A Glibertarians Exclusive – Too Many Goodbyes I

 

Honolulu – Saturday morning

Lieutenant (j.g.) Sally Neal was happier than she had ever been in her life.  “This is going to be the night,” she told her best friend, Ensign Betsy Sheridan, as they sat in the tiny Ala Wai apartment they shared.

“You think so?”

“Yeah.  I think Tom is going to pop the question.”

“Think they’ll let him off of his ship to come into town?”

Sally smiled.  She leaned back on the cheap bamboo-framed couch.  A warm morning breeze was coming in through the sliding door onto their tiny balcony overlooking the Ala Wai canal; it was a fair commute to the Navy hospital at Aiea where both girls worked as Navy nurses, but the girls reckoned the little apartment was worth it – better than staying in Navy housing.  Sally was twenty-four, Betsy twenty-one, both a long way from home, both immersed happily in life in the islands and somewhat less happily in the Navy.

But there were compensations.  One of those, for Sally, was Lieutenant Commander Thomas Braxton, who she had been seeing steadily for the last six months.  He was the XO of a light cruiser, tied up at the moment in Pearl Harbor.

“He called this morning,” Sally said.  “While you were in the shower.  We’re meeting at the Pearl officer’s club at seven.  Dinner, drinks, and dancing.”

“The officer’s club?  Fooey.  That’s for old Navy crocks.  Why not head into Honolulu?  There are way better places for drinks and dancing in town.”

“The officer’s club is fine,” Sally smiled.  She put her little size five feet up on the coffee table that stood in front of the couch.  She wiggled her bare toes.  “Last night’s shift at the hospital sure was boring,” she said.  “Nothing much ever happens here.  If it wasn’t for being in Hawaii, I’d really get tired of this posting.”

“Well, at least you caught Tom.  That should make this post worthwhile.  I haven’t had any such luck at all,” Betsy complained.  “Of course, look at you – five-two, one-ten, red hair, and green eyes.  Every guy in Honolulu is at your feet.  I’m too tall and too skinny.  Guys don’t look twice at me.”

“Not true,” Sally objected.  Betsy was a tall, angular Wisconsin farm girl, but made up for her near-absent curves with a ready smile and a vivacious disposition.  Sally was from New Bedford, Massachusetts – both of them were still getting used to Honolulu after a year at Aiea.

“Anyway,” Betsy went on, “what makes you think tonight is the night?”

Sally looked thoughtful.  “He sounded… different, when he called.  A little nervous, somehow.”

“And that’s what made you think that?  Good luck, girl.”

“It’s more than that,” Sally said.  “I’ve had boyfriends before.  In high school, and when I was stationed in San Francisco before I came out here.  But this thing with Tom is different.  It feels, closer, somehow.  You know what I mean?”

“I should say, if you think he’s going to propose.  What will you do about the Navy?  Resign, be a good little Navy wife?”

“Not right away, anyway.  If I get pregnant, well, that will be another thing.  I’m figuring on crossing that bridge when I come to it – and I’ll have to find out how Tom feels about it, too.”

“You sure will.  Well, girl, come on- it’s your turn to make breakfast.  Then, what about some tennis?  Neither of us has duty until Monday, may as well enjoy the weekend.”

“OK by me.”  Sally got up and headed for the apartment’s tiny kitchenette.  “Here’s to a nice weekend off in Hawaii.”

Fried Spam and scrambled eggs may not have been the most appetizing breakfast imaginable, but it was a very Hawaiian one.  Dark Kona coffee leavened the meal some, and when the girls had eaten and cleaned up, they dressed and left the apartment.

They caught some appreciative glances from several groups of young sailors as they walked down Ala Wai Boulevard.  “Look how young some of these guys are,” Betsy said, looking at two teenaged seamen from the lofty height of her twenty-one years.  “Bet most of them can’t even buy a beer yet.”

“Likely so,” Sally agreed.  She stepped ahead of Betsy and did a little twirl, tossing her tennis skirt around her legs.  The two young sailors did a double-take; Sally grinned.  “Sorry, boys,” she told them, “I’m spoken for.”

“Too bad,” one of the sailors lamented.  The other slapped his comrade on the back; they moved on towards whatever destination they had in mind.

Two rounds of tennis completed the morning.  Lunch was bowls of sliced mangoes and pineapple on the sidewalk in front of one of the big hotels on Waikiki, followed by strolls through some of the shops that lined the road along the beach.

By four o’clock they were back at the apartment.  Sally showered, put on her dress whites, and parked in front of her bedroom mirror to fix her hair as Betsy watched.

“You’re way too Navy, girl.  Going out on a Saturday night with your guy and you’re in uniform.  Don’t you have a slinky dress to wear?”

“We’re going to the officer’s club at Pearl.  Tom will be in his whites.  Why not?”

Betsy smiled, shaking her head.  “So, what is it with this guy?” she asked Sally.  “What makes you so sure he’s the one?”

Sally paused, her hairbrush in one hand.  “Mister Right, you mean?”  She realized it was a serious question, so spent a few moments thinking.  “Well, like I said, I’ve had boyfriends before.  But it always got to the point where you had to work at it, you know?  Being with Tom isn’t like that.  We are comfortable with each other.  It’s easy, being around him.  It feels natural.  I’ve put up with the other kind of guys long enough to know the right thing when I find it.”

“But a Navy guy,” Betsy said.  “You know enough of Navy life to know that it won’t be easy, being married to a sailor, even if he is a high-and-mighty Lieutenant Commander.”

Sally plied her hairbrush again.  “Oh, I know that.  There will be some lonesome nights.  Tom’s pretty set on being a cruiser sailor.  He’s been very clear about that.  He’s a sailor, he doesn’t just want to be at sea, he needs to be at sea.  You know?”

“He’ll have a ship of his own before too long, I bet.  Then there will be even more lonesome nights.”

“Maybe.  We’ll just have to see.  And Betsy hon, he’s worth it.  He’s worth all that and then some.”

“If you say so.  Just remember, if anything goes wrong, Aunt Betsy’s right here to listen to you.”

“Nothing will go wrong,” Sally smiled into the mirror.  She laid down the hairbrush and gathered her hair up in a bun, to go under her white service cap.

“Yup,” Sally said, looking in the mirror and giving her hair one final pat.  “This is gonna be the best night of my life.  I’ll look back on this day when I’m a little old lady.  One day I’ll tell my grandkids all about how their Granddad popped the question – on Saturday, December sixth, 1941!”

***

I’ve seen love go by my door
It’s never been this close before
Never been so easy or so slow
I’ve been shooting in the dark too long
When something not right it’s wrong
You’re gonna make me lonesome when you go.