The Future Homemakers of America Page 2

  Soon as Vern knew I had fallen with Crystal he done the decent thing and my folks were happy to see the back of me, twenty-two and still no sign of any Hollywood screen-test. We were married in August, in the chapel on the base, his folks come down from Costigan, first and last time they ever left Maine, and we had an arch of sabres and shrimp hors-d'oeuvre and the whole nine yards. November he got orders to Ladd Field, Alaska.

  Crystal come along in a big hurry, waters busted in the mall at Topperwein and my mom grinding her teeth every time I got a pain, telling me how this was only the start of my troubles. Nine pounds eleven ounces, she weighed, and she was the living image of her daddy, only he didn't get to see her till she was nearly four months old.

  We landed at Elmendorf and while I was waiting for the transport up to Ladd, looking for a place to warm the baby's bottle, a girl come up to me, little newborn scrap in her arms and another one at foot, and she says to me, ‘Why, Peggy Shea! It is you. I'm not usually wrong about a face, but you're carrying a few extra pounds these days.’

  Last time I remembered seeing Betty Glick was when Future Homemakers catered a Mother-Daughter Spaghetti Supper for the Class of ‘42, and she was in charge, in her sweetheart apron, giving her orders, little piggy eyes and a real homely face.

  She already knew Ladd. They'd been on the base nearly a year and she'd just been back to Texas for the birth of little Sherry. So we were a marriage made in heaven, me not knowing what in the world I was going to and Betty never happier than when she was showing somebody the ropes.

  Four years of marriage and motherhood had left its stamp on her. She'd lost her puppy fat and got herself a permanent too. She seemed real grown up, compared to the way I felt, but then, I think Betty was born grown up. And she was so proud of her Ed. I never thought he was all that. Everything about him was kinda hard and square, even his head. Lois reckoned he was made outta sheet metal.

  ‘I swear,’ she used to say, ‘Ed Gillis was not born of woman. I think they just punched in a few rivets and rolled him off the line at Boeing.’

  Me and Vern were okay, when he was around — which wasn't much. They were putting in long hours, training on the Superfortress, and then when he did get a 96 he liked to go off fishing. Now I think back on it, we didn't hardly know each other.

  ‘Love ya,’ he used to say, when he was drifting off to sleep. ‘Whoever y’ are.’

  So I started hanging out with Betty Gillis, née Glick, picking things outta the Sears catalogue and clipping recipes for tuna bake and generally raising hell. Summer nights up there, when it never gets dark, if Vern and Ed were standing the duty, I'd go round to her quarters, tuck Crystal in with Deana and Sherry, and we'd sit out front, drink iced tea and wonder what became of all those other big shots from Topperwein High.

  Audrey I met later on, when we rotated through Kirtland. She rang my doorbell, told me there was a coffee klatsch at the Officers’ Wives’ Club and signed me up for the Blood Drive. Wouldn't take no for an answer on either score.

  You could go to some of those wives’ clubs not knowing another soul and come away in the same condition, none of the in-crowd being inclined to get off their backsides and welcome a newcomer. But I'll say this for Audrey: she had an open and friendly way about her. She'd stride across any room in her white bucks and make herself known to lonesome strangers.

  She was married to Lance Rudman and they made a handsome pair. They were the kind of people knew where they'd come from and where they were going. Lois called them the Class Presidents.

  Lo came on the scene while we were stationed at Kirtland too. She was married to Herb Moon. He was kinda dopey-looking, seemed slow on the uptake, except when he climbed into the cockpit of a B-50. Up there, so I heard, he was one cool customer.

  ‘Life's a bitch,’ she said, when she found out we'd done a tour in Alaska. ‘Herb woulda loved that. All that rugged scenery and weather and stuff. ‘Stead of all those cans of Dinty Moore I been feeding him, he coulda bagged himself a whole caribou. But no. He just had to go an’ draw Hickam Field, Hawaii. Heaven on earth, girls. You ain't had a rope of Hilo violets hung round your neck, you ain't lived. Papaya juice. Pineapples. Mangoes. I tell you something. Herb may not be no dreamboat, but that man took me to paradise, no mistake.’

  ‘Well, she'll have to trim her cloth a bit different now.’ That's what Betty said when Lois fell pregnant with Sandie. But she was wrong. Took more'n a little baby to slow down Lois Moon. They took her straight from the Aztec King Bowling Alley to the General Landers J. Hooverman Mother & Baby Unit and not a minute to spare. I heard language that night I couldn't even begin to spell.

  Course, didn't matter what Lois said or did, Herb thought the sun rose and set by her, and seems like nothing since has made him change his mind. They were a pair a love-birds, in a manner a speaking, even though they didn't always fly in formation.

  Gayle and Okey were the real pigeon pair, known each other since the day they were born, near enough.

  First time I saw Gayle she was hanging around in the laundry room at Drampton, didn't know how to work the driers and too scared to ask. I thought she was somebody's brat, till we got talking. I took her under my wing a little, after that, specially when Okey was away on assignment. There are lonely times when you're married to the military. You gotta hope you can click with a few girls on your post, hang out with them. You gotta get through the days as best you can, waiting around for friend husband to come home from the pad.

  Audrey used to pass her some of her story books, but Gayle was no reader, nor much of a homemaker neither, though Betty did try giving her a few lessons. I reckon Gayle lived on potato chips and Dr Pepper, and when Okey was home, they just lived on love. Planned on having a houseful of kids and living happy ever after. On an LT's pay, best of luck was what I thought, but I never said it.

  3

  Gayle didn't come with us that day. She said she'd sooner Stay behind in Lois's nice warm quarters and mind Sandie than wave off some old king, and that suited Lois just fine. ‘I'd go and watch for a freight train to go by,’ she said. ‘Anything to get off this God-forsaken base.’

  I wasn't so sure, myself. It was a raw morning, misty too, and there was some creature out in that fen making a unearthly noise. Vern reckoned the whole place belonged under the ocean. He used to say, ‘They took this place from the water, and one of these days that water's gonna come and take it right back.’

  He left me to answer the tricky questions from Crystal, such as would it come higher'n our house and how could fishes breathe?

  Me and Betty took our girls to school, and I don't know who was more excited, Deana and Sherry’ cause they got a extra Milky Bar in their lunch-pail, guilt candy from mommy, or Betty because she was getting out from under.

  Then we picked up Lois and Audrey and there were sharp words, on account of Lois wearing a red windbreaker and Betty suggesting she could have showed more respect. I drove and Betty sat up front with me, and she never stopped yammering.

  ‘The Duke of Windsor,’ she said, ‘he's come sailing in from New York. He's got some nerve, I must say, running off with that home-wrecker, leaving everybody in the lurch. Ask me, he as good as killed his poor brother, and the queen, of course, the old queen, she's not been seen. She's at … hold on, here, let me get this right…’ She'd brought her newspaper clippings with her. ‘Marlborough House, that's where she's at. Must be heartbroken …’

  Audrey, being no slouch, had been following all of this, but she said, ‘Whoa, Betty, just back up, would you? You just lost me. I thought the old queen was gonna be on this train we're heading to see?’

  ‘Ah,’ she said, ‘I see where you're getting confused. Okay. At this time, they have three queens. There's Queen Mary. She's the one at Marlborough Castle. Then they have Queen Elizabeth, who was married to the king, just passed away. She's the one we'll be seeing.’

  I said, ‘What about Queen Mary? Didn't she get a king?’

  ‘Of course she d
id. He was King … something, I'll remember it in a minute. Then, there's the new Queen Elizabeth …’

  Lois said, ‘Are we seeing her?’

  ‘No, no. She's gonna be meeting the train when it gets to London. See, she'll have had to stay there, attend to affairs of state an’ all. We're gonna see, okay, the old Queen Elizabeth and Princess Margaret. And they are … ?’ She gave us time, see if we could come up with the right answers. We couldn't… the mother and the sister of the new queen!’

  Betty should have taught grade school. She was a natural.

  I said, ‘Can you hear that? Like something … booming out there?’

  Lois lowered her window. ‘Yeah,’ she said. ‘It's the Thing. Herb warned me about it. It hides out in these swamps, and when it smells prime American steak, it starts hollering.’

  Audrey said, ‘Okay, so we've got the new queen and she's waiting it out in London …’

  ‘Yeah, right,’ Lois said. ‘She's smart enough not to come trailing up here. She's sitting at home, trying on all her jewels, got the royal furnace turned up high as it'll go.’

  ‘… so who's gonna be the new king?’

  Lois said, ‘Now, even I know the answer to that. His name's Prince Philip, and he's a doll.’

  I said, ‘Lo, close up your window. I don't like that noise.’

  ‘Sure,’ she said, ‘You worried that the Thing's getting closer?’

  ‘It's a bird.’ Audrey leaned forward to tell me. ‘I read about it. It's just a big lonely old bird.’

  Betty was handing round pictures. ‘Now, this is the Duke of Cornwall. He'll be the next king, after his daddy. And this is little Princess Anne. Aren't they cute? I just love these darling coats they wear. Gee, I hope Sherry and Deana are gonna be okay today. Deana looked a little sad when we dropped them off. And Lois …’ She turned right round in her seat, so Lois'd understand that what she was about to say wasn't to be taken lightly. ‘… do you think little Sandie is in safe hands with Gayle? I mean, I'm not one to sling mud but she does suffer with the nerves and sometimes, well, I'll speak plainly here, she takes comfort in alcoholic drink.’

  I took a look at Lois in my rear-view mirror.

  ‘Betty,’ she said, ‘you're right. You don't sling mud. You just kinda creep up behind a person and smear it. Matter of fact, I think Sandie'll be just fine with her Auntie Gayle. Way I look at things, anybody married to an airman needs a little something to get them through the day. Huh? Bottle a booze, photo album of Princess Margaret, the sound of Frank Sinatra's sweet voice it don't have to look like a crutch to be one.’ And she dropped the pictures of the little Duke of Cornwall right back into Betty's lap.

  ‘Why, Lois!’ Audrey said. ‘That's almost profound!’

  She was sitting forward, peering through the windshield with me, and I was driving like a real old lady, what with the mist and the ice and the fact that over there another vehicle was liable to come at you on the wrong side of the road. One minute they weren't there, next minute they were, about ten or twelve of them, grey as the day itself, stamping their feet, hugging themselves in their poor thin coats, standing right there by the railroad crossing.

  Audrey whistled through her teeth. ‘Well, look at that,’ she said, and they all turned together, like a herd of deer, sniffing for trouble. Like they'd never seen a DeSoto station-wagon in their lives before.

  Betty said, ‘Okay, girls. Now remember. We are ambassadors for the United States of America, and this is a grieving nation.’

  4

  Nobody spoke.

  Betty said, ‘Good morning, everyone! Y'all waiting to see the royal train go by?’

  Still nobody spoke. I felt her pressing closer to me.

  ‘Peggy,’ she whispered, ‘let's hand round some gum or something, show them we're friendly.’

  Audrey roared. ‘]eez, Betty,’ she said, ‘anybody'd think we were in Sioux territory.’

  There were people there wearing black armbands, and a woman carrying a Union flag, no stockings on, just zip-front boots, and her hair rolled up in a scarf, and her legs all wind-burned behind her knees. She kept looking our way.

  I smiled and nodded and next time I looked she'd moved a bit nearer.

  Audrey and Lois smiled and nodded, and she moved nearer still.

  It was Lois made the breakthrough. ‘Hi,’ she said, ‘I'm Lois Moon. You care for a stick of Juicy Fruit?’

  Close up she was younger than she'd seemed. Thirty, maybe not even that. She just wasn't making the best of herself. Matter of fact, sometimes she still don't. Over the years, I have learned the average Englishwoman has scant interest in good grooming. She's more likely to buy herself a new garden tool than get her nails done. But I'm running ahead of myself. That morning, back in ‘52, she was plain shabby. And she couldn't take her eyes off Lois in her red jacket. She came and stood right next to her.

  Betty found her voice again. She said, ‘Do you happen to know the estimated time of arrival?’

  She took a while to answer. Or maybe just took a while to understand the question. ‘That won't be long now,’ she said. ‘That's only got to come from Wolverton.’

  Betty said, ‘The funeral train? But I understood it was coming from Sandring Ham?’

  She looked at Betty for the longest time. ‘That's right,’ she said. ‘They're bringing him from the house up to Wolverton, put him aboard the train and that's a fair old step, along that lane. That must be three mile. Jim?’ She called across to a man in an armband. Looked like he didn't have a tooth in his head. ‘Jim?’ she said. ‘That must be three mile from Sandringham to the siding?’

  He didn't answer. Just blew his nose and turned his back on us.

  Didn't like her fraternising.

  Lois whispered to me, ‘How come we're getting the evil eye? I thought we were on the same side as these guys?’

  Me too. In fact, my understanding was we were owed a little gratitude.

  Betty said, ‘Well, we're very sorry for your sad loss.’ She said it loud, kinda addressing the assembled throng. ‘Your royal family is the envy of the world. And the folks back home are just gonna die when they hear about us being here, so close to it all.’

  Audrey said, ‘Well, I don't know that die was the happiest choice of words.’

  Lois said, ‘You guys see them around much? The King and Queen? They drive around in their carriage, waving and be-knighting people and stuff?’

  I heard somebody say, ‘Bloody Yanks.’

  Then things started to happen. First there was a humming in the rails, and then the ground started to rumble and people were pushing forward, craning and looking left. We could feel that something big was heading our way, bearing down on us, but we couldn't see it.

  And then, out of the mist it came, real slow and heavy, a Standard Pacific engine and nine cars, dressed overall in black silk. Someone called out ‘God save the King!’ and every man there held his cap in his hand and bowed his head.

  ‘And the Queen,’ Lois's new friend shouted. ‘Don't forget her!’

  I didn't bow my head. I didn't intend no disrespect, but we had driven there to see a princess at the very least. I looked long and hard as it passed us, but what with the steam and the mist, I couldn't even pick out which car the casket was in. Audrey nudged me to look at Betty. She was standing to attention, eyes closed, with a kinda ecstatic look on her face. Then the train slid away, back into the mist, and the ground stopped rumbling and the rails stopped humming and Lois said, ‘Well, I didn't see a darned thing.’

  To her dying day Betty claimed she'd had the best view ever. The Queen, all veiled in black, and the princess, very pale and strained, in a little velour hat and a mink collared coat, who had actually given her a sad wave of thanks.

  ‘You didn't see them?’ she said, when Lois started bellyaching and any time after that when the subject was raised. ‘Why heaven's sakes, girl, what were you doing?’

  Our friend turned and gave us a grin. I guess, even with lend-lease food,
all that malnutrition must have just ruined their teeth. ‘May Gotobed's seen them,’ she said. ‘She's stood as close to them as I am to you. She's been a backstairs maid, donkey's years, since the old king was alive.’

  Betty said, ‘Oh boy! A backstairs maid! You hear that, Peggy? Go on! Tell us more!’

  ‘Well,’ she said, ‘May was on her way up with hot water when they found him. She seen him Tuesday night. He was outside having a smoke. Wednesday, she was carrying water up for a lady of the bedchamber and word come, Dr Ansell been sent for. Nothing he could do, of course. King was long gone. And the Duke of Gloucester, he come over directly in his motor car. That's a cheery shade,’ she said, stroking Lois's sleeve.

  People were leaving. Just walking away into the mist.

  Betty said, ‘I just love hearing about all this. I am the biggest fan of your royal family. I have so many pictures, especially of your Princess Margaret. She just looks such a sweet girl. Do you know any stories about her?’

  The old guy called Jim was still there, hanging back, watching us. ‘Time you were getting off home, Kath Pharaoh. Careless talk costs lives.’

  ‘War ended, 1945, Jim,’ she said. ‘Haven't you heard?’

  We offered her a ride, but she came over shy. Looked flustered and said there was no need, she didn't have far to go. Audrey called to the guy. ‘How about you?’ she said. ‘We have room for a small one.’

  ‘Save yer juice,’ he said, and both of them disappeared, him in one direction and Kath Pharaoh in the other. And there we stood in the freezing mist, the four of us, feeling about as welcome as a pack of prairie dogs.

  Betty gave me one of her pretty-please looks? ‘Oh, Peggy, let's go catch up to her, can we? Get her number, at least? I'd love to talk with her some more.’

  It was all one to me because I needed to drive on and find a safe turning place, highways in England not being proper highways at all.

  Lois said, ‘Heaven's sakes, Betty. She's gone. Let's find a bar. Get ourselves a little inner warmth?’