Three hours before flight time on the following morning, Andrew and Ruby were seated in the hotel dining room with a huge silver pot of coffee in front of them. Ruby, badly hung over, spoke. “Andrew, I’m sorry about last night. I don’t know why I ... did ... acted the way I did. I’ll try to make it up to you.”
Andrew poured the coffee with a steady hand. “Put a lot of sugar and cream in it,” he said in a fatherly tone. “It’s okay.”
“No, it isn’t okay. Why didn’t you stop me from drinking so much wine? I’m not used to drinking, and I hadn’t eaten anything. I ruined everything.”
“I did try to stop you, but you insisted. I suppose I could have administered an uppercut, but that’s not my style. We need to talk, though. You acted as if our wedding was all a mistake. Do you still feel that way? If you do, we can eat our breakfast and then I’ll take you back to Monroe Street. You can file for an annulment. You said a lot of things I didn’t understand, but the rule of thumb is, when a person is drunk, he says what he means.”
“What did I say?” Ruby whispered.
“You really went to town on me, both personally and as a marine. You kept saying I didn’t understand and that you were sorry. And then you said something I still can’t figure out. You said it wasn’t supposed to hurt so much. Would you mind explaining that to me?”
Ruby sipped her coffee. She willed it to stay in her stomach.
“I’m sorry, Andrew, I don’t remember. I can’t even begin to imagine what I meant. I suppose I was apologizing for drinking so much. What started me off?” she asked hesitantly.
Andrew grinned. “I know exactly what happened and I’m taking the blame. I forgot to carry you over the threshold, and you let me have it with both barrels. It went downhill from there. So, if anyone is sorry, it’s me. Which brings me back to what I said in the beginning; if you think we made a mistake, it’s not too late to rectify it.”
“It wasn’t your fault, Andrew. We’re both sorry. No, I don’t want to back out. If ... if you feel it’s a mistake . . .”
“Hell, no. There is one thing, though, Ruby, I want your promise that you won’t say degrading things about the marines or the Corps. It’s not just me that’s an officer, we’re an officer. You’re an extension of me, and what you do and say reflects on me. You have to understand that.”
“Of course. Last night was . . . it’s over. You don’t have to worry about me.” An extension of him? She wasn’t sure she liked that at all.
Seated by the window, because Andrew preferred being by the aisle, Ruby fastened her seat belt. Her heart thumped to a cadence that would have pleased any drill instructor. She planted her feet firmly on the floor of the plane, knowing she would brake with her feet and then sprag, a term the children of Barstow used when they were going downhill too fast in a wagon.
Ruby looked around. No one appeared as frightened as she was. Weary travelers, military personnel, and even small children were settling themselves as though going for a Sunday outing. Mind over matter, she told herself.
“Think about how much faster we’re going to arrive by flying versus taking a bus or a train. If you relax, you’ll enjoy the flight,” Andrew said, an authoritative tone in his voice which Ruby found herself resenting.
“You know, Andrew, it’s okay for me to be anxious and nervous. I’ve never flown before. It’s not as if I’m whining or complaining. I’m trying to make the best of this. There are times when ... like now, when I have to handle it in my own way, and I will handle this fear.”
“I’m only trying to help. That’s what husbands are for. Of course, I’m not really your husband ... in the true sense of the word,” he whispered. “I hope tonight will be better.”
“I’m sure it will be,” Ruby said quietly.
Amazing. I’m still alive, Ruby thought as she walked down the steps of the plane.
“Wait by the door, Ruby, while I get the bags. We’ll take a cab to the base. This is our last leg, and then we’ll be in our new home.”
Ruby’s stomach lurched as she walked to the door of the airport. Everyone seemed to be wearing smiles, happy that they were there meeting people—parents, grandparents, and friends. An elderly lady smiled at Ruby as she dragged her heavy case through the door. Ruby rushed to hold the door and offered to carry the bag to the curb. She smiled then, a smile that embraced the woman like a warm spring day.
“Thank you, my dear, it was kind of you to help me.”
“Can you manage now?” Ruby asked anxiously. The woman nodded.
Andrew came up behind Ruby and hissed in her ear, “I thought I told you to stay by the door. Inside doesn’t mean out here helping some decrepit old lady who should have someone else helping her, not you. I told you, Ruby, you wear my rank the same as I do, remember that!”
“Are you telling me you wouldn’t have helped that old lady?” Ruby snapped in return.
“Oh, for Christ’s sake. Forget it, just forget it, Ruby.”
“No, I won’t. Do you want to fight right here? If you do, I’m ready. I don’t like your attitude, Andrew. You have no compassion, and I’m beginning to wonder if you have any feelings.”
“People are staring at us, Ruby. I don’t like that. I’m wearing my uniform and my rank, and like I told you, you’re wearing them, too, but yours are invisible.”
Ruby deflated under Andrew’s tongue-lashing. She waved to the old lady, her own face miserable, her eyes hot and prickly.
The taxi ride to the base was made in silence. Andrew sat, stone-faced, the palms of his hands flat on his knees. Ruby cowered in the corner, her stomach railing its distress. The drumbeat in her head seemed to be increasing its tempo. She wanted to remember this ride, to watch the miles go by. She wanted all these memories to stitch into what she called her memory sampler so that someday she could tell her children how it was. All she could see was a blur of trees and a flat highway and the back of the cab driver’s head. She felt like a sick, wounded puppy. A sick, wounded puppy who needed love and compassion and a kind word.
What seemed like a long time later, Ruby felt herself being jolted forward when the taxi driver pulled up to the gate. Andrew showed his pass and the corporal on duty saluted smartly. Ruby blinked at her husband’s snappy return salute. She wondered if she was supposed to salute, since she was wearing her husband’s rank. She didn’t realize she’d voiced the thought aloud until Andrew muttered, “That’s the dumbest thing I ever heard come out of your mouth, Ruby.” The look of pure disgust was almost more than Ruby could bear. She shriveled into herself.
Nothing in the world could have prepared Ruby for her first sight of her new home. The sick feeling in the pit of her stomach rushed upward so fast, she had to clamp her hand over her mouth. Andrew strode forward, but she hung back, trying to take in the line of mean-looking apartments that were stuck together. She looked for trees; there were none. The few shrubs around were straggly and unkempt, nothing more than naked sticks waving in the wind. Her eye fell on a rusty red scooter minus its front wheel on the front lawn. A few feet away were equally rusty roller skates, long forgotten, as though their owner departed and didn’t care if they were left behind.
“Are you planning on standing out here all day?” Andrew called over his shoulder. “I thought you wanted me to carry you over the threshold!”
Ruby’s feet moved of their own volition. She thought she saw a curtain move in the apartment next to theirs. She wanted to cry.
Ruby watched as Andrew thrust open the door. He dumped the bags and whirled to pick her up. The next thing she knew, she was inside a square box of a room. The door closed with a loud bang, and she was on her feet almost immediately. She looked around, her eyes registering disbelief at what she saw. Andrew appeared oblivious as he bent down for the bags he carried into what she surmised was the bedroom.
Ruby fought the scream building in her throat. She couldn’t live here. She didn’t want to live here. Not in this ugly, mean-looking place. The windows were bare
and so dirty it was impossible to see the outside world through them. There was no sign of a broom or dustpan.
Ruby turned to see the kitchen. It was as ugly as the rest of the apartment. As first glance the stove looked hopeless. She knew the refrigerator was supposed to be white—they didn’t come in any other color—but it looked more like it was yellow and gray. She slammed the door so hard, the window rattled.
Linoleum that defied any color description caught in Ruby’s heel. She stumbled and then righted herself without touching anything. She looked down and gasped. The floor covering was cracked and bubbled with large chunks missing in the middle. Crayon marks in the form of a hopscotch pattern graced the floor. With her foot, Ruby pried open the sink door and ran screaming when a family of rodents ran for cover. Shivering uncontrollably, Ruby ran straight into her husband’s arms. “Mice!” she gasped. “A whole family of them!”
“We’ll set some traps. Listen, Ruby, I have to check in. I’ll be back in a couple of hours. Why don’t you see what you can do with this place? Housing must have screwed up. The apartments are always spotless.” His tone was cheerful when he said, “Fix it up like you did the other places you lived. You girls know how to do that. I’ll see you in a little while. I’ll bring something to eat so you won’t have to worry about dinner.”
Ruby’s eyes were wild as she watched her husband leave. Fix it up! How? Dear God, tell me how.
Her answer arrived twenty minutes later in the form of her next-door neighbor.
Ruby flew to the door, thinking, praying, that it was Andrew returning to help her. When she saw the smiling face of her neighbor, the tears that had been held in check spilled over.
The woman held out her arms and Ruby fell into them, sobbing and sniffling. “I’m sorry.” She gulped. “This is an awful way to meet someone for the first time. It’s just that this ... this ...”
“Is so overwhelming.” Her neighbor laughed then, a sound of pure mirth. “Actually, it’s downright disgusting,” she said, looking around. “You got here before the cleaning crew. Not to worry. Soap and water, some paint, and it will be fine. Trust me.” She smiled. “I’m Dixie Sinclaire, and I know you must be Mrs. Blue. My husband said he’d heard you just got married.” It was all said in one breath.
Ruby grinned, feeling better immediately. She liked her new neighbor.
She was plump but not fat, and she had the most cheerful countenance Ruby had ever seen. Her eyes sparkled and her crisp, dark curls crowned her round head like a halo. She was pretty, her flashing smile her best feature; it warmed and welcomed at the same time. When she talked, her hands moved constantly to accentuate or make her point. She was smaller than Ruby, coming only to her shoulder.
“Well,” she said matter-of-factly, “I guess we better get started, and the sooner you get out of those fancy duds, the quicker we’ll get this place into shape. While you change, I’ll get the rest of the girls. By dinnertime, this place will be spick-and-span. We have this routine we go through when a new wife comes on base. We pool our talents, and when your husband arrives, he thinks you did it all. That makes for happiness. Of course, this place is a bit worse than the usual. See you in a few minutes.”
There were five of them all together. They arrived with buckets, brooms, soap, and cleanser. Two huge trash cans stood in the middle of the floor and were filled almost immediately. Inside of ten minutes Ruby saw that Dixie was a human dynamo as she directed, ordered, and pointed, never missing a beat in her own chores. “View this as the ultimate challenge!” she crowed over and over as she sloshed hot soapy water on the buckling kitchen floor.
Ruby beamed from ear to ear. What a wonderful bunch of women. Not only were they helping her, they were using their own soap products and offering to lend her anything she needed until things were made right. Ruby accepted graciously when she was told by a redhead named Monica that in two weeks she’d be doing the same thing for a new family moving in four doors away.
“We have to band together,” Christine said happily. “We baby-sit and shop for one another. It’s the only way we can function in the military chaos. It’s our job to make things easy for our husbands.”
“What do they do,” Ruby asked curiously, “while we’re doing all this?”
The girls stopped as one and stared at Ruby. She sensed she’d made a gigantic mistake. “What I mean is, what . . . how do ...”
Dixie rushed into the impending breach. “What they do is play cards, drink martinis and beer, and take us for granted. Of course, they appreciate us, if that’s what you’re asking. It’s an unwritten thing, if you know what I mean. They’re officers!” she said, trying to make her point, her arms waving wildly.
“I’m new at this. I don’t know anyone who is married to someone in the military, so if I foul up, bring me up short. I don’t want to do anything to embarrass my husband or you girls. I see where I’m going to need a lot of help,” Ruby said ruefully.
“That’s what we’re here for. Ruby, you will make friends in the service that you will have all your life. Sometimes we’re better than a blood family. If your man is in for the long haul and gets transferred tomorrow, say, why, who knows? Six years down the road you might meet one of us at some other base. It’s like that. Look, you’ll get used to it. We have some real nice parties, especially over the holidays, and in the spring and summer we have cookouts. Sometimes it’s wonderful, sometimes it’s damn near perfection.”
“And other times it’s devastating, like when you get transferred and have to leave friends and go through this all over again,” said the young woman named Christine. “Tomorrow we’ll requisition new linoleum for you. And a paint job. But that doesn’t mean it will happen in the next few days.
“Jane,” Christine said happily, “knows how to make slipcovers and she’s taught us all how to put on the cording. This ... this furniture that came over on the ark is going to look brand-new once we get chintz covers on it. Inside of a couple of weeks this little place will be homey and comfortable. Trust us. Oh, Monica is a real whiz when it comes to drapes and curtains. We pooled our money and bought a secondhand sewing machine.”
Ruby felt better immediately.
“One good thing,” Dixie said, beaming, “is that our whole row of apartments gets the morning sun in the kitchen. It’s so nice to have breakfast and to kaffeeklatch in a sunny kitchen.”
Three hours later, Sue, a sunny blonde from Orlando, Florida, said, “Welcome to Camp Lejune, Ruby Blue!”
The girls, all around Ruby’s age, hugged her, promising to be lifelong friends.
“Thank you. I’m glad to be here.” Ruby realized she meant every word. She was startled a second later when the phone shrilled to life. She looked at the girls, her jaw dropping as they broke into peals of laughter.
“Bet you didn’t even know you had a phone, huh?” Monica chortled. Ruby shook her head.
“Well, you do. It’s the first thing that happens in housing. An officer needs to have a phone. Since you’re new, I’d say it must be your husband.” Ruby rushed to pick it up. She almost laughed aloud when the girls raised their fingers to their lips to signal secrecy.
“What am I doing? Uh, I’m ... cleaning. Two more hours? No, that’s not a problem. Sandwiches will be fine, Andrew. Okay, I’ll see you in two hours.”
Dixie clapped her hands gleefully. “Good, now we can adjourn to my place for coffee. And you are not having sandwiches for dinner. We have enough dishes for you and we’ve already cooked your dinner. I made bread early this morning, so you get homemade bread from me. Monica made a salad. Her salads have everything, even tiny bits of real crisp bacon. Christine made a meat loaf and the gravy is to die for. Sue made you an apple pie, and Gertie made her string-bean dish with almonds and batter-dipped onions and also the scalloped potatoes. We chipped in for a bottle of wine, very domestic, but still good. Did I forget anything?” she asked the small group.
Ruby swallowed past the lump in her throat, her eyes swimming in te
ars. “I don’t know how to thank you. Without you, this all would have been a real disaster. I think ... no, I know I’m going to love it here,” she said sincerely.
While the girls gathered up their cleaning tools and supplies, Dixie took Ruby aside. “I think we’re going to be good friends, Ruby. I don’t know why, but I think we’re both cut from the same bolt of cloth, as my mother would say.”
Ruby hugged Dixie. “Yes, we’re going to be wonderful friends.”
Ruby had the table set, the meat loaf warming in the clean oven, and the salad and vegetables in the refrigerator. The tidy, neat bedroom was made up with linens and scented candles the girls had brought. The radio was plugged in and playing softly. She felt a small thrill of excitement as she stripped off her work clothes and put on a fresh dress. Later she’d take a bath so she’d be fresh and clean for . . . for her first experience with . . . sex.
She poked around the kitchen for another ten minutes before Andrew walked through the door.
“Whew!” he said, slapping at his head. “I knew you were good, but I didn’t know you were a miracle worker. This is great, Ruby. How’d you do it all? Is that supper I smell? C’mon, how’d you do it?”
“The neighbors! They were wonderful, Andrew. I could never have done it myself. In a few days I’ll have this place as nice as theirs. It’s meat loaf and a lot of good things. Apple pie, too.”
“Guess we won’t be needing these,” he said, tossing a paper bag with sandwiches on the counter.
“I’ll eat them for lunch tomorrow.” Ruby laughed. “I feel better, and I had coffee with the girls and Dixie in her kitchen.”
Andrew grinned from ear to ear. His tie was off now, his jacket folded neatly over the back of the chair. Ruby thought he never looked more handsome than at this moment. She felt stirrings she’d felt only with Calvin.
Seasons of Her Life Page 22
