Once I got my orders, I got a lift to the San Diego Airport. A cheap, quick one hour flight to San Francisco airport. A quick trip to my home in San Mateo for a quick visit and to pick up a few things. Very early the next morning, I caught a cheap flight to Newark airport. I was wide awake with excitement and anticipation to see Pat and New York City again. We had met in the cafeteria in MOMA (the Museum of Modern Art in New York City) and had a great conversation.  She was a graduate of NYU (New York University) and a professional dancer (a Rockette at the Radio City Music Hall). Pat was in great shape. In fact, that’s what sparked our conversation. Being a former All American swimmer, lean, fit women always caught my eye.  I complimented her on her great condition (she was tall, slender and remarkably toned) and her extraordinary posture. We quickly got into comparing workouts and diets. She had a demanding workout routine and was a much stricter eater than me. She had to get to rehearsal, but we stayed in touch by letter. We exchanged letters every couple of weeks. When I told Pat about my leave, she said I could sleep on her couch if I wanted to visit. Pat shared a 2 bedroom apartment in Greenwich Village. She and her room mate Laurie had been friends since NYU.

Arriving at Newark airport, I took a train to Penn Station. It was an hour ride and only cost me a dollar. Then I took the subway to within 2 blocks of Pat’s apartment. It cost me 15 cents. When I knocked on the door of their apartment, Laurie answered.

“You must be Joe” she said extending her hand. She had a good grip.

“How did you know?” I asked.

“The haircut gave you away,” she said smiling. “Pat’s working but she’ll be home later on.”

“You mean dancing?” I clarified.

“Yes, dancing. And it’s really hard work.” Laurie said.

Laurie made me a sandwich. She was easy to talk with so the couple of hours flew by. Like Pat, she had graduated from NYU. She was currently working on her MBA and had entrepreneurial ambitions. I shared my Marine Corps history.

Pat arrived looking like she had just come from a workout – which she had. I got up from the couch immediately. Pat hugged me and joined us on the couch.

Pat and Laurie were both very bright and had lived in New York City for over 5 years. They knew the city inside out. Pat had amazing show biz connections and had set me up with free tickets to some great shows. They both had busy lives so I was on my own a lot, which I was fine with. I visited the big 4 art museums: MOMA, the Met (Metropolitan Museum of Art), the Whitney (the Whitney Museum of American Art) and the Guggenheim (the Guggenheim Museum of Art) plus the American Museum of Natural History. I got to see Alan King as Nathan Detroit in “Guys and Dolls” – a terrific show, Liza Minelli in “Flora the Red Menace – her first Broadway play, and The Glass Menagerie – a Tennessee Williams play with Piper Laurie – a powerful drama.

They made me dinner sometimes. All three of us went out to dinner on Monday night, the one night a week the theater was dark and Pat was not dancing. When not at a show, I read. The apartment was quiet with Pat working and Laurie studying. On the weekend, they showed me around Greenwich Village, NYU and Washington Square Park and introduced me to their circle of friends. Terrific guys and gals – all bright, hard-working and with very clear objectives. Being May and spring, New York City was beautiful.

And just like that it was time for me to go. I couldn’t thank Pat and Laurie enough for their gracious and generous hospitality. A 15 minute subway ride to Penn Station. An hour train ride back to Newark airport. And a 5 hour flight home to San Fancisco airport. A short over night visit and early the next morning I hopped into my trusty 1956 VW bug and began my drive south to Camp Pendleton. Driving south, regular gas was 30 cents a gallon. I filled up my 10 gallon tank for 3 dollars.

As I checked at the San Onofre Gate at Camp Pendleton, the past couple of weeks seemed like a dream. My now reality was a Quonset hut with steel bunk beds and a concrete floor for the next 6 weeks until my 6 months active duty was up. My hut was half empty except for 3 guys – all buddies from Montana – in the same boat as me. They were great guys and we hit it right off. We shot the shit till lights out.  

4 am came and went and no one woke us up. Around 10 am a Sergeant Washington around. He gave us a few easy things to do and we didn’t see him the rest of the day. We straggled to noon chow and straggled back. We slept most of the afternoon and straggled to evening chow. These next 6 weeks were clearly going to be a very different Marine Corps than anything the 4 of us had experienced up to this point.

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Joe

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