Excerpt
They walked hand in hand back into the Rat Trap. Before they reached the table where their friends were, the woofs and howls began. Jeff was a little annoyed. He put his arm around Beth’s shoulder, then led her in a different direction. They sat alone in a secluded booth away from all the people that knew them, and talked more about their lives. For the first time ever, when he was with a girl, he was really with that girl. Jeff wondered if it was possible to fall in love at first sight. She drank cola, as he downed beer, and smoked one cigarette after another. Beth was all he saw, or heard, and she fascinated him. She talked about the farm that her parents, and grandparents before them, owned. They had a small herd of beef cattle. She’d owned a horse while she was growing up, a paint named Piggy. It looked just like the one that Little Joe, the cute cowboy on that new TV show rode. Her mother owned the local Kountry Kitchen, a local breakfast and sandwich shop that also sold some groceries. She had two brothers. John was in Laos, but her baby brother died as an infant.

"Well, Jeff, I’ve just been going on and on about my life. Tell me about yourself. Do you have brothers and sisters? Have you lived in Florida all your life?"

"I’ve lived in Florida before, but not all my life. My dad’s an Air Force Colonel so I’ve lived all over the world. I love America, but France is my second home. I was born there in 1942. My aunt, and my grandparents still live in Bordeaux. It’s a seaport in south west France. That’s where my parents met. Dad was there in the Army, Air Corps Division, before being shipped out to Italy. My mother was a French war bride. I didn’t meet my dad until I was a little over two years old. They never had any more kids. Guess having me did both of them in."

"What? You seem so nice." Beth was enthralled with this world traveled young man.

"Yeah, I’m nice alright. But spoiled rotten. My father knocked the crap outta me whenever I didn’t jump to attention, and my mother over compensated. I learned pretty young to be respectful, to stay out of the old man’s way, and to stay close to Maman’s apron strings."

"Maman?"

"That’s French for Mom."

"Oh, gee I should have remembered that from high school French. But, don’t you think all parents and kids bump heads? I mean, Daddy would lay down the law with John and me. We’d mess up. John’d get paddled. Then I’d put this certain pouty look on my face, and get away with it every time. Well, not every time. He didn’t spank me, but he stayed mad when I decided to leave the farm to come down here and marry Bruce."

"I think I like your dad." Jeff didn’t know why he’d said that.

"Do you like yours?" Beth asked.

"Yes, I like my father. He means well. I just never know where the Colonel stops, and my dad begins. I, uh haven’t seen him in a while."

"Why is that? Did you have a falling out?"

"No, uh uh. Dad’s in a place called Viet Nam. He’s there as an advisor. About thirty-two hundred of them are over there now. Doesn’t seem like it’s been that many years since he got back from Korea. My mother is hoping now that Kennedy’s in office, he’ll consider withdrawal. I doubt that will happen since Vice President Johnson advised him that an increase in aid to South Viet Nam is necessary."

"John is in Laos. Oh, I already told you that, silly me, anyway he’s mentioned Viet Nam in his letters, but he really doesn’t say much. I try to keep up with the TV news, but it’s hard. Like in Laos, first one Prince is in power, then the other. I can’t even pronounce their names. All I know for sure is the Soviets support the Pathet Lao and their guerrilla warfare, and we’re supplying the right wing forces. When it’s communism against democracy, it’s never a good thing. We keep hoping that we’ll hear something from John. So far, not a word. Between that, the cold war, the space race, and the threat of ‘the bomb’, I get so scared."

"Don’t be scared Beth. That’s why we’re here." Jeff could hardly believe he was talking to a beautiful female with a brain in her head.

Beth admired the handsome airman sitting across from her who could hold a conversation not involving talk about getting into her pants.

Trina and Phil were ready to go. They stopped by the booth where Beth and Jeff were sitting to ask if she needed a ride home. Beth got up to leave. It didn’t occur to her to invite Jeff over to Trina’s. She was naïve in the ways of the grown up world.