Snippet

March 25, 2018

THAT GIRL!

August 2013

AND THE TAIL ON THIS TALE JUST KEEPS GROWING!

See the Post Script

Updated on March 25, 2018

           

            This is a long story that doesn't take long to tell.  It does require peering far back into ancient history, however, back to the immediate post-World War II years.

            Let's see; it had to be 1947.  I had been assigned as Naval Reserve instructor  to teach Naval Ordnance and Gunnery to Reservists in Bakersfield, California, my hometown.  Except the facility hadn't been finished yet and there were not many veterans ready to become Reservists, anyway.  So, the few of us on full-time active duty who had been assigned there had set up our headquarters in the American Legion Post 26 on 17th Street.

            Captain Art Berry, USNR, was asked to act as our temporary Commanding Officer until the official C.O. would arrive.  Now, Art Berry who was an officer with whom everyone fell in love and in awe had held every pay grade in the Navy from Apprentice Seaman through Chief Petty Officer to Warrant Officer and finally Captain.

            His regular job was with the Auto Club of Southern California, a AAA-affiliate; hence my being a AAA member continuously since 1946.

            Art, if I may be so bold, being the Senior Officer Present (SOP), had several active duty sailors without a job or a permanent home.  He also had only a small handful of drilling Reservists with nothing to do, so he came up with a plan involving a card table and a couple of folding chairs borrowed from Post 26.

            As necessary as well as to keep us busy, he sent us out onto the community's sidewalks to recruit new Navy Reservists from among the many recently demobilized veterans who would  be walking past.  There was a lot more pedestrian traffic in Bakersfield in this post-war era.

            One day, Bill, a Yeoman Second and I had parked our table on the east side of Baker Street in East Bakersfield.  Can't recall all of the long-gone stores, but I do remember that just across the street was a Newberry's, a five-and-dime store of the kind that no longer exist.  While visiting each store on the block to apprise the manager or owner of our presence and business, I saw one of the most beautiful women I had ever seen.  She worked in the store.

            My wife and I saw that girl a couple of time afterwards and I remember her eating at Nick and Johnny Antonares' coffee shop.  That girl had a very heavily-accented Irish lilt, so I would guess she was the War Bride of some lucky G.I.  She disappeared off the Baker Street scene shortly after that and I never saw her again.  Soon, she disappeared even from the recesses of my mind after another war, two children and divorce and a remarriage filled with wonderful adventures. 

            Fast forward about seven decades and a lifetime of experience.  Marlene and I had both retired and had chosen to live in the desert town of Lake Havasu City.  Now, it does get dusty in the Mohave Desert of Arizona and in our retirement, we had chosen to really retire.  Marlene acquired someone to clean our house.  I hired a landscaper to keep our yard in top shape.  Then we spotted a truck with D&D Window Cleaning on the side, so we called them to come clean the accumulated dust off of the windows in our home.

            When Angie came to the house to give us an estimate, she was not only breathtakingly  beautiful, petite and with a great figure, but she looked vaguely familiar.

Marlene and I both fell in love with Angie and her surfer-guy, Ted.  In addition they come give us a clearer outlook every three months.  What a couple of hard working, good looking entrepreneurs.

            As time went by our friendship grew and we began dining out together frequently but irregularly.  They felt like family.  We began a tradition of having Christmas dinners together as well as our dining together every couple of weeks, more or less. 

            Eating at our favorite China City Super Buffet one evening, I asked Angie just exactly where she fit in our lives, daughter or granddaughter, to which she flippantly answered that she preferred to be Wife #2, fully understanding that Wife #1, Marlene, and I were on the most solid of grounds.

            And, so began the mystery to our favorite Chinese waitress, Shan Lin, her English very limited, in how come such an old man had two wives.  To compound the mystery, Angie and I always share a side in a booth and she snuggles up for photos.          

            Marlene and I frequently eat lunch at China City when out and about at noon.  Shan Lin always asks, "Whe' Numba Two?" still not comprehending.

            One night during July, 2013, the vagaries of the brain's memory cells kicked in as they are wont to do at the oddest times.  It hit me!

            That girl!  That long-forgotten Irish lass who was one of the most beautiful women I'd ever seen -- can't say, "met," because I had never even spoken to her.  That's why Angie looked familiar!  That girl of long, long ago with the strikingly beautiful face, the lush, long raven hair, the trim almost perfect figure.  Angie could have been that Irish girl's reincarnation as much as the long-forgotten memory provided!

            Amazingly, that Irish lass whose name I never learned had aged only a little; matured is more like it, and there she stood in our house, albeit without a trace of the accent.  It had taken me a couple of years to make the connection when suddenly the vision popped open from somewhere far down among my aging brain cells. 

            No wonder that both Ted and Marlene let me be in love with Angie.  That admiration had been laying dormant for more than sixty years, tucked away in some remote recess!

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8/2013

EPILOGUE

or

Simply, just a post script

            As the story of wife #2 has spread, next to declare herself as #5 was Georgia, a retired teacher with whom we were having dinner.  Georgia lived up in Washington state and was visiting here.  So be it!

            That left #3 and #4 Wives to be open.  Audrey, a gal from the American Legion Auxiliary, stepped forward to declare #3.  So be it!

            Laura is a friend whom we met when we were honored with the Friends of Youth Shooting award by Crosman Air Guns.  That was at the SHOT Show in 'Vegas in 2012.  Laura subsequently has visited our home and claimed #4 Wife for her own spot.  Laura is married to a NY State Police Lieutenant and lives in upstate NY.  So be it!

            Then Liz, who makes my Western hats, discovered the tale and announced that she was #6 -- the list was growing, my wives becoming legendary.  So be it!

            My buddy, Art, who lives across the street, has a step-daughter, Tammie, who is a nurse with the local VA clinic.  Hearing the story, Tammy immediately claimed #7, her husband agreeing????  So be it!

            Four doors to the east on our block live Janice and Bucky, both long-retired from the aerospace industry.  On August 14, 2015, during a dinner party we hosted at the local Golden Corral, Janice stepped forward claiming #8 as the legend grew.  So be it!

The story, as stories are wont to do, was becoming storied.  When Dylan from the Joe Foss Institute staff in Phoenix came to visit bringing his bride, Shelby, she heard the tale and declared for #9.  So be it!

            Now, that's the way 90-year-old Jack, married to "My Marvelous, Magical, Mysterious Marlene" or M5 who is the epitome of fantastic, ended up with a collection of wives.

            Understand that the numerical designation is not a ranking, but is strictly chronological -- ain't no way in hell I'm going to rank them any other way!!!!!

            Ain't no way, neither, that I'm going to seek more wives -- they must volunteer of their own accord -- but if they want to volunteer . . . . 

            But, there is a precedent that exists in our County of Mohave up on the Utah border at a place known as Colorado City.  Never heard of it?  That's why Google exists.  Look it up.

            And now, hearing about the story and jumping into my ersatz seraglio, the Skipper of the local Sea Scout Ship whose "sailors" we've been training to shoot, announced she'd take the #10 slot, so add Kathy.

            Sandy of Tucson, hearing the story, jumped into Jack's Wife #11 in late April, 2016, before Pam of Roseville, CA, wheedled her way into #13, skipping over #12 -- 'cause she says her birthday is on the 13th and she can remember her position.

            Oh, all of you sweeties, this is causing my brain to hurt trying to put to memory the chronology of all of you darlings.

--end--