The Future Homemakers of America (20 page)

I made Crystal wait outside in the street. Perry Kaiser had declined when we asked him to accompany us, said he wasn't allowed out on a day of national mourning.

‘He's history,’ Crystal said.

Betty was nearly done when I heard Crystal whistle. She could do it with two fingers, so piercing they probably could hear her in Laredo. Vern taught her the trick of it when she was seven years old. Didn't matter how hard I tried, I never could do it.

Ed must have bounded up those stairs.

I said, ‘Let's go, Betty.’

He was a sight. Had a two-day beard and a real sloppy shirt. When I think how sharp those boys were turned out when they were in the military. Their belt buckle wasn't in line with their fly, somebody'd want to know why. But those days were long gone for Ed.

He sat down and put his head in his hands, started weeping. I braced myself for Betty to put her bag down, take off her coat. Start some big forgiveness scene. What I knew of her, she wasn't gonna walk out on a broken man. But she just said, ‘Ed, I'm leaving. There's only so much a person can take.’

He dropped down on his knees and sobbed and sobbed. Great big Ed Gillis, built like a meat-locker.

And I have to hand it to her. She never looked back. When it came to it, if there was anybody liable to go back in there, try to offer him a word of comfort, it was me. I did so hate to see a man cry.

52

‘I don't intend imposing on you,’ she said. It was a week since they moved in, but I wasn't chafing to get rid of them. Betty worked eight till four at the Jitney Jungle, brought in all kinds of goods they had on sale, had to be eaten or dumped. And by the time I got home, she always had dinner fixed. Made me realise what a thing it must be to have a wife. She didn't just serve up stew or pie. We had fresh-baked stickies and fudge and a great thing she made with black cherry jello and shredded pineapple.

I had just started as junior bridal consultant at Clancey Reed and it was hard work. I had so much to learn. All the silver patterns and the porcelain and the linen. Last thing I wanted to do was come home and start folding laundry and frying food, and with Betty staying I didn't have to lift a finger.

Crystal was getting on okay with Sherry, too.

‘How come I never got a brother or a sister?’ she said to me one time.

‘So you could be raised in the lap of luxury,’ I said, ‘like a regular little princess.’

‘Right,’ she said. ‘And when did that idea start to go horribly wrong?’

53

Betty had made one of my favourites: spaghetti with canned turkey-chunks and Velveeta cheese. Even Crystal ate it. Under the influence of Sherry Gillis she had quit being a strict vegetarian and become a strict atheist instead, which was a deal easier on the cook.

‘It's our last night,’ Betty said, ‘Ed's gone back to Indiana, try to straighten himself out, so we'll go home tomorrow. Leave you kind folks in peace.’

I said, ‘How are you gonna manage?’

“We'll get by,’ she said. ‘I've put my name down for extra hours at the JJ, Friday nights. And when I'm not working, I'll find plenty to do. Dressmaking. Babysitting Delta and Dawn.’

I said, ‘Well, if you're sure. But I'm gonna miss your company.’

‘Likewise,’ she said. ‘Now, Crystal, whatever is that you're studying?’

‘Chambers of the heart,’ Crystal said. She was tracing a picture out of her science book. ‘We cut up real hearts today, from lambs.’

My kid had a good head on her shoulders. Planning to go to college and then be a nurse to a veterinarian. The word squeamish meant nothing to that child. She'd pulled a thorn outta Mrs Kaiser's dog's foot one time and she couldn't have been more than thirteen.

Betty shuddered. ‘Honey, why don't you study something nice?’ she said. ‘You're handy. You could make lampshades, or be a fashion designer. Sherry too. You're both kinda artistic.’

I said, ‘What's with you and Ed? You divorcing him?’

‘No,’ she said. ‘I'm giving him his chance.’

I said, ‘He won't change. In twenty years what did he do? He got worse. Next twenty years what'll he do? He'll get worse still.’

‘I guess,’ she said.

She was clipping pictures of the president's funeral for her album, sighing over the ones of Mrs Kennedy in her black veil. ‘Me and Jackie,’ she said. ‘Both alone, starting out in our new lives.’

54

In ‘64, Lois and Herb moved to Albany. They had finally run out out of schools for Kirk in Rensselaer County so they were trying some special place, had new theories about child development.

‘The method is,’ Lo said, ‘let him do as he pleases. His teacher says there's no such thing as a problem child. Only problem adults too uptight to allow him to express himself.’

I said, ‘How much are you paying this person to insult you?’

‘I'd pay double,’ she said, ‘because it's working. He's quietened down. Learned to read. Never thought I'd see the day. And you should see some of the fishing flies he's tied. Real works of art. His teacher says a lot of the kids she gets are geniuses almost.’

Herb was selling furniture. She said, ‘His heart's not in it, of course. Riles him to see what folk are willing to spend on rubbish. All I hear is
veneer, veneer, veneer.
He sells a person a veneer sideboard, he feels bad about it. Like he'd robbed them at gunpoint. He's gonna stick at it, though. Kirk's settled. Sandie's doing great in school. And he knows better than to upset things for me now.’

Lois was working as secretary to a realtor. She still didn't know shorthand, but she'd talked her way in somehow.

‘Nothing to it,’ she said. ‘I swear, they could train a monkey to do what I do.’

I said, ‘How many fingers are you using to type?’

‘Why, what's it to you?’ she said. ‘Well, okay, two, but I do my letters while Mr Holladay is out showing properties. He comes back, letters are done, coffee's on, and I'm wriggling my ass round his office, watering his cheese plant and generally making him feel like God Almighty. Besides, I improve his letters. When it comes to stringing words together, he don't know shit from Shinola. Anyway, what's new with you? You got yourself any dates yet?’

I said, ‘I never see any men I want to date.’

‘That's because you're looking in the wrong places,’ she said. ‘Let's go on a trip some time. I'll find you a hundred men. Let's go to Chesapeake Beach Resort. There're dance floors and casinos and everything. Guys looking for a little fun.’

I said, ‘You are a forty-year-old married woman. When are you gonna stop this?’

‘When they certify me dead,’ she said.

I said, ‘I would love to see you, Lo. Forget looking for men. I'd love us all to get together again, like we did for Gayle's wedding.’

‘Well,’ she said. ‘I wouldn't mind Gayle. But not Betty, please!’

Betty said, ‘Gayle, yes. Lois, no. She wears me out. And if that child of hers is a genius, I'm the Fiesta Queen.’

Gayle said maybe. But only if Ray was deployed, because she hated to be apart from him any more than she had to. And only if it didn't cost big bucks. And only if she could get time off from the Silver Moon. As soon as Ray's tour in paradise was through, she had hurried back to her old life in Jacksonville.

Lance and Audrey were on the move again.

‘We're heading east,’ she wrote.

US presence at Truxton is being reduced, and Lance got orders to Halby, Norfolk, so we'll be back on familiar territory. Lance informs me we're getting a sail-boat for weekends. Could be the greatest fun if the boys ever find their sea-legs.

We have Mikey and Lance Jnr in a very good school near here, so they are going to stay on and board. It's what you have to do if you want your child to get a decent education and mix with the right people. Also, it teaches them independence. It will take a lot of pressure off me, too. I am so busy with Red Cross and the Air Force Aid Society and a hundred other things, sometimes all I have time to do is come home from my lunch appointment, change for cocktails and run out again.

As soon as we're settled at Halby I intend having Kath over for coffee. Did I tell you I'm getting tennis lessons?

Audrey was as good as her word. By the time I phoned Kath to wish her a happy birthday, she had been honoured with afternoon tea at the Lieutenant Colonel Rudmans.

‘Very fancy,’ she said. ‘Great big place they've got and that's only the two of them. Those boys are hardly there. Beautiful wood floors, and curtains right down to the ground. They've spent some money.’

I said, ‘How's Audrey looking?’

‘Lovely,’ she said. ‘She wears her hair pinned, up now. She's got a French pleat. And you should see the carry on for a cup of tea. All different kinds, she was offering, didn't mean a thing to me. I told her, “Do you come to see my bungalow, you'll get a Co-Op teabag.” She laughed. But that was all silver. The tray and the teapot and so forth. Nice china slop-bowl. Slices of lemon with a little fork. Talk about creating washing-up. But of course, she has a woman to do all that.’

I said, ‘She's left us far behind, Kath.’

‘Well,’ she said, ‘she's still nice to me. And I tell you what, Peggy. Who'd swap places with her? I wouldn't. Making fancy dinners for people she don't even know. And she never sees her boys. They're away at some school. Imagine that? Having kiddies then paying strangers to see their smiling faces of a morning?’

Kath's School of Motoring was going well. ‘I'm getting known,’ she said. ‘Ladies a speciality.’

I said, ‘You making enough to think of taking another trip over here?’

‘No,’ she said. ‘Not yet a while. Everything I make, I have to put back in. And if I go on holiday, that's not just what I'm spending. I'm not earning neither. But you could come here, you know? You could have my zed-bed and I could borrow May's Lilo for Crystal.’

I said, ‘Can't do it, Kath. Crystal's in her senior year, and I have my brides to consider.’

Afternoon Tea — Guidelines for Young

Officers’ Wives

BY AUDREY J. RUDMAN

Guests should wear their nicest afternoon dress, a gay hat and white gloves. It is polite to stay for at least half an hour, but do not linger beyond three-quarters. On leaving, the convention is to say, ‘I must be going. Thank you so much.’

It is quite acceptable for a junior officer's wife to repay her luncheon and dinner obligations with lighter repasts, in keeping with her budget. Use your loveliest tablecloth. Have fresh flowers on the table. In winter, candles may be lit. Coloured candles are sometimes seen, but white are in better taste.

Offer small fancy cakes, plain cookies, and tiny sandwiches, with a choice of fillings. Meat paste or cucumber are always acceptable. The service of tea is presided over by the ranking officer's wife. This courtesy should be extended to the CO's wife, if she cares to pour.

55

If you asked me to pick out a silver pattern for myself, I think I'd have chosen Buttercup. Or maybe Chantilly. But when I had a bride come into the registry, I couldn't allow my own tastes to intrude.

You could tell things about a girl from her pattern. Whether she was the retiring type or more outgoing. After a while I got so I could spot a Chrysanthemum girl soon as she walked through the door. Many of my San Antonio girls had Repoussé because that was what their great-gramma had had. But in Dallas I met a different attitude. Girls there just wanted the best. Silver, crystal, china, linen. They went for the big price-tags, and I was happy to help.

I moved there after Crystal enrolled for the diploma of veterinary nursing.

I said, ‘Would it bug you? Me moving to Dallas too?’

‘It's a big city,’ she said. ‘Just as long as you don't have me tailed.’

Betty said she didn't know how I could bear to live in such a blood-stained place, but I loved it and I loved my work. I never missed a day. Never got sick. And in the morning I was always first in, checking the cleaners hadn't left scuffs on the carpet or fingerprints on my beautiful silver.

The only thing would have made me even happier was if my own flesh and blood had shown the least interest in choosing a pattern. I could have started collecting pieces for her, with my employee discount, and there were some new patterns coming in, from Copenhagen, Denmark, I thought she'd have loved, having such modern tastes, but she turned her nose up at the whole bridal thing. The only kinda knives Crystal was interested in was scalpel knives.

‘Tell her to take the Face-Lift course,’ Lois said. ‘And remind her of all the kindness I showed her when she was a child. I don't know about you, Peg, but I'm about ready to start calling in some of the gratitude we're owed. We still on for Chesapeake Beach?’

We were. Me, Lois, Gayle and no brats. Betty didn't want to come anyhow. She was busy with her Avon cosmetics, bringing fragrance and beauty to the homemakers of Converse.

But our weekend never happened, because President Lyndon Johnson bombed North Vietnam, and Ray Flagg went MIA when his battalion landed at a place called Da Nang.

Gayle phoned me. She said, ‘He's dead, Peggy. I know it.’

In my heart I knew it too, or at least I thought better for her to be prepared for it. But of course what I said was, ‘Maybe not, honey. He might turn up.’

Fool thing to say.

It was October before they found him. Identified him by his dog-tag.

Gayle had already left Camp Lejeune. Couldn't bear the sight of all those Marines getting ready to ship out. She was back in Greensboro, slinging hash. Wondering what to do with the rest of her life.

I talked her into coming south for Thanksgiving. I guess I had my own motives, it being my first holiday without Crystal, but Gayle needed a place to go. She had Flagg in-laws and Jackson in-laws, and a thousand kin of her own, but there didn't sound to be a charitable human being among them.

I sent her a ticket into Dallas-Fort Worth and then we drove on down to San Antonio with a baked ham and a Sara Lee All-Butter Pecan Coffee Cake. We were invited to Betty's.