Chapter 6: Potomac Women's Guild

The next few days flew by for Tom. He transferred all his stuff to Vivienne's home but still spent a good deal of time with Chuck and to a lesser extent with Mary. Whenever, he went there he took Vivienne with him. Mostly they were making or repairing other parts of her old lathe but several times they just walked in the park, even Mary coming with them on one occasion.

Two days were spent at the Model Engineering exhibition. Tom couldn't enter the competition. The entry forms should have been sent in a month ago but the organisers gave him a stand where he could put the engine on show. Each day they took Vivienne along. At first she was most self-conscious at sitting behind the stand facing the public and having them face her. Tom insisted she bring along some of her ornamental turning and soon involved her in any discussions. Most model engineers were also interested in the turnings and they could only see her face so had no idea she had no legs. At first they usually asked Tom how they were done but always her referred them to Vivienne saying she was the expert. By the end of the second day, Vivienne began to believe that there were some people in the world who were not repelled by her looks, people who believed she could contribute to a discussion.

This was particularly brought home to her at a dinner held in an up market restaurant to which Chuck and his friends were invited. Ten people sat round the table, all casually dressed as they had just finished packing up their exhibits. One of the group, Michael, seemed to have a special interest in Vivienne's turnings and wanted to know exactly how she achieved the quality of finish. Two others kept joining in the conversation and Vivienne found herself the centre of attention for a while. At the end Michael said, "Vivienne you really are a special woman. When I saw you at the show I had no idea you had no legs. How you are able to produce such superb work without being able to stand in the right position, beats me."

"I just have to use my arms and hands," Vivienne replied.

"You must have well developed muscles then."

"As I found out," Tom cut in causing everyone to laugh. The area around his eye was still very blue and tender and would be that way for a while yet.

Thursday came and as arranged Captain Karen Bradley came and picked them up for the meeting of the Potomac Women's Guild. Tom introduced Vivienne to Karen as his new girlfriend. Karen looked surprised but introduced herself cordially and shook hands with her, then bent down and kissed her cheek. Turning to Tom and looking at his face, she commented that it looked as if he had been getting himself into mischief while over here. "Too many beers in our downtown bars?" she asked.

"I just marked him as mine," Vivienne interjected with a laugh but really she was just a little jealous of the tall captain who she thought could be a rival for Tom's affections.

All three were able to sit in the front of her vehicle and for a while conversation lapsed, then Karen spoke, "Tom, Vivienne, please don't get me wrong but some of the older people in our group are a bit sharp with their comments and you may well get grilled on your relationship. They will want or at least they will try and find out, all the juiciest details of how you got together, what you do together, and especially I think, how and why you got that black eye. I'll try and keep them away from the subject but I don't doubt they will find a way to ask and probably ask in the bluntest way. Millicent at least will."