Chapter 39

Time is starting to fly; it’s almost March, I’m leaving in six weeks, and JB hasn’t found anyone he wants to be on stage with. A week later JB visited me at work one night, telling me the piano player was back.

“Piano player?”

“Do you remember the Marine that played the electric piano at the club’s amateur hour last fall?”

“Yeah; he was getting out and going home.”

“He got out and went back home, and got married; then couldn’t find a job that he liked. He re-enlisted and is back with his new wife; he played at the club tonight. His name is Sam and she’s Sandy; we talked a while and I told them about us playing in Beaufort a couple weekends a month, he’s interested in watching us perform and maybe joining us. I think he might be the one that could take your place; he and I could keep the gig going.”

“That makes sense. Do you think we need to talk with James and Donna now?”

“Not yet. He and I are going to play together for the next few nights; see if he can add to what we’ve been doing, and find out what he likes to play. I need to find out if he can handle the spotlight, maybe split it with me. He seems to do pretty well at the base club; but that’s not much like our playing at the restaurant. He does want to watch us play at the restaurant the next time, at the end of the month.”

Okay, one looming minor problem, possibly solved. I needed to make some serious decisions; what to take, what to leave behind and where, how much leave to take; it seemed that I’d make one decision, and two more questions came up. I’d been writing back and forth with a lot of my ladies, and Jack and Jill Miller; the people I’d rented my first apartment from, back in in Erie. They knew I was heading for Japan soon, and was taking a couple weeks leave before my departure; the last letter from them asked me to call.

I did; they were extending an invitation to visit, and stay with them before I left. They wanted my opinion on a potential project they were thinking of having done. A neighbor had a large, screened back porch added to his house; they were thinking of having the same thing done. We talked about it; I told them it was a fairly easy project, and if they could get a copy of the plans he had used; it wouldn’t take much to get it done. If they could get the permits in place; I could help put it up. I really needed to go back to Pennsylvania to renew my driver’s license and plates, and get the Buick inspected. The local civilian police were pretty lenient about expired stuff like that; if you were in the military, on active duty, and could prove it; they knew we didn’t get home much to take care of that.

I was scheduled to transfer out on the first of April; I would take two weeks leave, and get a couple days of travel en route; I was tentatively scheduled to leave the country from Travis Air Force Base outside of San Fransico; subject to change. The Air Force would arrange flights from there, and were supposed to send me flight information at my leave address; time to make some decisions. I talked with JB; he knew his parents and Angie would like to see me again before I left. No holidays until the end of May; JB had used more leave than I had, and he wasn’t planning on visiting home until then. I could drive to Nashville, spend a couple days and visit the Brooks and Angie; then head to Erie and spend the remaining time there, until the Air Force contacted me. Seemed to be a strange way to operate, but what did I know; anyway, that became the plan.

JB let me know that Sam was a really good piano player, and had played before large groups, mainly in high school and in church. He was comfortable on stage, just hadn’t had to ‘carry the show’ himself, so to speak. JB and I played with him for several hours the next Saturday; they hashed out a bunch of musical stuff; I got to talk with Sandy. Listen to her; mostly.

She was cute and a little heavy; it turns out they were from a small town near Indianapolis; she was tired of the small town and had pretty much talked him into going back in into the Corps. They’d been planning on getting married sometime, sounded familiar somehow; she wanted kids and there wasn’t much going on in their small town; I noticed ‘small town’ kept coming up. She didn’t want to move to the big city, she liked being on the base so far, though their apartment was pretty small; Sam was a good piano player and had played in their church; it was a little wearing, listening to her. Sam’s mom had him taking piano lessons since before he could reach the pedals. Yep, he knew a lot of hymns; but his mom had liked popular music and let him learn and play what he wanted. He knew some country, and a little MoTown, he knew a lot of Elton John, and thought the new artists Billy Joel and Barry Manilow were going to be big. Jerry Lee Lewis and Little Richard were favorites, and he knew a lot of Ray Charles stuff. He had enjoyed playing with us at the club’s amateur night last fall, and played a lot by ear; he thought he could add something to whatever we played. He really liked the idea of playing locally, and maybe making a little bit of money too. Sam and her were looking forward to seeing us play at the restaurant the next weekend, she was hoping he would fit in with what we had been doing.

The next week went okay; we pretty much got in only an hour of practice each day, but it was an intense practice. We sounded pretty good together; I would continue doing most of the lead singing at first. Sam would maybe do a couple solos, with us adding some background if we thought it needed it. Sam pretty much went with everything we suggested; we’re the ones that had been doing it, for months. Friday evening arrived; we caravaned to the restaurant, got setup pretty quickly, and got Sandra set at a small table to the side by 7. We figured a little early would be good; the place was fairly full and they seemed to be waiting for us.

We got some applause and sounds of encouragement; we did one song and then I announced I was being transferred to Japan in a few weeks, which got some boos; I smiled and said duty called, it was my turn to save the world. I continued that JB was going to keep performing and try to find someone to replace me, the show would go on.

The night went well; no Kim, but plenty of other ladies that wanted to talk. Sam and Sandy stayed for the whole performance, and I introduced Sam to Donna and James as a probable replacement; we agreed that Sam would join us on stage for the next performance; the middle of March.

The next couple of weeks were busy, at least for me. I had to get a whole series of shots; not quite a complete physical, but close; and a complete dental exam again. I ran a PFT, and got almost a perfect score; spent 4 days at the rifle range, requalifying as an expert again; in spite of a very windy qualifying day.

The middle of the month Sam joined us on stage at the restaurant, with Sandy in the audience. I introduced Sam as the new member of the team to polite applause, and we began. We stumbled a little a couple times on the backup singing, but everyone seemed to enjoy our performance. Sam’s piano added a lot of depth to our sound, and his voice blended well with ours; I thought the first hour went well.

JB and I circulated during the break, getting positive responds to our queries. Many didn’t really care who was on stage, as long as we were entertaining and sounded decent; and we were a lot better than just decent. Sam checked with Sandy and she thought we sounded great; no bias there, I’m sure. The whole night went well; Sam paying close attention to my interaction with the audience; by the end of the night I was feeling pretty confident.

Work went well the last couple of weeks, so did the little bit of practicing the three of us could do together. Our performing smoothed out; we added a few new songs and refined some old ones; life was good. Sandy got a job on the base doing something routine; and planned to be with Sam and JB when they played. I kept writing to all my ladies, letting them know what was going on; and took one last CLEP exam. That seemed to go pretty well also; the squadron XO/education officer gave me a list of books to study, and recommended I buy them, if possible. He told me to keep at it, the payback could be huge. I spent a solid three days checking out of all the various base offices; many of them I hadn’t visited since I had checked in; 9 or so months ago.

The last weekend in March I played and sang for the last time at the restaurant. Saturday our trio sounded good, really good to me; I was going to miss playing and getting to know Sam. I almost missed Kim sitting with one of her girlfriends in the back, this time she was dressed very nicely; her heels weren’t very high, but they did set off her legs in her skirt; we just smiled at each other. When our performance was over, I got a lot of hugs from the waitresses, and a couple of the other ladies; everyone wishing me well. At the very end of the night, Kim approached, but not me; not at first.

“It’s okay if I take Carl home, tonight?” she asked JB.

“He’s leaving Monday morning, early;” JB gently smiled at her.

“I know; just one last night,” she softly smiled back.

That was all that was said, except for one more comment from her; given over her shoulder to me; “You coming?” Yes, I probably was.

We talked a lot that night; and made love a couple times. She couldn’t resist one last night, she told me; it was probably a good thing I was leaving. “It would be very easy for me to fixate on you,” she said; “but I’m 27, and you are too young for me.” She said a bunch of stuff that wasn’t all that relevant, but some of it was. I said a bunch of stuff that I hoped was re-assuring and gave her confidence; not sure about all that, either. She still didn’t want me to take her to breakfast in the morning; when she dropped me off at the main gate I got one last kiss, and she was gone.

Sunday, I packed the car. It wasn’t completely full; I got almost everything I owned in the trunk; but I wasn’t going to take it all to Japan. I had all my records; medical record, dental record, pay record, and personal record in my briefcase; the military runs on paperwork. I was leaving most of my money in the credit union here; the squadron CO thought there was a 90% chance I’d be back. My guitars and musical equipment I were going to leave with the Brooks, along with most of the books I had accumulated. I had two seabags packed; one with uniforms and one with civilian clothes; the idea was to live out of the civilian one while I was traveling to Japan. JB and I played a last couple of basketball games together, then ate a nice supper at the club. JB’s last comment was for me not to do anything stupid over there, and he’d see me again soon enough. And to write Angie; let her know what was going on.

Monday morning; I got up and checked out of the barracks, then checked out of the squadron. They double-checked; yes, I had everything; I was on the road by 9 AM.

A whole lot different trip, driving to Nashville alone; the long trip made even longer; I got to the Brooks before dark, but it was close. Everyone was happy to see me; we talked for a couple hours before heading to bed. Angie was in JB’s room in the main house, I had the pool house to myself; damn quiet out there. I got up early and did my exercising; then met Carol in the kitchen, fixing breakfast. We talked a bit, Bob joined us and we talked, Angie joined us; and we talked. Angie was back in school after her spring break; Bob had to go to Music Row to take care of business; Carol needed to do some shopping. I was on my own for today, though Angie would like to go out on the town with me tonight.

I unpacked the car; Bob had showed me where to put the things I was leaving behind where they would be out of the way; I did that. At the last minute I decided to take just the baritone ukulele with me; I could leave it in Erie with the Miller’s. I cleaned up the Buick, though it wasn’t in bad shape; then spent the afternoon reading. In short, I was bored out of my skull.

I took Angie to dinner and a couple clubs that night; we had a nice time. We ended up on the couch in the pool house, for her obligatory foot massage. More talking; she was really looking forward to the wedding, she missed JB, she missed me coming with JB, she said several more things, but I kind of zoned out. She finally said ‘goodnight’ and gave me a kiss on the forehead; she’d see me in the morning. A little bit of thinking that night; maybe I should head to Erie a little early.

Wednesday morning I talked to the Brooks and Angie; and told them I had a project in Erie to do before I left for Japan; would they mind if I left early? They were disappointed, but agreed; just make sure I stayed in touch, and that I planned to visit; once I came back. I didn’t rush it, really; but I was on the road again by 9 AM. I had a US road atlas in the Buick; a quick check and I headed for Louisville, then Cincinnati, then Columbus, then Cleveland. A hundred miles further and I was pulling into Erie; I had called at a gas stop and let Jill I was on the way, but would probably get there a little late; she said to be careful, but come straight to the house.

I got a very nice welcome from Jack and Jill, once I got there. We talked for an hour or so; their daughter Mary was going to nursing school in Buffalo and spent the week there, then the weekends at home. Irene was in the garage apartment with her very serious boyfriend; I was going to be spending my time in the house, upstairs. Jack’s back wasn’t any better; they had moved their bedroom to the main level because he really had trouble with the stairs, but that hadn’t helped much. Make myself at home; they told me, we’d figure out a plan for the back porch in the morning.

I got up and did my PT early; and got a hug from Irene and introduced to her boyfriend Paul as they were heading to class. She’d written me about Paul; their relationship seemed to be everything she wanted and needed; I was happy for her. Inside, Jill was making breakfast; she gave me a hug and told me to go get cleaned up, Jack would be joining us soon. I had only brought in one bag the evening before; I brought in the second seabag, the ukulele in its case, and my briefcase; the case triggered a couple questions. Yes, I played, and sang a little; Jill wanted details later.

It was a very nice breakfast; both said they missed having me around, and was glad I was doing well in the Corps. Jack was especially grateful for the letters; he liked the way I told my stories about what was going on in my life. After breakfast he laid out the plans for the back porch; the neighbor’s house was in the immediate neighborhood, and almost identical. I didn’t see any problems with the plans; though I suggested a simple shed roof instead of a gable roof; Jack got on the phone to get the process started, and permits issued. He also arranged for the building materials to be delivered next week; and the four footings we’d need for the main support for the porch, to be put in the next few days. They’d had some warm weather in March and the ground wasn’t frozen, but we were going to let the experts handle that part of the project.

Jill and I got up to date with what was going on while Jack was on the phone; she told me Chris wanted get together with me and show off her year-old son; and Kelly was living the other side of town with her policeman boyfriend, and were planning to get married soon. Jill was intrigued by my singing and playing at the restaurant; it was probably a good thing I’d left my guitars and equipment in Nashville. After a simple lunch, Jack went to take a nap, and I drove around Erie a bit. I stopped at the Big Boy restaurant I had worked at as a kid; the manager remembered me but almost everyone else was new. Chris was there and showed me a dozen pictures of Tom Jr, and said that her and Tom Sr were doing fine, and were thinking of having another baby. She seemed to be happy and doing well, I gave her a last hug and let her go, in a couple different ways.

Back at the Millers, I let Jack drive the Buick to the city building department; he knew where we were going, I definitely didn’t. He did comment that the Buick sure did drive well, and how comfortable he was driving it; ‘even better than the Caddy’. He paid the fees and got the permit; the only major inspection to schedule was for the footings as they got put in. We stopped at the neighbor’s and looked at his finished project and talked with him a bit, then discussed how we’d finish Jack’s porch. Back ‘home’, Jill was fixing supper for us; afterwards we watched TV. The news was all about South Vietnam slowly collapsing, now that most of the American military had been withdrawn. We watched a few shows, then Jack headed to bed; we had worn him out. Jill and I talked a bit; Mary was looking forward to seeing me this weekend, really looking forward to it, she grinned. Mary was doing well in the nursing school; she’d gotten a partial scholarship; that was one reason she was traveling back and forth, and not spending all her time in Buffalo. She didn’t seem to have a boyfriend and was concentrating on her studies. We talked a bit more, then she gave me a hug and headed for bed herself.

Friday, April 4^th; damn it was cold when I stepped outside the next morning. We’d had an inch of snow overnight, and it wasn’t supposed to get much above freezing today; I hoped the weather warmed up, or we might have some problems getting the porch built. Later that morning Jack called his concrete guy to make sure this was going to happen; no problem, he was told. Jack’s project was the only job they had going; they’d be out Monday to dig the holes, get the forms in place, and pour concrete. They were going to put some additives in the mix to help it cure faster, and would be using some industrial heating blankets to keep the concrete warm while it cured. It was a small job and they were glad to get it, they would take care of us; even getting the inspection done.

That afternoon I went to the library and read a few of the periodicals, then checked out a couple books to read. One was the new book ‘Shogun’, which seemed to be appropriate; all about Japan in the early 1600’s, and their conflicts with the new European traders and visitors. The rest of the day went quietly; though I did take Irene and Paul to dinner; he was fascinated with me being in the Corps, and didn’t know anything about the military. It was a good evening; she gave me a hug and he shook my hand when we parted. A little bit of a surprise when I got in the Millers house; Jack was already in bed, but Jill was still up and waiting for me on the couch, in her pajamas and robe. She kicked off her slippers and wanted a foot massage, if that was okay; then told me nothing else was going to happen between us while I was there. I easily agreed, she was a very pleasant memory, and would stay that way. Eventually she headed for bed and I read my new book for a while.