Read Mrs. Lieutenant: A Sharon Gold Novel for Free Online Page B

company."
    Kim doesn't tell Susanna what happened.
Instead she sits listening to Susanna chatter about life as an army
wife. "And it was so much fun meetin' Bill in Hawaii. You know, for
R & R after six months in Vietnam. Patty and I loved the
beaches. And at night Bill and I really pumped those bed
springs."
    Kim has never met anybody who talks so much,
who tells all the details of her life without hardly even knowing
the person she's telling.
    Susanna fans her face and pops a bottle in
Billy Jr.'s mouth. "Just wait till you're invited to your first
official function. It'll be so much fun to meet everybody."
    Kim's thinking how much agony it could be,
worrying about saying the wrong thing or doing the wrong thing,
when Patty slips off the couch and walks to the kitchenette.
"ooies!" she says.
    "That's how she says cookies," Susanna says
to Kim. Then Susanna says, "Patty, come back over here. It's not
polite to ask for food."
    Patty stays where she is, repeating "ooies"
over and over. Kim doesn't know what to do. Should she offer
cookies to the child or would that be interfering with the mother's
authority? As a child she learned all too well the consequences of
interfering with an adult's authority.
    And then Susanna gets up, switching Billy Jr.
from one hip to the other, and walks over to Patty. Susanna bends
down and slaps Patty. "No cookies. Now come back and sit down
quietly." Patty follows her mother back to the couch.
    Kim's chest lurches. She stands up. "I have
some cookies I'd be glad to give her."
    "No," Susanna says. "She didn't come over
here when I told her to so she can't have any cookies."
    The tears in the child's eyes shine up at
Kim. She feels as if she herself has been the one slapped. She
herself ... Kim switches her mind back to Patty. The child looks so
miserable that Kim asks, "Can I show my pet rat to the
children?"
    "Rat!" Susanna says. "Absolutely not."
    She stands up and says, "It's time to go.
Billy Jr. needs a nap."
    Kim waves good-bye to them from the door.
"Thanks for stopping by," she remembers to say, glad they are
leaving. She doesn't want to have to talk to anyone or to feel
badly about anyone else. She just wants to feel safe.
    Now Kim hears the Ford outside. She opens the
door before Jim can insert his key.
    "How was it?" she asks.
    "Nothing much happened in class," he
says.
    He closes the door. "A guy from my class –
Robert Gold – invited us over tonight. He's from the North, but he
seems like a nice guy. He lives right near here and he says you and
his wife might like to meet."
    "He invited us over without knowing us?"
    Jim nods his head. "Guess they do that, so I
said yes."
    A warning jab above her left eye. She doesn't
want to go out and she certainly isn't prepared to meet any new
people yet, especially ones from the North!
    She wants to scream at Jim that he shouldn't
have said yes without asking her first – especially when she is
still upset – but she doesn't want to start a fight. She'll take
some aspirin and get through it.
    At least no one will be shot and killed in
front of her eyes.

SHARON – III – May 13
House rejects proposal for July 1 cutoff date
for funds to support U.S. troops in Cambodia ... May 7, 1970
    “ It will certainly be more advantageous to both
of you if his record reflects a man and wife who were sincere in
their efforts, could meet and enjoy new people, able to adapt to
different and new circumstances, and who displayed an attitude of
cooperation and respect.” Mrs.
Lieutenant booklet
    At dinner time Sharon leans over the balcony
railing to watch for the yellow blur announcing the Fiat's arrival.
The sizzling sun fries the few cars mired in the asphalt parking
lot.
    In her mind it is morning again, the alarm
clock's shrill ring waking her. For a moment she doesn’t recognize
where she is. Then she remembers and also what today is – the day
Robert reports for the Armor Officer Basic training course. She
rolls over to reach for him – he isn't