by Linda Ellen
Several days after the refugees arrived at the club, Louise had looked over the shoulder of Mrs. Haddaway, who was reading the only copy of the newspaper they had yet to receive. The young woman’s heart had jolted as if she had stuck her finger in a light socket when she glimpsed the photograph. Nearly breathless, she had waited for the woman to finish. Then tucking the paper under her arm, she dashed down the hall to the ladies’ restroom, and quickly hid in one of the stalls. Using her fingernail to crease the paper, she had hurriedly removed the small article and refolded the newspaper. Later after placing it on a table in the main dining room, she’d played innocent when the next person picked it up and squawked about the hole in the center.
Little did she know that article would become a prized possession…one that she would treasure in years to come. Indeed…even more than she could ever imagine…
Vic Matthews…Louise had sighed as she stared at the photo. I wonder what he’s doing this minute…is he on his boat, rescuing more people? Did they write any more articles about him?
For the remainder of that evening after the ladies confronted Mrs. Geldhaus, Louise lay on her mat, listening to the soft conversations of the other refugees and daydreaming of the man who had completely captured her emotions.
There was no one with whom she could share her fascination…she knew she had to keep it quiet because she had happened to read an excerpt from her sister’s diary the day before. Edna had carelessly left it open to a page where she had talked about her plans to try and find Vic Matthews after the flood was over, and just see if ‘Little Miss Goody Two Shoes’ had told the truth about him.
Edna’s more experienced with men… she knows how to talk and flirt with them. The thought of Edna using her charms on Vic sent shards of dread into Louise’s heart. What would I do if Vic decided he liked Edna? I’d just die! She’d lamented, and unconsciously grimaced at the thought. But a moment later, determination arose. No, dag nabbit! This is one time Edna’s not gonna take something I want! Louise vowed, as occasions and items in the past came to mind…dolls, books, and toys, even slices of cake or pie. I’ve got to come up with some kind of strategy…
Now wrapping her arms around her body, she stared into the cold hearth, deep in thought until another shiver in the early morning chill brought her out of her musings. She climbed to her feet, slipped into her shoes, and shuffled off for a few minutes of privacy in the club’s luxurious ladies’ restroom.
The restroom…funny how it had become the most enjoyable aspect of their stay.
The sparkling white and silver marble walls, white tiled floor, and lovely, gleaming chrome had taken the refugees’ breaths away upon first inspection. Louise, indeed, most of the women, had never seen such luxury. The large bathroom also boasted two shower stalls, complete with arched doorways and chrome and glass doors. Three pristine pedestal sinks of white porcelain adorned one wall, each accompanied by a large, round, brightly lit mirror. Two private commode stalls stood on either side of the showers. Two white padded stools sat before two mirrors, which allowed female patrons to freshen their makeup and hair after a hot day on the courses, or a steamy time on the dance floor during an event. Elegant chairs, surrounding a low table, adorned the left side of the room in a mini seating area that completed the opulent décor.
The restroom’s crowning glory, however, was a round, multi-colored stained glass window. Mounted high above the sinks near the arched ceiling, it depicted a dove in flight over a lovely meandering creek.
The elegant ladies’ room was so very different from what the Hoskins women were accustomed to. Back home in the large pseudo duplex building, each side had one bathroom – on the second floor. Mrs. Higgins, the cranky old woman who owned the house, never spent any money on improvements or maintenance. The bathrooms were old fashioned, cold and drafty. The one on the Hoskins’ side had a chipped claw-foot tub, one bare light bulb in the ceiling, and the sink was stained with rust under constantly dripping faucets. The mirror over the sink was spotty and dark, and the wooden floor creaked loudly, especially in the middle of the night. Bare pipes ran down the wall over the top of wallpaper that had once been elegant, but was now faded, stained, and torn.
It was a decidedly unappealing room, and one in which you concluded your business and vacated as quickly as possible.
But this…this lovely restroom in the club was truly that…restful.
Louise made her way inside the quiet room and up to one of the sinks, washed her face awake, and brushed her hair. Pausing to stare with a grimace at her reflection, her hands came up to smooth the ugly dress she was wearing. Although the family had actually spared a few moments to grab items to take with them when they evacuated, their father had given assignments. Louise had retrieved items of hygiene, while Edna had been instructed to grab clothing for each family member, from a rack in the corner on which articles had been hung to dry. Edna had managed to pack items for herself and Billy, but very few for Lilly or Willis – and only one dress and a pair of socks for Louise.
Most of the refugees had been forced to vacate their homes rather quickly, leaving with few necessities. Therefore, the kind ladies from the churches in Anchorage had gathered some used clothing for them and brought the items on one of their food trips. However…before Louise could secure something suitable for herself, the other women had quickly snatched up the offerings, leaving only one item on the table – a dark green and tan dress two sizes too large for her petite frame. The previous night, she had had no other choice but to don the hated article while her own dress was being laundered.
Oh well…it’s not like I’m going for a beauty contest or anything… she mused with a smirk. But, dang that Edna! She always seems to land on her feet like a big ol’ cat. I noticed she managed to bring herself more clothes…
With a sigh of resignation, Louise pinned her hair back from her face and glanced around at the lovely bathroom, which was kept spotlessly clean by each of the lady refugees…well…except that snooty Mrs. Geldhaus… The fine, self-respecting ladies of the group had decided amongst themselves that they would show their appreciation for their more than generous accommodations. They made sure that when the time came for them to return home, they would leave the club looking as good or better than when they arrived.
I wonder what it would be like to live in a place as wonderful as this… Louise pondered with a soft sigh. I’ll probably never find that out. The chrome gleamed in the sparkling light and Louise smiled, her mind going back to that first afternoon when all of the young people and children ‘explored’ their temporary lodgings. She and Edna had opened the door to this room marked ladies, and gasped in awe.
“This is the bathroom?” Edna had gaped.
“Geez…” Louise had breathed in fascination. “I’ve never seen anything so beautiful…”
“What you two gawkin’ at?” a voice asked an instant before Billy came pushing past them, his eyes bugging nearly out of his head at the sight. “Wow this is keen! This is for you girls?” he had asked, then made a beeline down the wide hall to a door marked, “Gentlemen”. He then had come back to report that the men’s facility was just as swanky – only more for ‘gents’ and not so ‘girlyfied’, as he’d put it.
Indeed, the whole club was ‘keen’, clean, bright, and quite comfortable…if not exactly entertaining. It was, after all, meant to serve the immediate needs of its patrons who were availing themselves of the golf courses. There was no radio at the club, no piano, nothing to use for entertainment – those items were brought in if a member used the facilities for a party. As a result, after that first day, life at the elegant establishment had quickly settled into a rather boring routine of trying to find ways to make the hours between meals go by faster.
True to their host’s word, the daddies were able to come for visits – but only for a short time – and never for meals. The reason for that was a mystery that no one could or would answer. The same Presbyterian ladies, who came each day with food for t
he mothers and children, and shared the work with a group of women from a local Methodist church, also fed the men. One would think that if everyone were in the same place for meals it would be easier, but…
Sometime after breakfast on the second day, the bus had pulled up out front and the exiled fathers had emerged, much to the thrill of their families. The Hoskins enjoyed the joyous reunion, and Billy had dragged his chuckling father around to view all of the special places he had discovered the day before. Then the family drifted into the large dining room-turned-sleeping quarters and sat together in chairs off to the side, feeling a bit like visiting inmates, and just tried to enjoy one another’s company.
The hours passed quickly. Willis regaled them with stories of the fathers trying to sleep on army cots in the basement of the church – eighteen men in close quarters – his descriptions of the cacophony of most of them snoring at different and changeable decibels was quite comical. Billy entertained them with his innocent excitement over what had become an adventure for him – time away from school and chores and other drudgeries.
At one point, Edna lamented the fact that there was no radio, and she was missing her favorite shows, such as, The Guiding Light.
“Yeah, but I miss Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy, and The Shadow,” Billy had argued. “They’re a lot keener than that ol’ soap opera junk you listen to,” he chided his sister, to which she leaned over and gently tweaked his nose.
“I do miss Our Gal Sunday,” Lilly mused thoughtfully.
“And the news…right now, I’d even settle for a series of ‘Send a Boat’ messages,” Willis added with a twinkle, causing the others to chuckle.
“I miss eating supper and listening to dance band music,” Louise mused, picturing scenes that had been commonplace and taken for granted mere weeks before. It seemed so odd that so much had changed in such a short time.
After that, they had drifted into mentioning things they missed ‘back home’, and wondering how long they would be forced to remain away.
All too soon, Mr. Bayford apologetically informed the men that they needed to bid their loved ones goodbye for the night.
“But…so soon? My lands, he only just arrived…” Lilly had blustered, but the man had shaken his head with a sympathetic smile. “I’m sorry ma’am… I’m just followin’ orders.”
Knowing that they needed to be grateful for small favors and not take a chance on being asked to leave their lodgings, the family once again bid a reluctant goodbye to Willis, and watched him board the bus for the return trip to the church for the night. He couldn’t even stay and eat supper with us… Louise lamented with a sigh and a sad shake of her head, as she missed her wonderful father very much when he was gone.
After that, the time seemed to crawl by. The second day, Louise and Billy ventured out quite far on one of the golf courses, mainly just to have something to do. The manicured grass-covered grounds, dormant for the winter, seemed to stretch on and on. Being born and raised in the city amongst tall buildings, concrete, asphalt, and neon lights, the wide-open spaces seemed almost unnatural. They both, however, soon came to enjoy the differences.
The next morning, the weather turned colder and forced the brother and sister to stay indoors. One of the refugees had brought along a deck of cards, and friendly games of Old Maid, Go Fish, and Gin Rummy were enjoyed. The children played hide and seek and hopscotch. The exiles spent time drawing, or writing letters on stationary provided by the club, or playing charades. Several girls had brought their diaries along – including Edna – and wrote volumes, although Louise couldn’t imagine what they found to document. Several of the ladies had brought books to read, and turns were taken reading them aloud in the evenings after the chores were completed.
The days passed a trifle more quickly for the women when it was their turn to help in the club’s kitchen with cooking the meals or cleaning up afterwards. However, the room wasn’t large enough to accommodate all of them at once. Another vied-for pastime was washing clothes. The owners of the establishment had granted the ladies permission to use the club’s electric washer – a luxury some of them had never seen – to keep what few clothes they had clean. This also helped to provide a much-needed relief from boredom.
Nineteen families, complete strangers, were being forced to live together for the duration; and the various parenting styles sometimes caused agitation. Some of the ladies were quite permissive and refused to believe their ‘little darlings’ could do anything wrong, while others screamed and yelled over the slightest infraction of the rules. Those times were a bit nerve racking, but for the most part, the days passed with relative calmness.
And then, there were the meals. The kind, wonderful ladies of the church had taken the ‘poor refugees’ under their wings, determined to provide them with sustenance for the tenure of their stay. Supplementing the emergency rations being distributed by the Red Cross, they took turns and came three times a day bringing various items for meals. The mothers quickly set up a rotating schedule to help with the cooking, and after each one had their turn, favorites were soon chosen. However…it was plain fare at its best. Lilly’s talent for making a scrumptious meal with varied ingredients proved quite welcome. Then there was Mrs. Geldhaus…but that was another matter. Louise sometimes wondered what the woman’s husband ever saw in her. The money musta been hers, more than one of the other ladies mumbled over the course of their stay, as a way to explain the mystery. Mr. Geldhaus, himself, was quite nice, and not bad looking. From bits and pieces learned from floating hearsay, they were a wealthy couple that had lost the bulk of their money in the crash – everything but the ‘attitude’ of the wealthy.
With no radio, the only news received from ‘outside’ came from the church ladies, or the truck drivers who delivered the rations. When the two-day-old newspaper had been brought, the refugees had been shocked to hear that all electric power had shut down in the beleaguered city, except for some emergency generators for the hospitals and WHAS. Everyone wondered the fate of friends and relatives they had left behind, having believed them to be warm, safe and dry in second-floor abodes. Now, the people ‘stranded’ miles from home had no idea if their loved ones had stayed, or had to vacate as well.
The truck drivers reported rumors, gossip, and ‘predictions’ such as the possibility of epidemics of typhoid or cases of pneumonia. This news caused Lilly quite a meltdown, as the family still had no idea as to the whereabouts of their beloved Sonny, and the girls were very relieved when their father had arrived shortly after. He had, as always, known just what to say and do to alleviate his wife’s fears.
The flood victims housed at the far away club felt so helpless and disconnected. One distraught woman, who had been worried sick over her brother and his family, had to be restrained from leaving to try and get back to Louisville.
The days stretched on and it seemed that the pendulum of their lives would never swing back to center again. It was an odd feeling…to be marooned so far away from all things familiar. Though their surroundings were for the most part opulent…it was like living in a ‘golden prison’, about which they felt a mixture of love and hate…
“You’re up early,” a voice broke into Louise’s reverie and she blinked several times to focus.
“Yeah…was cold, I guess,” she responded to Edna’s reflection in the mirror.
Edna smirked and rolled her eyes. Yawning as she shuffled into one of the stalls, she remarked over her shoulder, “Told ya she wouldn’t hold up her end. Wish I woulda bet money on it.”
Louise nodded ruefully. Checking her reflection once more, and staring disgustingly at the dress with its hideous black leaves and large, garish print, she retied the cloth belt to better fit her slender waist and buttoned the top button on her sweater. I’ll be glad to get my own dress back on, she grumbled silently.
Then with a shrug, she turned and headed out the door, calling over her shoulder, “Better hurry up, the ladies’ll be here soon with breakfast.”
“Daddy!” Louise called as she watched her beloved father walk through the door behind several of the other men, not long after breakfast. She noticed he seemed a little more tired than usual, and she figured the sleeping arrangements at the church were taking their toll on him.
Willis flashed a large grin at his daughter, his cheeks pushing his wire-rimmed glasses a bit higher on his face.
“Hello, Sweet Pea,” he murmured as she sailed into his arms for a hug.
As Louise’s arms surrounded her father, she shut her eyes, so glad to have him back among them again. He felt so good and solid, and filled the lonely space that always remained so empty while he was away. She noticed a bit of mist just resting on the outer fibers of his jacket and she mumbled, “Is it raining again?”
“Nah, just heavy fog,” he returned, his eyes closed as he cherished a moment of having his precious daughter in his arms.
When they pulled back to smile at one another, his grin turned into a confused frown.
“What’s this you’re wearing?” he asked as he indicated the oversized dress he’d never seen his daughter wear before.
Louise looked down with a grimace. “Oh this…my dress is in the wash. The church ladies…they gave us all some clothes to get us by – but after the vultures swooped in, this was all I could get.”
Willis grinned again and stepped back, motioning for her to turn around for his perusal. The style of the dress was that of the twenties, with the low hung waist and V-neck– and designed for a much older woman. “Seeing you in this sure makes me realize… soon you won’t be my Sweet Pea anymore. Someday you’ll leave me. You’ll get married and go off to make a home of your own with your husband, leaving your poor old Dad behind,” Willis lamented, albeit teasingly.
Louise grinned up at him and threw her arms around his neck, feeling his embrace close tight about her again. Turning her head, she whispered, “Daddy, I’ll always be your ‘Sweet Pea’…and you’ll always be my ‘Daddy’…no matter how old I get.” Pulling back again, she added with a twinkle, “Even when I’m an old married woman with six kids, I’ll still be your ‘Sweet Pea’…if you want me to.”
