the neighborhood they love.

[Zysman:] "You could walk to anything you needed -- to a library, to the grocery store. The movie house was always there."

[Houston:] "In fact, I have to tell you, I went there when I was a child. I saw Tom Sawyer there was really excited to say, 'Hey my children can go to that theater, too.'"

[Zysman:] "Some years ago they threatened to take down that whole area and put in a big Walgren's and the neighborhood rose and that did not happen. That movie house will never go. I definitely am fully aware that I'm the oldest."

[Houston:] "How old were you when John was born?"

[Zysman:] "I was in my thirties."

[Houston:] "See and I had six children when I was 32."

[Zysman:] "Gee whiz, you were busy!"

[Houston:] (Laughing) "Yes!"

[Zysman:] "Memory is the avenue to the past."

Their friendship is the product of maturity, distilled over many years. One they couldn't have appreciated when they were younger.

[Zysman:] "I am more tolerant -- everybody doesn't have to agree with me. And that doesn't mean they're not going to be good people because they don't agree with me. That I'm much more tolerant of."

[Houston:] "I think that you've become much more tolerant of other people."

Topics that at one time may have been avoided are now the source of great discussions between these two as they share their regular cocktail hour.

[Zysman:] "Wait a minute Helen. We have a fifteen million budget deficit."

Their friendship wasn't an immediate nor an obvious match but perhaps they began to see a little of themselves in each other. Beneath the obvious differences are more descriptors they share, politically-active, community-oriented, mother, widow, friend, martini-lover.

[Zysman:] "She's much too smart to be that conservative, but she has every right as long as she drinks a good martini with me. And as long as I could watch her kids grow up."

[Music:] "Some streets go one way, some streets go two ways. Some streets lead to a highway and some streets go everywhere. Let's do it together now. My street begins at my house, my street begins at my house, my street begins at my house. It's a very special street. It's a very special street. It's a very special street. It's a very special street."