The news came as a bit of a shock, but not really a surprise, when my friends Linda and Ken eloped. Linda and Ken were lovers, and we successfully kept it hidden from the officers in the squadron that would frown on co-workers bedding down with each other. They tried to keep their relationship a secret as much as possible but everyone knew they were eventually going to get married, it was just a matter of time. A good military unit is like a big family; a lot of brothers, not so many sisters, and too damn many parents always nosing around in your business.
Linda and I were the best of friends, always clowning around together, even though I out ranked her and generally ordered her into potentially harmful situations on a daily basis while I stood back and watched. (Rank has its privileges) Linda's best female friend Jenny out ranked me and generally took delight in nit-picking and rejecting every piece of paperwork I submitted for her approval causing me no end of fits and no shortage of torn up, improperly filled out forms with a big red "F MINUS LOSER!" in her dainty handwriting on the top of each one. Eventually Jenny and I became good buddies too; otherwise we would have killed each other.
Things came to a head (so to speak) on the return flight from a deployment to the Middle East. Linda was more froggy than usual, she normally kept up a salty repertoire on these return trips just to insure that those of us with blue balls were severely aching when we got off the plane, but this time she was completely insufferable. In fact her favorite phrase this time was "Balls deep in 4 hours!" or how ever many hours were left in the trip home, shouted at the top and bottom of each hour. Over and over she carried on until one of the quietest members of the squadron, went over to Ken and begged Ken to find something to stick in her mouth.
The young airman received a standing ovation from the gang, but that was followed by Linda's even more enthusiastic "BALLS DEEP IN THREE - COUNT 'EM - THREE HOURS!!!"
"At least she's not trying to imitate The Count from Sesame Street this time," groaned Ken.
Finally the plane landed at home base and as usual the crowd was waiting for our return. Eager wives, husbands, and children surged forward and pressed against the ropes that kept them from running across the tarmac while their soldier stepped off the plane. By silent agreement, those of us with no one waiting remained seated while the newly weds and new parents deplaned first, then the troops that had been married longer got off the plane followed by us bachelors. Being engaged Jenny was one of the earlier ones off the plane, however things weren't going well with her fiancΓ© Brad so she wasn't expecting a warm welcome home. Being the stereotypical grouchy old bachelor NCO I was one of the last off the plane, just behind Linda and Ken.
Just as we reached the ground Linda turned to me and handed me her house keys. "Can you open the place up for me? We'll be back in a week." With that she kissed me on the cheek and disappeared through the press of folks with Ken.
After a small reception we found that we had to return to work next Monday, almost a full week off, then we very quickly dispersed. I noticed Jenny heading for the parking lot, alone, and I caught up with her. "I got the keys to Linda's house." I jingled the key ring in front of her face. "We can cause trouble!" I said with a grin.
Jenny looked at me, her normally mischievous brown eyes were red with the effort of holding back tears. "Yeah, we can short sheet her bed," she attempted some humor.
"Linda is three foot nuttin'. She'd never figure it out." No laugh, Jenny must really be hurting; nothing cracks her up like making fun of Linda's lack of altitude. That bastard fiancΓ© of Jenny's was no where to be found and I personally thought that Jenny was probably much better that way. Brad's a dick and just about everyone in the squadron wanted to beat the shit out of him, I've never seen such a hated individual. As we reached our cars I said "Hey Sarge, if you need anything, maybe just an ear to chew on, give me a call."
"'k, sarge." she muttered softly and we went our separate ways.
* * * * *
I went home and opened every window in my stuffy apartment, called the cable company to get my box back up, then sat down with the normal stack of bills and a check book and spent my way back stateside.
I fiddled around for a couple of days doing a lot of decompressing and junk food binges before going to Linda's house to open it up. She lived in a nice little ranch house on the edge of town. Waiting on the porch was the expected stack of mail that the Post Office held for her. On the kitchen table was a series of checks pre signed and made out to the different utilities with a note asking me to fill in the amounts and mail them off, which I did after insuring that there was a fresh stock of cold beer in her empty fridge.
I noticed she had a much nicer TV than I did so I first insured that the cable was restored ASAP before delving into those bills. Then I snooped around and found the spare bedroom was filled with boxes and suit cases. A little more snooping showed that it was all Ken's stuff - the love birds were planning to set up a nest together I decided, then opened another beer and checked out back. Swimming pool! Awesome. Leaves! Not so awesome.
After a lot of poking around I figured out how to get the filter running, found the skimmer and began my short career as a pool boy. Just as I had about 30% of the leaves dipped out of the pool the phone in the house rang. I answered it quickly and it was Jenny who seemed to expect me to be on the phone but not there at Linda's house.
"Where y'all at?" she demanded in her honeysuckle sweet and boner inspiring Alabama drawl.
I paused for a second, Jenny was both one of the most brilliant noncommissioned officers I know, and at the same time one of the daffiest women I've ever met. "Well, you called Linda's house and I answered the phone, so obviously I'm in Germany," I said as I looked out the window at the New Mexico desert on the edge of town.
"Really? Oh... you're funning me aren't ya, anyhow I got big news!"
"Real big?"
"Bigger than that!"
"How big?"
"Way big!"
I could keep her going like that all day but the game gets tiring after a while. "Bring your news over here, and some beers, and a swimsuit. We'll have us a party."
"K! Bye!" I heard her drop the phone a few times while hanging it up. Jenny never ceases to crack me up.