Chapter 4: Work and Romance

She passed through a sizable town and then picked up the signs for the camp, the highway became a road and finally degenerated into something little more than a track, certainly if she met another vehicle coming in the other direction there would be a problem.

The camp appeared from out of nowhere and the first thing she noticed was the lack of a guard gate, a single sentry appeared from what looked like a wooden shed.

"Can I help you?" He asked casually, there was none of the discipline she had become used to.

"I'm Mrs. Kelly Farmer, I have been transferred here." She offered the private her notification. "I telegraphed the date of my arrival." It felt strange to say transferred as it was Lance and not her who belonged to the military, she just belonged to Lance; correction did belong to Lance.

"Just wait there." The sentry returned to his shed and Kelly could see if not hear him on the telephone. He returned after a minute or so. "Seems you're right, take a left from here, the camp admin is the first wooden building you'll come to, you can't miss it. See you around Mrs. Farmer, nice to have a fresh face around here."

The camp was more like the tourist camps that Kelly had visited with her family, where they'd have set up their trailer for a couple of nights. It had that feel about the place, a sleepy, nothing ever happened feel.

She found the admin block, really just a long wooden hut, staffed by a solitary private. Kelly handed in her papers and waited until the soldier returned five minutes later with a sheet of paper and a key.

"This is the inventory and this is the key." Just follow the track past here, you'll come to the married quarters, they all have numbers on and may I say that it's nice to have a new face around here... will your husband be joining you?"

He was the second person to say the same thing, new face / fresh face; it spoke volumes for the place. Still the question made Kelly look at the private for the first time. He stood tall, easily six feet and had short cropped sandy hair; the face was, well, ordinary. Besides the events with Duncan were still too fresh, there was no way that she wanted any attachments, no matter how casual.

"He's in Germany." Kelly said as she collected the key and inventory sheet. "Thanks." She didn't dismiss him, as already she was beginning to realise that Larksville was small and that meant there was no escape, so don't make enemies, just don't get involved.

The tab on the key read number twenty two and Kelly found the long low row of timber cabins, two rows of them, standing back to back. They looked mostly deserted; at least they had none of the family feel of Camp Mason. She found number twenty two and left the car parked roughly on the grass verge, there were no gardens as such, just badly tended grass, Kelly unlocked the cabin.

The place smelt, but only of lack of use. She opened all the doors and windows and left the wind to blow away the smell. There was a veneer of dust that would require her to work and there was an almost total lack of furniture. She hadn't expected that, at Mason their rooms had almost been furnished, here, there was almost nothing, no carpets, curtains, chairs...

"I thought exactly the same..."

The female voice suddenly intruding on Kelly's thoughts made her jump; she spun around, her heart quite literally in her mouth.

"Sorry, I thought you'd heard me... name's Cathy Pearce, I live in number sixteen, which means that we're neighbours." She held out a limp hand which Kelly shook.

"Kelly Farmer." Kelly said in reply.

"Stop me if I'm intruding... is your furniture on the way?" Cathy was a blonde, maybe thirty and with a willowy figure, she was wearing jeans and a t-shirt and her breasts jiggled as she moved.

Kelly shook her head.

"Thought not... they keep most of the stuff in storage, cause they never say that, leave you to find that out for yourself... am I going to fast?" It wasn't a nasty question, but after days on the road Kelly was suddenly feeling very tired.

"Just tired... I wasn't expecting to find an empty shed." She'd have sat down, but there wasn't any where to sit.

"Tell you what... I'll make a coffee and give you the low down, then we'll organise some furniture."

Kelly allowed herself to be ushered into the other woman's cabin, at least here she had a chance to see how her place would look once she'd found some furniture, the problem was there was just no money in the bank and so there was no way she could buy furniture. That was another thing she needed, a job.

They sat in the tiny kitchen which was almost too small for the table and two chairs that Cathy had installed there.

"Lark's what they called a watch station, before the war it had been a holiday camp, but the army took it over after Pearl, then they turned it into a radar station and then they just forgot about it and anyone posted here." Cathy was talkative, very talkative and Kelly wondered if she'd be the same after a few months here. It was so dam quiet.

Kelly grimaced. "My old base commander said it was a place for misfits."

"Misfits... I like that, that just about sums up everyone here, the soldiers the army doesn't want and the civilians it would prefer to forget... my husbands in Germany, where's yours?" Cathy was one of those people who leapt from subject to subject in the same sentence.

"The same." Kelly conceded.

"Mine's trying to avoid coming home and facing me."

"Why?"

"He has a Mistress and they have a kid, lives off the base and I can't touch the bastard until he's back in the US of A." Cathy pulled in her breath. "I just want to be rid of him so that I can start again."

"You mean a divorce?" Kelly was almost incredulous, despite everything that had passed between her and Lance she had never seriously considered a divorce, she'd assumed that everything would one day return to normal, how it had been.

"For certain, so how come you're not with your husband?"

"I can't, the base commander has a no families rule."

"Oh, he's in one of those units?" Cathy smiled.

"What units?"

"The special ones, rocket defence, that type of stuff, least that was Jimmy said." She broke open a packet of cigarettes, offered Kelly one which she refused and then light one for herself.

Kelly was just confused. Divorce, special units, Jimmy, who the hell was Jimmy, she asked.

"Jimmy is the sergeant in charge of the base... we don't qualify for a full time officer. He's been army since we fought the Japs, and knows people every where. He said that your husband was probably on some special unit and he was right." Cathy finished her coffee with one long gulp and then stubbed the remains of the cigarette out in the damp scum at the bottom of the cup. "Come on and we'll organise the furniture."

It took an hour and some flirting with the half dozen soldiers who appeared, none were named Jimmy, but Kelly got the distinct impression that Cathy was friends with them all. She was at ease with them all, teasing and cajoling them, until in a line they descended on Kelly's home.

Kelly just stood and watched as the soldiers cleaned through the cabin and then furnished it from the storehouse. Some of it wasn't to her taste but a bare four hours after she'd arrived, Kelly had a home, nothing special but it was her's.

Cathy kissed each of the soldiers on the cheek and Kelly pretended not to notice that more than one of them stroked her body as she did.

As soon as they'd left Cathy just took up station in one of the easy chairs.

"You should think of a way of saying thank you." She suggested.

"Like what?" Kelly wasn't exactly bristling, but she didn't want Cathy taking charge of her life, she'd spent her life being told what to do; now she was going to start making her own choices. "Who should I thank?"

"Oh not me, the boys though if truth be told, they are bored most of the time. I've found that keeping them happy makes most things go very smoothly." There was a twinkle in her eyes.

Kelly wondered just what Cathy meant by smooth, but before she could say anything, Cathy continued.

"A party, the bring your own booze kind, that way you'll get to meet everyone at the same time... what do you say?"

Kelly wasn't convinced about the idea, she didn't really want her space invaded so soon but she did want to thank the soldiers and it was a way of meeting the other residents of the camp.

"I don't know..."

"Look, just how long has your husband been over sea's."

Kelly did some swift maths.

"Upwards of eighteen months, why?"

"Because you don't look like a woman who can go that long with a little... you know... real male company." Cathy made a gesture of one finger slipping between two others formed into a circle, with a sudden blush Kelly knew what Cathy was alluding to.

"That's a private matter!" She said, still colouring.

"There's plenty of privates here, but if you'll take my advice, try the none comms, they have much more experience." Cathy laughed at her own joke. "Seriously moral or should I say morals are pretty lose around abouts, no one will blab to... what's your husbands name... ?"

"Lance."

"Right, Lance, well no bodies gonna ring him, even collect and tell him what you're doing. This really is a great place if you want to fool around... take my word for it."

"Right now the last thing I need is a man, but I could handle a party, a few beers and some laughs, would that be good enough?"

"Great I'll pass the word round, start about eight and don't worry; it won't get out of hand." There was a look on Cathy face which said that her definition of out of hand wasn't Kelly's.

The party started about a half hour later than planned and Kelly had just begun to wonder if the idea had fallen flat. Cathy was the first to arrive and with her a chisel jawed man in his early forties, he had iron grey hair cropped short and looked every inch a soldier. The first real soldier she'd seen on the camp.

"Kelly, this is Jimmy, Jimmy this is Kelly."

"Nice to meet you." She said as they shook hands, he had a strong grip and the handshake lingered long enough for her to feel his pulse.

"Likewise." He had grey blue eyes, very clear and piercing, like his handshake they lingered on her, that Jimmy found her attractive was all to obvious.

Then the others began to arrive, in one's and two's Kelly's tiny cabin gradually received nearly twenty people, who she guessed were mostly male with only a smattering of females. Apart from Cathy, she was only introduced to a thirtish redhead named Stacy and a girl who only looked about eighteen but who Kelly was sure was older, named Jenny. Apart from these four, the other guests were male and military.

Kelly reckoned that half the men suggested something or other to her, the suggestions mostly consisted of stepping outside or did she need any help in clearing up afterwards. They were just polite ways of propositioning her but Kelly wasn't interested. In truth she was to tired to bother with sex, she just wanted the night to end so that she could collapse into her new bed.

Still everyone wanted to meet her and she did finally meet everyone, it was just that tomorrow she wouldn't remember their names.

At some time the party began to break up, in one's and two's everyone drifted away, Kelly noticed that Stacy who arrived on her own didn't leave that way. She started to wonder if all the women on the camp were equally generous with their affections.

She discovered Jenny with the private who'd greeted her at the gate; they were necking and were embarrassed when they discovered Kelly watching them. Later she would discover that they were an item and hoped one day to marry. They were something normal in an abnormal world.

In the end there was just her and Cathy, Jimmy and another soldier called Clem. Kelly wondered if this had been arranged, Jimmy had kept paying her attention all night, something that had started to annoy her.

Cathy was sitting on Clem's knee and making no attempt to stop or control his roaming hands. Kelly tried not to watch when Clem began stroking Cathy's breasts.

"Perhaps they need some privacy?" Jimmy asked.

"Meaning what exactly?" Kelly asked sharply.

"We could step outside."

That again! Still Kelly had no great desire to watch Cathy and Clem who were now starting to neck. Why didn't Cathy just take him home with her? A least they could fuck in private and not in her home! All the same Kelly found herself outside with Jimmy in the cooling summer evening.

"What do you think of the Lark?" He asked. He was standing close, but not touching.

"All I've seen is the guard hut, admin hut, store hut and this place... so what else is there to see?" Kelly asked; she had her arms crossed over her chest.

He chuckled. "The truth is not much, in fact just more of the same... oh and the beach, we have a fine private beach."

"Private?"

"Army property, the military hates to give anything back to the civilians (he made that sound like a disease Kelly thought), so once it got this place back in forty two, that was it. So now we have our own personal beach. I'll show it you sometime, you got a bikini?"

"Bikini?"

"A swimsuit, but in two parts, top and bottom, like underwear." He made to show how they fitted.

Kelly giggled.

"What's wrong, did I say something funny?" Jimmy asked.

"Just how you tried to show how it was worn, I tried to imagine you wearing undies, didn't work." She glanced back into the cabin, Cathy and Clem were getting even closer, he had his hand beneath her dress, and Cathy's legs were spread wide. "Can't she wait?" She protested.

"Cathy? Leave them in there much longer and fumbling won't be all they are doing. Just wait here a minute." Jimmy went back into the cabin; he leant across the couple and said something. There was a muffled protest and then a minute later Cathy and Clem appeared, arm in arm and without acknowledging Kelly's presence headed towards Cathy's cabin.

Jimmy reappeared. "You have your place back."

It brought on the moment that Kelly had been dreading, Jimmy followed her back into the lounge and before she'd told him to stop before he started, he was kissing her, his hands stroking her arms as he did. He kissed well, physically, with his whole body pressing against her.

Kelly didn't want to kiss him back, but she did. He smelt so male that Kelly started to feel herself slipping. She allowed him to touch her buttocks, scooping them into his strong hands, she could feel his cock pressing against her, but it was all too soon and there was another problem.

She pushed him away. "We can't." She gasped.

"Why not!" He grunted; he took hold of her again. It still felt good and Kelly wanted more.

Again she shook him off. "It's my period, it's my time, and we just can't."

He didn't look as if he believed her.

"Want to check me out?" Kelly almost snapped. She hated it when people didn't believe her.

"No, no, I believe you, just my luck eh!" He picked up his beer and drained the dregs. "I guess that's it for tonight, give me a call sometime and I'll show you the beach." With that he turned and walked out of the cabin.

Kelly began to shake, the bit about her period had been true, and it had started that morning, so for a few days Kelly wasn't interested in sex, and it was an excuse, after Duncan she needed an excuse not to fuck. It would have been so easy to have let Jimmy fuck her, so easy...

"Your period!" Cathy exclaimed. "That's what I call bad timing; Jimmy's quite a beast in the sack."

It was the next day, early afternoon and Kelly had just about tidied up the place after the party. Cathy had miraculously appeared when the work had been done and a suspicious Kelly wondered if that had been deliberate. She still wasn't sure if she really liked the woman.

"You know him, that way I mean?" Kelly asked, although she knew the answer. She'd worked out that Cathy had probably been with just about everyone on the base. It made Kelly's efforts at Camp Mason seem feeble by comparison, but of course she was nothing like Cathy.

"Sure, Jimmy introduced himself just after I arrived here." Cathy smirked and Kelly realised that what had almost happened to her had probably happened to Cathy.

"How long have you been here?" Kelly asked.

"Almost a year and it seems longer, there is so little to do."

"Jimmy said something about a beach?"

"Sure, sure, there's the beach and you can lie around there for hours, but if I'm going to be on my back then I prefer it to be on a bed, like last night." She laughed and Kelly joined in but without much enthusiasm.

"He said something about me wearing a bikini?"

Cathy laughed again. "He would... and with your figure you'd look great, do you have one?"

Kelly shook her head; she couldn't even swim and didn't even have a swimsuit. She said so.

"Right, then tomorrow we'll go shopping."

Inside a week Kelly was the proud owner of two bikinis, one was jet black and the other a deep red. She looked good in them both. She was also employed, working casual shifts in a local clothing factory, she needed the money. It wasn't the life she'd imagined that November day two years ago when she and Lance had married, then she'd imagined that by now she'd at the least be pregnant with her first baby, not working the evening shift in a factory and fending off every man who looked at her.