A Fortune Tellers’ Tales. Episode 4, Part 1 of 3: “All is Fair in Love and War.”
She was mumbling forceful sounds with her lips closed, while struggling to break free, like an abducted captive with duct tape over her mouth. Her body was rocking back and forth, as if her hands and feet were tied. Was she shouting or screaming? Was it the terror of the air raids, when the planes dropped bombs in the night, burning the neighborhood around her when she was a young teen? Her sounds and body movements calmed down after a while, to a moaning, a whimpering, a resignation that loosened the tense muscles in her prone body. Or, was it the day he left?
She was talking in her sleep… again.
They met at the Pine Crest hotel. Her good friend was employed there, working the phones. The Army officers in the area would frequent the lounge, and one officer from the midwest asked her friend if there were any young, available ladies she knew, since she was married. She nodded enthusiastically
That officer was a Lieutenant Colonel, used to giving orders and being saluted. He was white, and he would always show up with his driver, who was black. He was from Chicago, and knew his way around good food, fine dining, and the Blues. And perhaps beautiful women, too.
Tall for her generation, the switchboard operator’s friend was 17 or 18 by then, blessed with a beautiful face and figure, and a mysterious, aloof, allure to her. She was mostly raised by her grandmother, because her father was busy with their Sushi-ya, and her mother was busy with her beauty salon and wardrobe consultations for traditional weddings.
She wasn’t a Geisha, or even a young Maiko (Geisha in training) like the 15 year old Cio-Cio-san from Puccini’s Madam Butterfly Opera. However, somewhat like a Geisha, she was educated in the arts… drawing, painting, traditional dance, maybe some music and calligraphy. And for her age, a way to carry herself elegantly.
They met, and he was stunned by her beauty, her mysterious allure and her western tastes. She was charmed by his smoothness, rank and power, and the…
