Donna invited me over and as Tom was Robbie's buddy him too. I think it was a set up. I'd met Tom at the USO when he would come in every day to get his two free cigarettes. I was told later that he only came in to see me but I still think it was the lure of free smokes.
It was insisted we had to pose. He was really being nice and I thought it didn't hurt. We were getting to be friends if nothing else.
Robbie goofing off.
Me and Donna.
Donna and Robbie were going home on a visit to Tennessee. She wanted to see her relatives. I think this is her grandfather unless her Dad was real old.
They invited us both to come along. I think it was a 3 day weekend and it wasn't far. It was a town in Tennessee called White Bluff. We both agreed it would be fun.
I showed up at her house in the morning but Tom didn't. We waited for awhile but he didn't come so we all thought he'd changed his mind and we took off. I was thinking it would be the only chance I'd ever get to see Tennessee. I fully expected to go home and do what ever the Army wanted me to do back there.
It was a long drive at night and somewhere along the way the car conked out. It needed a new battery. They didn't have enough money for one so I paid for it. I did it because they were giving me an other wise free vacation if only for three days. I had planned on coming back the third day because they were planning on bringing Tom back because he wasn't out of his training yet and we were. We were still waiting for our orders but our classes were done.
I had a lot of fun with them while they hauled me around to meet all their relatives in two or three different towns. Without Tom there they didn't hurry back so I stayed a bit longer.
Robbie's mom made tuna fish sandwiches one afternoon and she put hard boiled egg in them. I'd never had them like that. It was different but good. Robbie had two brothers who reminded me of the guys on the Dukes of Hazard although I'd never seen that show then. It came along years later. They were funny and fun. We were all out in the dark one night in a field where there was an old hay wagon. One of them tried to get it on with me but I wasn't haven't any, thank you anyway. They were cute but I'd just met them and I wasn't like that.
When we got back to post my orders were there waiting as well as my certificates. We all met up at Donna's again and Tom was pretty cheesed off that we didn't wait for him. They tried to tell him that in order to get there with time to do stuff they had to leave then. He also thought I should have passed up the trip to stay with him. I didn't agree. After a day or so he sent yellow roses to the bay for me. The girls went nuts.
I had to talk to a guy that brought roses. So I talked and he asked me to marry him. I told him there was no way he really wanted to marry me. I said, "You don't know me. You don't know where I came from or anything. You're a lot younger than me." He was twelve years younger than me.
I told him that I wouldn't always look like this, that I'd get old quick and probably fat. I told him if he wanted to that he could come to our house and meet my parents and look at my mom because I looked just like her when she was younger and I'd probably look like her when I got older. He said it didn't matter.
Finally I played my "ace in the hole" I told him about Bernie our dog. I was up front about it. I told him Bernie didn't like any man but Dad. I said, " If you come there and see how we live and you make friends with Bernie, I'll marry you." I figured no way was that happening.