The story of a young wife's visit to see her husband off to the Pacific War Zone in World War II.
Love UDT Style
Jerri Blair
This story is lovingly dedicated to my mother and father and based on family tales of life during World War II when my dad was a Navy “frogman,” as members of the Underwater Demolition Teams were called. My parents joked for years about my mother’s trip to visit my father in Fort Pierce before he took off to the Pacific. This story is fictional, but I must admit is based on family lore.
As Annalea stepped off of the Greyhound bus at the depot in Fort Pierce, she glanced around uncertainly. She wasn't used to travelling on her own. She’d learned only the day before that there would be no bus on which she could get passage to Ft. Pierce anytime that week except that very day. The schedule had been reduced because of gas rationing necessary to help the boys out on the front lines. Every American knew that personal sacrifices were a necessary part of the war effort. It was such a little thing compared to what American men were sacrificing on the field of battle to defeat the horrors perpetrated by the evil Axis. She was very much aware of those sacrifices because her husband was one of the thousands of American men headed to the front.
Her husband, Robert, had been stationed out in the boonies at an underwater demolition team post, training other young men to ship out to the South Pacific before he was deployed himself. Annalea had been terrified when she heard that her husband would be leaving the relative safety of the training facility for war torn beaches halfway around the world. She shivered with fear every time she listened to the news on the radio about all of the terrible things that were happening, knowing that soon he would be there, right in the middle of the horror, in harm's way.
Robert was expecting her to arrive the next day, and there had been no way for her to contact him and let him know she would be early. She looked up and down the street and finally sighted the hotel that he’d told her would have a room booked for her. She sighed with relief and walked toward the hotel, attracting looks and appreciative whistles from the many soldiers on the busy street. She blushed as if on cue, but she smiled inwardly, secretly pleased at the reactions of the men. She was a beautiful woman, used to male attention, but it always lifted her spirits when she knew that someone considered her attractive. She walked with her shoulders squared and her head high, her black leather heels clicking on the pavement. She wore a black dress with tasteful burgundy trim and a burgundy feather hat with a plume hanging down the side of her head atop her cascading wavy brown hair. It was Robert's favorite outfit, and she planned to steam any wrinkles out of it when she checked into the hotel so she would look perfect when he first saw her the next day. This was going to be a perfect weekend, one they could both remember and hold close to their hearts when he was far away fighting in the Pacific.
She finally reached the front door of the old Spanish style hotel that stood on a corner of the main street in town, and pushed it open, immediately impressed with the large opulent lobby that was revealed behind it. She immediately thought that Robert shouldn’t have splurged for such a fine place, but she was glad he did. She smiled again, thinking of being with her husband in such a beautiful place. It really was going to be a special weekend.
When she reached the front desk, the clerk turned to her and smiled, his eyes reflecting his appreciation for her beauty.
She said confidently, "I have a reservation."
The clerk nodded, asked for her name, and began looking through his file. He checked the file several times and then said, "I'm sorry. I don't find your name here."
Annalea said, "Oh, it's under my husband's name, Robert."
"No--I still don't see anything--"
"Yes, it's for tomorrow--I got here a day early."
"Oh," the clerk said, his mouth turning down into a frown. He flipped through his file, pulled out a sheet of paper, and continued, "I see it now--but--I'm sorry ma'am. We just don't have a room for tonight. We're booked solid."
He shook his head sadly, as if he were sorry she wouldn't be staying.
Annalea said, "Surely, you can find something--my husband’s in the Navy--he's stationed here."
"Yes, lots of boys are stationed here. That's why we're booked solid," the clerk said, looking over the rims of his glasses at her.
"But my husband is going to be shipping out very soon--please can't you find something. I'd be so grateful."
The clerk was sympathetic, but firm. There was simply nothing available. There were a lot of things going on, lots of the big brass in town. He kept saying that the place was booked solid. He told her there were a couple of other places up the street where she might find a room.
Annalea thanked him for the information and went back out on the street. She was a little uncomfortable being in a town where she knew no one without her husband at her side. Then she thought of her favorite fictional characters, Scarlett O'Hara and Melanie Wilkes, and the things they had endured when they were separated by war and its aftermath from their husbands. Like them, she was a Southern woman, soft and hospitable, accommodating to guests and men, but steely strong inside. She raised her head, smiled at a soldier passing by just for the strength his reaction would give to her, and started her long walk in search of lodgings.
She hiked in her high heeled shoes from one end of town to the other, checking every hotel, and the story was always the same. The clerks were all sorry for her plight, hopeful she could find a room somewhere else, but unable to help her. There were no rooms available anywhere in town.
It was getting late, the sun beginning to set when she walked out of the last hotel in town. She was starting to feel anxious again, her arms were tired from carrying her bag all over town, and her feet were killing her. She wanted so much to kick off her heels and put her feet up. She decided she would go back to the first hotel and just wait in the lobby until morning. After all, she would have a room there the next night and she was sure she could convince the clerk to let her sit there in the lobby until morning.
She began the trek all the way to the other end of the main street when she noticed a discrete sign in front of a big wooden house that reminded her of her grandmother's home where she lived while Robert was away from her in the service. The sign indicated the house was a women's boarding house, “Miss Ruby's Fancy Women's Boarding House.” She decided to see if Miss Ruby would take pity on a poor Navy spouse and give her a place to stay that night. She had money. She could pay for lodging if Miss Ruby allowed her to rent for the night and didn't limit her rooms to longer staying tenants.
She opened the front gate and walked up the front steps. The outside of the house made her feel almost as if she were at home. There was a wide front porch decorated with wicker chairs, ferns, and even a swing in the corner. Her hopes that she had found a place to rest began to rise. She pushed open the door and stepped inside.
Miss Ruby sat at a desk inside the front door, dressed in a flashy evening gown. When the beautiful young lady opened the door, she looked up expectantly, a smile on her face, assuming her first customers of the night were arriving. She looked Annalea up and down, noticing her well-made clothing, her demeanor, the wedding ring on her finger, and the innocence on her face.
Miss Ruby gave Annalea a stern look and said, "Come over here immediately, young lady."
Annalea was so startled that she almost dropped her bag. She pulled the door closed after her and said contritely, "Yes, ma'am." She walked rapidly to the desk where Miss Ruby sat, all the while wondering why a person she didn't even know would speak in such harsh tones.
Miss Ruby stood and placed her hand firmly on Annalea's shoulder, pulling her around the desk. She said, "Come back here immediately."
She guided Annalea through a velvet curtain into a room behind the desk. The small room was crowded with comfortable looking chairs and a couch. There was a desk in the corner that looked as if someone worked at it regularly. On the other side of the room was another door also covered with a velvet curtain. Annalea could hear the sound of voices though the other doorway.
Before Annalea had the opportunity to look things over thoroughly, Miss Ruby pulled her close and said, her voice low and terse, "What in the world are you doing here?"
Annalea was startled by the intensity of Miss Ruby's question. She had no idea why this woman she didn’t know was acting so strangely, and the difficulties of the day washed over her like a tidal wave. She burst into tears and looked longingly at the comfortable chairs, suddenly feeling the effects of walking all over town in the heat of the day in her high heeled shoes. She felt as if she were going to faint and reached out for Miss Ruby's arm.
Miss Ruby put her arm around Annalea's shoulders and guided her to a chair. She said, "For heaven's sake, don't cry. I don't want my customers to hear a woman crying."
Annalea wiped her eyes and said, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to cry. It's just been a very hard day." Her voice quivered with the need for someone to lean on, someone who would lend her a hand to help her through this long day, someone to understand that this weekend needed to be perfect because it could be the last one she ever had with her husband.
Miss Ruby's icy heart melted a little at the sight of Annalea in tears, at the cry for help that was being telegraphed through the young woman’s wet blue eyes. She said, "What happened? I mean to make it so hard."
Annalea felt fresh tears forming in her eyes and tried to hold them back, but she just couldn't do it. She covered her face with her hands and said, "I don't mean to be a burden, but could I stay here--just for the night?"
Miss Ruby handed Annalea a handkerchief and said, "Good golly, girl, do you know where you are?"
Annalea smiled brightly through her tears and said, "In the home of a lovely and kind woman."
"This is a---er-uh-fancy woman's house," Miss Ruby said carefully. She didn't really want to say the words to this sweet young woman who had such an innocent look about her. "You can't stay here," she said flatly. She still wore a stern look on her face, but Annalea's words had made her heart swell with pride and to melt with something else she couldn't really define, a love of sorts, a desire to act as a mother or a friend to a young woman like the one sitting in her office.
Annalea burst into fresh tears at the words she’d been hearing all day, up and down the streets of Ft. Pierce, and said, "That's what everybody says. It's the same everywhere I go."
Miss Ruby turned at the sound of the front door opening and put her fingers to her lips. She said, "Stay here and be quiet. I'll be right back." She walked to the front curtain, but before she exited, she looked back at Annalea and said, "Don't you dare leave this room. No matter what you hear."
Annalea nodded. She sat back in the comfortable chair. She could hear Miss Ruby talking to a man and walking toward the area outside of the back curtain in the room where Annalea sat.
She heard Miss Ruby say, "These are the girls I have available right now."
Annalea's curiosity got the best of her and she tip toed to the back curtain and carefully peeked through its folds. Outside of the curtain's protective shield there was a room like a parlor with comfortable looking couches upon which sat several women dressed as if they were going out on the town, their faces painted with make-up that Annalea thought looked like something out of Hollywood.
A man was standing next to Miss Ruby with his back to where Annalea stood behind the curtain. He said, "No. I want the good looking one in the black dress. I saw her come in here just a few minutes ago."
Annalea's eyes widened in shock. The reality of where she was hit her like a ton of bricks. She felt as if someone had punched her in the gut. She knew without question that the man was talking about her. She blushed at what she thought this man wanted to do to her. She dropped the edge of the curtain so that it fell back into place, the only barrier between her and a situation she had never imagined she would be facing. She stood as quietly as she could, keeping even her breathing as silent as she could make it, wishing she were anywhere else in the world, wishing Robert were there, hoping Miss Ruby would not lead this man into the office and offer her to him, wondering if she should make a run for the front door. Then she heard the front door open again and more laughing men enter the house. A run for the front door was clearly out of the question at that point. Slowly, she began to move back across the room carefully placing her foot each time she took a step.
Annalea heard Miss Ruby say in a very cold voice, "I don't know who you're talking about. All of these girls are lovely and talented." She breathed a sigh of relief and sat down carefully in the closest chair. The girls' voices seemed to blur together with the voices of Miss Ruby and the man. Then she heard another man's voice, and then yet another chatting with the girls in the parlor. She sat quietly in the chair waiting for Miss Ruby's return, her eyes closed like a child trying to hide from an unpleasant situation.
After what seemed like an eternity, Miss Ruby came in from the front and sat beside her. She whispered to Annalea, "Have you tried to get a room at all of the hotels?"
Annalea opened her eyes and nodded.
“And just what are you doing here in Fort Pierce?”
Annalea swallowed hard, trying not to cry again. “My husband…he’s stationed here…and he’s going to be shipping out. I wanted to see him before he leaves…and he made a reservation, but I had to take the bus today and the reservation isn’t until tomorrow…” The tears came again.
Miss Ruby said, "I'm going to put you in a room for the night when the coast is clear. Stay right here and be very quiet. If someone comes in here, call out my name. It's Ruby, by the way."
"I'm Annalea, and I don't know how to thank you."
Ruby came back through the back curtain a few minutes later carrying a large pitcher. She gestured to Annalea to follow her and said, "Come on. The coast is clear."
Annalea walked through the parlor where a couple of girls were still sitting. They smiled and waved at her. She smiled back, trying to take in everything she saw, curious about every detail of the establishment in which she found herself a guest. She and Ruby walked down a hall past rooms where she heard sounds she’d heard only in bed with her husband. Her face was bright red by the time she arrived at the room at the back of the hall where Ruby waited, an impatient look on her face.
Ruby closed the door and set the pitcher on a table. She turned to Annalea and said, "Now, I'm going to lock this door when I leave and I don't want you to unlock it no matter what happens tonight. No matter what you hear, this door stays locked until you hear my voice telling you to open it. Do you understand?”
Annalea nodded.
Ruby smiled and said, "Good. If anybody tries to get in, you take that pitcher of water and pull that chair over to the door. Don't open the door. You climb up on the chair and pour that pitcher through the transom up top." She gestured to the glass transom above the door that was pushed outward so that it was open to the hall.
Annalea's heart was racing with both fear and excitement at the situation in which she found herself, one she’d never dreamed could occur. She nodded again.
Ruby turned to go and Annalea flew across the room and put her arms around her. She whispered, "Thank you so much."
Ruby resisted Annalea's hug at first, but, as she relented and squeezed Annalea back, a feeling of peace overcame her, almost bringing tears to her hard eyes.
“Do you have a picture of your husband?”
“Oh, yes.”
Annalea opened a heart shaped locket with the U.S. Navy symbol on the front of it. She extended it toward the older woman.
Ruby studied the picture closely and her eyes lit up as if she knew him. She said, "He's mighty handsome."
Annalea nodded and gazed at Robert's picture, wishing once again that he would walk through the door and make her feel safe.
Ruby said, "I'm going. Don't open the door."
Annalea got ready for bed and pulled out a book to read, wanting nothing more than to drift off to sleep. But it wasn't easy. The old house creaked with sounds that continued to make her blush and made her wish for Robert even more, sounds of creaking beds and passionate moans, of bottles opening and toasts being made, of the camaraderie of men drinking together at a time when most of them knew they could be leaving soon to go to a place where they had a high probability of dying, of men stumbling about after drinking too much and slaking their passions, of drunken laughter and lewd remarks. It was a heady feeling to hear these unfamiliar noises as she lay in bed, unable to stop listening to the steady stream of the sounds of a house of ill repute, almost entertained by what she heard happening around her as she would be by a live radio show, safe in her room, locked away from the reality of the genesis of the sounds, but protected from having to confront them only by a thin wooden door and rickety lock.
She was finally drifting off to sleep when she heard a sound that woke her immediately, that made her stiffen with fear, that made her heart race and her imagination to run wild. Someone was trying to turn the door handle. She heard it rattle over and over as if someone were trying to force the handle to turn. She lay in bed afraid to move. Then there was a soft knock. She lay perfectly still, hoping that whoever it was would go away. The knock got louder and she got up and slid out of bed, trying her best to make no noise. She tiptoed over to the chair beside the small table in the room. She picked it up, carried it across the room, and quietly placed the chair as close to the door as she could get it.
She stood next to the door, realizing there was only a thin sheet of wood between her and the man outside. It gave her a strange feeling, a mixture of fear, disgust, and excitement. She felt like she’d stepped into a movie. She relished the excitement, but not enough to want to find out what would happen if the man were able to push the door open. She wished for the thousandth time that her husband was there with her.
She held her breath, continuing to hope the man would give up and go away, but he didn’t. The knocks became louder until finally he was pounding at the door, yelling for her to open up.
Then he stopped and whispered, "Come on, baby. Let me in and I'll treat you so good."
She could hear him trying to probe the lock as he spoke as if he were trying to pick the lock. He continued, "I know you're in there. I can smell your perfume."
Annalea stopped trying to be quiet. She rushed across the room and grabbed the pitcher. She climbed up on the chair and lifted the pitcher up to the transom and poured it over the top.
She heard the man outside squawking and yelling, calling her names, but he backed away, and then she heard Miss Ruby's voice as she came and led him away into the arms of one of the girls. His voice faded away as he entered one of the other rooms with the girl.
She stood on the chair for a moment unable to move. The routine moans and groans that had echoed around the house all night resumed, seeming almost normal to her after the encounter with one of the players who were contributing to those noises. She realized she was shaking, and got down and sat in the chair where she stayed until morning. She finally drifted off to sleep in the chair, but she slept fitfully the rest of the night, waking every hour to check the lock on the door.
When morning came, she dressed and sat in the chair reading her book, her bag at her feet. She waited for a sign from Miss Ruby and finally heard her voice.
She opened the door and there was Robert, standing in front of Miss Ruby, filling the frame of the door with his hard muscled body, his eyes full of worry for her. She melted into his arms, feeling safe within the strength he exuded just standing in the same room with her. She hadn’t wanted to cry, but the tolls of the night and the knowledge he soon would be gone overwhelmed her. He held her tightly and murmured words of love in her ear.
She said, "How did you find me?"
"Ruby found me down at the hotel."
"Oh, Robert, let's go there now. I just want to hold you in my arms all day." She squeezed him tightly in her arms, unable to stop thinking about his coming departure.
Robert said, "I heard you've been a very brave girl."
Annalea shook her head and said, "Not brave at all. I would have been lost without Ruby."
"Ruby's a good woman."
Annalea glanced curiously at her husband, a puzzled look on her face. She said, "How did she know where to find you?" She looked around and thought about where she was. She said suspiciously, "Did you already know her?"
Robert turned her face up and looked into her eyes. He said, "I did. I've had to pull a few of my men out of here at times and she's always been good about not bringing in the shore patrol. She's a good old girl. That's why I know her."
He kissed Annalea on the forehead and continued, "She's going to help us out too."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, the guy at the hotel thought you were getting another room somewhere else and cancelled our reservation."
Annalea's heart sank. She felt their beautiful weekend slipping away.
Robert said, "So we're staying here."
Annalea felt as if she were hearing what he said wrong. She said, "What?"
Robert said, "Look, I know it's not what we wanted, but--"
Annalea held up her hand and said, "No-"
"Baby, it may be our last--"
Annalea shook her head vehemently and said, "You misunderstand. I don't care where we stay as long as I am with you."
"That's my baby," Robert said.
"I've got a place set up in the attic," Ruby said, beaming with pleasure at the turn of events.
So they ascended to the attic of Ft. Pierce's most notorious house of prostitution to spend a weekend of love before Robert left for the Pacific. Annalea almost cried again when she saw that Ruby had made the bed with satin sheets and covered the room with flowers. She had wanted a memorable last weekend before her husband left on his treacherous journey and she got it. It was everything they had hoped for and more.
Quite a story and quite an imagination. You answered my questions by the end. Those were heady times. My father was turned back for medical reasons or I might not even have been here. I was too young to know what they put up with during the war years. It was just good to have my mom and dad around the whole time.
Fourth Book in the Southern Swallow Series finds the Academician Li K'ai-men in exile on Hai-nan Island. China has a new invasion threat. A showdown between ingenuity and technology explodes as the Sung Dynasty tries to preserve itself.
Love UDT Style
