thought, believing she might have just fulfilled her assignment.
To meet others in her situation, Linda joined the Blue Crew Wives’ Club, and became a regular at potluck dinners and get-togethers. When the wives put together a fashion show, the woman who coordinated it asked Linda to model lingerie. Thanks to her regular afternoons at the base gym, she was in terrific shape, thin and firm. Though some of the other wives had photos taken of themselves modeling for the club scrapbook, Linda declined. She knew James would disapprove. But she did mention the affair and her part in it to James in a letter she wrote to include in the mail drop the men would receive a few days before the ship pulled into port.
Yet two months after the Ohio sailed, she still had few close friends, until one particular potluck near the end of thepatrol when Penny Jacobs approached Linda and introduced herself. “I noticed Linda standing off, kind of alone,” Penny explained later. “I’d been there, the new recruit’s wife at the party. So I felt sorry for her. I knew how it felt being the new person.” Linda and Penny became fast friends. As quiet as Linda was, Penny was outgoing and fun-loving. She had a hearty laugh that matched her ample figure, and whenever she smiled, her blue eyes squinted merrily under a fringe of short brown hair.
Soon Linda became part of a foursome with Penny and two of her closest friends, Gayle Thomas and Diane Siler. All of the women had husbands on the Ohio ’s blue crew and all liked having fun. If Penny was the bawdy one, Diane was the religious one, a born-again Christian who attended services at a local church. Gayle was heavyset, bubbly and fun to be with. “You need a support team when your husbands are out to sea for months on end,” said Penny. “We were that for each other.”
The night before the Ohio’s return, Linda and her new friends met at Penny’s apartment for pizza. The others laughed when they saw how their friend had decorated her apartment for the next day’s excitement. There were crepe paper streamers and welcome-home banners draped from the walls. Two big round red balloons with a banana poking out from between them dangled from the bedroom ceiling. Penny’s guests grinned up at the whimsical symbol like schoolgirls in an arcade. “It’s my welcome-home-now-let’s-do-it message,” Penny chuckled. Since Penny’s husband had been out to sea before, she took Linda aside and assured her, “When they come home, it’s like a honeymoon all over again. They can’t wait to get their hands on you. You really appreciate each other.”
A rivalry escalated between the friends as they tantalized each other with their plans for the next day.
“I’m going to get him home and keep him locked in this bedroom for a week,” Penny laughed. “You’ll see.”
“Well, I’m going to get things going even before we reach the house,” said Diane. “I’m going to that base with nothin’ on under my coat. Wait and see.”
There was a sense of competition between the wives, and soon they all joined in the fun, daring each other to wear nothing at all or something silky and sensual under their coats. Linda took it all in stride. James’s months at sea had built up her appetite for his return, and one of the letters she’d included in mail drop said, “I can’t wait for you to get home.”
She was more than a little disappointed when the letter she received from James was less joyful, bordering on the morose. In it he complained endlessly about injustices he’d endured on-board. “I hope you’ve got some information for me when we pull in,” he said in closing. On the top of each page, as always, he marked a black crucifix directly in the center.
Unaware of the uncertainties facing Linda, before the friends left Penny’s that night, they made a pact: They’d be on the Delta Pier the following day to greet their husbands and they would all have a surprise for them—since
To meet others in her situation, Linda joined the Blue Crew Wives’ Club, and became a regular at potluck dinners and get-togethers. When the wives put together a fashion show, the woman who coordinated it asked Linda to model lingerie. Thanks to her regular afternoons at the base gym, she was in terrific shape, thin and firm. Though some of the other wives had photos taken of themselves modeling for the club scrapbook, Linda declined. She knew James would disapprove. But she did mention the affair and her part in it to James in a letter she wrote to include in the mail drop the men would receive a few days before the ship pulled into port.
Yet two months after the Ohio sailed, she still had few close friends, until one particular potluck near the end of thepatrol when Penny Jacobs approached Linda and introduced herself. “I noticed Linda standing off, kind of alone,” Penny explained later. “I’d been there, the new recruit’s wife at the party. So I felt sorry for her. I knew how it felt being the new person.” Linda and Penny became fast friends. As quiet as Linda was, Penny was outgoing and fun-loving. She had a hearty laugh that matched her ample figure, and whenever she smiled, her blue eyes squinted merrily under a fringe of short brown hair.
Soon Linda became part of a foursome with Penny and two of her closest friends, Gayle Thomas and Diane Siler. All of the women had husbands on the Ohio ’s blue crew and all liked having fun. If Penny was the bawdy one, Diane was the religious one, a born-again Christian who attended services at a local church. Gayle was heavyset, bubbly and fun to be with. “You need a support team when your husbands are out to sea for months on end,” said Penny. “We were that for each other.”
The night before the Ohio’s return, Linda and her new friends met at Penny’s apartment for pizza. The others laughed when they saw how their friend had decorated her apartment for the next day’s excitement. There were crepe paper streamers and welcome-home banners draped from the walls. Two big round red balloons with a banana poking out from between them dangled from the bedroom ceiling. Penny’s guests grinned up at the whimsical symbol like schoolgirls in an arcade. “It’s my welcome-home-now-let’s-do-it message,” Penny chuckled. Since Penny’s husband had been out to sea before, she took Linda aside and assured her, “When they come home, it’s like a honeymoon all over again. They can’t wait to get their hands on you. You really appreciate each other.”
A rivalry escalated between the friends as they tantalized each other with their plans for the next day.
“I’m going to get him home and keep him locked in this bedroom for a week,” Penny laughed. “You’ll see.”
“Well, I’m going to get things going even before we reach the house,” said Diane. “I’m going to that base with nothin’ on under my coat. Wait and see.”
There was a sense of competition between the wives, and soon they all joined in the fun, daring each other to wear nothing at all or something silky and sensual under their coats. Linda took it all in stride. James’s months at sea had built up her appetite for his return, and one of the letters she’d included in mail drop said, “I can’t wait for you to get home.”
She was more than a little disappointed when the letter she received from James was less joyful, bordering on the morose. In it he complained endlessly about injustices he’d endured on-board. “I hope you’ve got some information for me when we pull in,” he said in closing. On the top of each page, as always, he marked a black crucifix directly in the center.
Unaware of the uncertainties facing Linda, before the friends left Penny’s that night, they made a pact: They’d be on the Delta Pier the following day to greet their husbands and they would all have a surprise for them—since
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