Kindle Edition
Amazon
Blogspot.com
Category:
Historical Fiction
Publisher: Create Space
ISBN-10: 1492317373
Type: Fiction
Pages: 348
Copyright: October 18, 2013)
ISBN-13: 9781492317371
Price: $4.99 (eBook)
Four women form bonds that will help them overcome living in a far away military compound
Four women from varying backgrounds meet aboard the USS General Mayo bound for Korea in 1946 to join their Army officer husbands. The diverse young women forge bonds that will last them throughout the journey, their lives in a military compound, with a promise to meet again in twenty-five years. Trudy Cavanaugh is a young newly-wed, married to the heir to the Cavanaugh publishing empire; Maggie Gorski is from Chicago, the comic relief of the group, who has two unmanageable boys and a heart as big as her home town, Chicago; Nell Martin, a west Texas farm girl who thought she was escaping her parents' wood-burning stove and lack of running water, only to encounter the same living conditions in Korea; and Leah Damon, born in OK as Mary Alice Thomason, is a famous model with a drinking and pill problem who ultimately commits suicide in her cold and lonely military-provided quarters; Their childhoods are explored; meeting their husbands and, although they are completely different, they form a bond that brings them together 25 years later, where long-held dark secrets and sorrows are revealed.
Excerpt
Maggie burst through the door of her quarters. “It looks just like everyone else’s house. Quarters. No imagination. That’s the Army for you; give everyone the same treatment, then no one can complain.”
“No one but you, Magpie.”
“Well, let’s see the rest of this joint. Living room, dining room——God, they’re small.”
“It’s just the four of us.”
“Five you mean.” Her houseboy had entered and bowed.
“This is Lee. He won’t be in your way. Just tell him what you want him to do--”
“Does he speak English? I didn’t think so. And I can’t speak Korean. What am I gonna do?”
“He speaks a little English. Lee--English, please.”
“Yes Sah. I speak English little bit. Shine shoes, polish brass, Yessah, nossah.”
“Oh, brother,” Maggie murmured. “Wonder what’s in the kitchen,” she rallied. She strode to the other room. “Let’s see...” she flung the cabinet doors to reveal row after row of canned goods.
“Canned corn, beans, peas, carrots, ‘Spam——ugh! ——Canned milk-—” something was wrong, here, she thought, but she couldn’t quite put her finger on it...
The icebox was next on her inspection tour. There was nothing inside but a pitcher of water and a block of ice, which dripped steadily into the pan below.
She straightened and turned to Jake. She knew now, what was wrong.
“No milk. No eggs. No vegetables or fruit.”
“Well, Lee and I stocked as much as we could, honey. But, we don’t have any fresh meat or eggs, or milk, or vegetables or fruit. We’ll have some soon, though, flown in from Japan. But not right now.” His voice trailed off.
“What’ll the kids do without milk?”
“They’ll love it! No nagging them to drink their milk. And we’ve got canned milk and canned cream.”
“Speaking of the kids, where are they?”
“Hey, Mom,” Jimmy called. “Come look at this funny—lookin’ bathroom!”
She marched to the hallway, Jake trailing behind, and saw her boys standing in the doorway of the bathroom, giggling.
“What are you guys up to now?” she began, and then gasped. She had heard about outhouses, and this was close. Instead of worn holes on a bench, there was a toilet, all right, but this fixture was brown—colored with age, had no lid and a pull-chain dangled from a rusty tank above.
Tommy yanked on the chain, which produced no results.
To the side of the toilet was a sink, equally dappled with age, and a half—finished shower stall stood opposite. It looked——unclean, she thought.
“Jake…”’
“Come into the living room and sit down, honey; Lee has some tea for you.” He steered her down the hall and sat her down on the couch.
She held the cop of steaming liquid in her hand, watching as Lee stirred the logs in the fireplace. More out of a sense of futility than a sense of graciousness, she sipped the tea.
“All okay, Captain?” Lee grinned.
“All okay,” Jake answered him, dubiously. Lee bowed and went to his room.
“Honey,” Jake began...
“Mama! I wanna drink a water!”
She rose to answer Tommy’s call.
“About the water,” Jake began hastily. “I wanted to tell you, about the water——”
“What about it?” her eyes narrowed.
“There’s no water.”
“Wbattaya mean, no water?” Her voice rose.
“I mean, no running water. It's delivered every morning, to the back porch, in ten-gallon cans. Lee takes care of it———” but he was speaking to Maggie’s back.
She stood at the kitchen sink, turning the faucets. Nothing. Not a drip. Then she saw the empty ten-gallon can beside the back door.
“Mama!” Tommy shrilled again.
She took a glass from the cabinet and bent to remove a pitcher of water from the icebox. She straightened and handed the glass to Jake. “Here. Take this in to Tommy. Might as well start acting like a father again.”
“You’re not mad at me are you?”
“Mad? Why should I be mad? Just because this goddamn place has no water, no fruit, vegetables, meat or milk, it’s cold and the hired help can’t even speak English?
“Mad? Jake Gorski, I’m insane!”
|
