The War Within (9 page)

George gave her a hard look and shook his head almost imperceptibly. Taking the hint, she zipped her lip and waited for him to explain his actions. She smoothed her dress with her hands after he abruptly jerked her upright.

“Guys, Meredith and I are going to take off.” He wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her close. “It’s time to check into one of those hotel rooms Steve has been bragging about all night. You’ve got my motor running, man.”

“Atta boy, Moser,” Steve said, his words slurred as he leaned heavily on Lois’s shoulder.

Lois struggled to remain upright under Steve’s weight. “I want a full report when we get back to base, Meredith, and don’t skimp on the details.”

“I’ll make sure she has plenty to tell you,” George said with a lecherous wink.

“What’s gotten into you?” Meredith asked in a fierce whisper after she and George moved out of everyone’s earshot.

“I was trying to protect your reputation.”

“By sullying it? Everyone thinks you and I are about to find a cheap hotel room and have sex.”

“I had to do it. I didn’t want you to call out to Nat.”

“Not you, too.” She pried his arm from around her waist. “I thought you said she was your friend.”

“She is. That’s why I was trying to protect her.”

“Why do you feel the need to protect her from me?”

“Not from you. From Lois and the others.”

“What do you mean?”

“Nat was headed to Suzy’s Bar, a place that’s off-limits to all military personnel. If she gets caught there or is simply seen going inside, it would be the end of her Army career.”

“Where’s the harm? It’s just a bar.”

“It’s not just
any
bar. We don’t have any bars like it in Racine, and I doubt you have any in Omaha, either.”

“What kind of bar is it?”

“Suzy’s caters to a certain clientele.” He chose his words carefully. “People…like Nat.”

“Oh.” She hadn’t known such places existed. What were they like? Were they really so different from any of the other bars she had been to? She bet Suzy’s was like no other place in the country. Maybe even the world. She longed to pay it a visit but knew such a thing could never happen. Not tonight. Not ever. “So you’ve heard the rumors about Robinson?”

“They aren’t rumors.”

As she had earlier that day, Meredith feared for Robinson’s future. And her safety. Since George was friends with several MPs, Meredith wondered if he had reported the information to them and it was just a matter of time before the net closed in. She doubted it. He sounded sure of himself but not judgmental.

“I meant it when I said Nat’s my friend. Friends keep each other’s secrets. She’s a good person and she’s always been good to me. I don’t care what she does or who she does it with.” He gave her a moment for his words to sink in, then he jerked his chin over her head, drawing her attention to the building directly behind her. The sign above the entrance read Lotus Blossom Hotel. A pink flower made of neon lights glowed from the roof several stories up.
Vacancy
flashed in the flower’s petals. “Is this place okay?”

Meredith’s heart sank. “Are you asking me to have sex with you so you’ll continue to keep Robinson’s secret?”

“Of course not,” he said with a flash of indignation. “I want to spend the night with you, Meredith, but not tonight and definitely not here.” He punctuated the comment with a sweet smile. “I did three months in country a while back, which means I qualified for a week of R&R. When my orders finally come through, I was hoping you could take a couple days’ leave and join me. I was hoping we could use the time to get better acquainted. Nothing has to happen then, either, unless you want it to.”

Meredith imagined seeing the wonders Japan, Taiwan, Singapore, the Philippines, Thailand, Hong Kong, or Malaysia had to offer, but she wondered what price she would have to pay for the privilege.

“Don’t answer me now,” he said hastily. “Just tell me you’ll think it over.”

“I will.”

He shoved his hands in his pockets, suddenly shy. “I chose this place because it’s all I can afford. I was planning on getting two rooms. One for you and one for me. I won’t get one for us until you ask me to, okay?”

Meredith felt something stir inside her. Like a dormant fire slowly sputtering to life.

“Okay.”

George held the door open for her, and they went inside. When the small, sweaty man behind the counter asked if they wanted to rent a room for the night or for the hour, Meredith looked away in embarrassment.

“We’ll take two rooms. For the night.” George paid the bill and accepted two keys. He dropped one key in her upraised palm and pocketed the other. Then he walked her to her room, a single on the third floor. “I’ll be right across the hall if you need me.”

He turned to leave, but she placed a hand on his arm so he’d linger a few moments longer.

“I had a wonderful time tonight.”

“So did I.” His face lit up as if he had been expecting bad news and had received the opposite. “Would you like to do it again sometime?”

She had already said so once, but he apparently needed confirmation. “Yes, I would.”

“Perhaps we could talk about it over breakfast. I know a place nearby that isn’t half bad. We could meet downstairs in the lobby tomorrow morning around eight.”

“That would be lovely.”

She tried to think of the proper way to say good night. A kiss felt like too much, a handshake not enough. She stood on her tiptoes and gave him a peck on the cheek. His beard stubble felt like sandpaper beneath her lips.

“Thank you for a wonderful evening.”

“You’re welcome.” He held a hand against the side of his face as if he had been burned. “I’ll see you in the morning.”

“Good night, George.”

He waited in the hall as she unlocked the door and turned on the flickering fluorescent overhead light. Only after she was safely inside with the security chain in place did he finally leave his post. She watched through the peephole as he stood staring at her door with a goofy smile on his face, then turned and entered his own room.

Her room was small and nondescript. A scuffed linoleum rug covered the floor. Its black and white diamond pattern led the way to the small bathroom, which contained a toilet, a cracked sink, and a claw-foot bathtub. A twin bed had been placed in the center of the room. A lime green chenille spread with a raised pink lotus design covered the bed. She tested the mattress with her hand. A bit firmer than she might have liked, but not too bad.

A black Bakelite table lamp and matching clock sat on the nightstand. An emerald and gold upholstered chair was angled toward the window, where gray metal blinds had been drawn to allow natural and artificial light to stream inside.

Meredith tossed her purse on the bed and dropped her small overnight bag on the floor. She had brought sleepwear and a change of clothes, but she wished she had thought to bring an extra pair of shoes. Her feet were killing her.

She kicked off her accursed heels, crossed the tiny room, and peered through the blinds. Car horns honked and bicycle bells chimed incessantly as groups of locals, sailors, and soldiers weaved their way in and out of traffic. The flow had seemed chaotic from street level. From her new vantage point, it looked almost balletic.

She raised the blinds and opened the window to get closer to the action. The clock read well past midnight, but she didn’t feel like sleeping. She wanted to rejoin the throng three floors below. She wasn’t supposed to do so without an escort, but she didn’t plan on venturing far. Maybe a block or two. No farther than the end of the street at most. Then she’d come back here to this cramped room and settle in for the rest of the night.

What was the worst that could happen?

*

Meredith clutched her purse with both hands as she slowly made her way up the street. Her heart broke a little each time she passed a child in ragged clothes or an adult with a missing limb and a pair of makeshift crutches. People young and old followed her with their eyes, their arms outstretched and their voices plaintive as they begged for spare change. Earlier, George had shielded her from this reality by placing himself on one side and an MP on the other while she and the other women walked between them in a makeshift safe zone. Now she was seeing the terrible toll the war was taking on the people the US military was trying to save. Time would tell if their efforts were worth the price being exacted.

Reason told her to turn around and retreat to her hotel, but she had thrown reason out the window the instant she had sneaked out of her room and crept down the hall with her shoes in her hand so she wouldn’t wake George. She suspected he would feel compelled to accompany her, but she didn’t think he would be made to feel welcome where she was going. She didn’t know if she would, either.

She slowed as she reached the end of the block. She cautiously turned left at the corner. The bar George had spoken about earlier loomed ahead. A discreet sign above the door read Suzy’s. Underneath the name of the bar were the words Members Only. Unlike the other nightclubs in the area, Suzy’s didn’t feature large windows and open doors that invited passersby to peer inside. The front door was closed and appeared to be locked, though Meredith could hear music and laughter coming from inside.

“Okay,” she whispered to herself. “You’ve had your fun. Now you can go back to your room.”

But her feet refused to obey.

Drawing closer, she watched as a woman approached from the opposite direction. The woman was tall with short, slicked-back hair. She was wearing jeans and a plain white T-shirt. With her small breasts and freckled face, she could have passed for a boy, but her small hands and slightly rounded hips gave her away. She smiled as she met Meredith’s gaze. “Going my way?” she asked in a thick Australian accent.

Meredith looked around to see if she saw anyone she knew. The coast was clear. Lois and the others were long gone and George was safely tucked into bed at the Lotus Blossom. Meredith squared her shoulders. “Yes, I am.”

The woman grinned. “This must be my lucky night.” She offered her arm. Meredith took it, thankful for the company. “I’m Kerry. And you are?”

Meredith froze, uncertain whether she should give her real name or concoct an alias. She decided against lying. What was the point? She was visiting Suzy’s just this once to satisfy her curiosity. Nothing more. After tonight, she didn’t plan on setting foot inside the place again. What harm could it do if she told someone who she was? “I’m Meredith.”

“I’m pleased to meet you, Meredith. I’ll make sure my subsequent questions aren’t nearly as hard to answer as my first,” Kerry said with a cheeky smile.

She rapped on the door five times in a rhythm that must have been code. A few seconds later, a panel in the door slid open and a pair of suspicious brown eyes filled the hole. Kerry said something in Vietnamese and the panel slid closed with a bang. Meredith heard a series of locks click. Then the door opened. Muted yellow light spilled onto the sidewalk. Meredith smelled cigarettes, sweat, beer, and perfume. The aroma could have been overpowering, but for some reason, she found it intoxicating.

“After you,” Kerry said.

All conversations seemed to cease the instant Meredith stepped across the threshold. She felt eyes crawling over her body, sizing her up and staring her down. She had never felt so out of place. All around her, women were being openly affectionate with each other. Kissing, dancing, holding hands. She had danced with her female friends in high school when the boys were too scared to give it a try, but those spins around the floor of the school gymnasium were nothing like what she was seeing now. She had danced with her friends to pass the time. These women seemed to be trying to make time stand still. She backed away, feeling like an intruder.

“I should go.”

“Why?” Kerry urged her forward. “You just got here.”

“I don’t even know why I came.”

Robinson materialized out of the shadows. “I think you were hoping I’d buy you a drink,” she said as she walked through a haze of cigarette smoke. She was wearing the same clothes Meredith had seen her sporting in Charlie’s, but they looked different on her now.
She
looked different, though Meredith couldn’t figure out why.

“You two know each other?” Kerry asked after she greeted Robinson with a kiss on the lips followed by a warm hug.

“You could say that,” Robinson said.

“I should have known. You always end up with the most beautiful women.” Kerry replaced her look of disappointment with a sunny smile. Then she took Meredith’s hand and kissed it. “It was nice meeting you, Mer. If you ever get tired of the good old US of A, don’t hesitate to take a trip Down Under. Good night, Robbie.”

She and Robinson exchanged nods that seemed to speak volumes—to them, anyway. Meredith had no idea what message they were attempting to impart to each other.

Kerry paid a quick visit to the bartender, then headed to a table on the far side of the room, where Lt. Col. Daniels was sitting with a buxom blonde perched on her lap and a skeptical look on her face.

Meredith turned back to Robinson. “Kerry’s fun. I like her.”

“She likes you, too. Then again, she always falls for the new girls.”

“Thank you for the compliment, but I wouldn’t call myself a regular.” Robinson’s unblinking stare was unnerving. Meredith wanted to show she wasn’t affected by her or the unfamiliar environment. “How about that drink?” she asked with all the bravado she could muster. She took a step toward the bar, but Robinson didn’t move.

“The beer’s warm and the drinks are watered down.”

“Then why do you come?”

“Because I can be myself here.”

“And I can’t?”

Robinson scowled. “You don’t belong here, Meredith.”

“Lt. Col. Daniels seems to think so. Isn’t that what the two of you were speculating last month?”

Some of the wind seemed to go out of Robinson’s sails. “You heard us?”

“Loud and clear. You haven’t been as circumspect as you thought.” Robinson’s face went pale beneath her tan. Meredith rushed to attempt to allay her fears. “I haven’t said anything, but Lois is starting to spread rumors about you.”