Alternate Memories - Dayton

July 1966

Halfway into my five mile run, I was already feeling down that if I saw Maribeth today, it would just be to drop in at her work. Today was not only the one day she wasn't able to be free, but in order to be available Friday, she was working a double. We had spent two great days together and there were only three more until I had to report to my new unit at Ft. Meade in Maryland.

I finished the run 18 minutes later and took care of some of life's necessities like a shave, shower and breakfast. I polished off the last egg in the house and helped John make a grocery list to replenish our larder. This included beer which Maribeth and I had helped deplete over the last two days.

Since I was 22 and Dave was still 20, I was the only one of the two of us who was technically old enough to buy liquor in Ohio. I knew Dave probably had a fake ID somewhere, but since I didn't have much on my schedule today, I offered to do the shopping. Dave gave me $10 and there was $8 in the community pot. I figured that John would chip in $10 when he got home, so I figured I'd have about $35 to spend.

I bought a case of Weideman's and a case of Schoenling Little Kings at the state store on Patterson Ave. Then I bought the rest of the food at Super Duper. When I got back to the house I called Norb.

Norb was my best friend at Dayton and we had spent a lot of time together. He was in the process of slow walking his way through the University and though he was 24, he still lived at home. We agreed to meet for lunch at a Red Barn near where he lived.

It had been eight months since I had seen Norb, and then we had been about the same size. I was now 15 pounds lighter and he was 20 pounds heavier. No one would be mistaking us for twins today.

We ordered cheeseburgers and I told him about taking Maribeth to Island Park and down the Little Miami. I omitted any discussions about our romantic interludes, but Norb wasn't naive. We had double dated before and he'd seen how Maribeth and I had steamed up the windows in my old valiant. I mentioned that I might stop and see her later.

Norb was going to be commissioned after he graduated in December. He was going into the Ordinance Branch of the Army and would be training at Aberdeen Proving Grounds which was about 70 miles up the road from Ft. Meade. I told him we could get together, but if my suspicions we're correct, by the time he reported, I'd be long gone.

He and Kathy were still an item. As far as I was concerned, their relationship was a head scratcher. They would be hot and heavy for months then they'd supposedly break up only to be back together a few weeks later. As far as I remember, neither one of them ever tried to date anyone else during their hiatus. He told me that they just both needed a 'vacation.' This didn't seem to me to be a recipe for any kind of long term relationship, but hey...I didn't have to live with her.

I told him that I had read in the "Daily News" that Peter, Paul and Mary were holding a concert at the U.D. fieldhouse on Friday and I suggested that if he and Kathy didn't mind standing up the entire performance, I thought I could get them in for free. "How are you going to do that?" He asked, but since I wasn't 100% sure what I was thinking would work, I just replied, "It's a secret."

As a backup plan, we both knew several places that had bands on Friday and Saturday nights, so we agreed to meet up around six p.m. at some restaurant and go from there.

After we parted, I thought I'd drop in and see how Maribeth was doing. The dry cleaners where she worked was about 10 blocks away and I pulled up outside only a few minutes later. She was waiting on a customer when I came through the door, so she just looked over and smiled. I made myself busy reading an informative poster describing the firm's alteration services and prices. When the lady she was talking to left, Maribeth motioned me to follow her and soon we were surrounded by rows of hanging coats, shirts and pants.

Her arms encircled my waist and the kiss was deep and satisfying. I grasped both of her bare arms and gave them a squeeze. Believe it or not, I considered her arms as one of the sexiest parts of her body. Certainly compared to my own musculature, her shoulders and thin arms seemed delicate and fragile. They were definitely "womanly" and I liked the feel as I squeezed and caressed them.

We were interrupted by the tinkle of a bell that indicated that someone had just entered, so Maribeth told me to wait while she went out to probably wait on a customer. A few seconds later however, I heard her call and I joined her at the counter. When I emerged, I saw she was talking to a young woman about her same age who she introduced me to as Madge, who was one of her co-workers.

Madge was a pretty freckled redhead who looked like she belonged in Ireland instead of Dayton. Her curly hair was cut to shoulder length and her figure was almost the same as Maribeth's with not quite her endowments. We shook hands and she took a step backwards as if to give me an assessment.

"Oh... I've heard soooo much about you," she said while glancing at Maribeth and then back to me. I don't think it was my imagination, but it seemed she dropped her gaze a few feet as she said this. I looked at Maribeth and saw she was blushing. I suspected that Madge had heard an awful lot about me.

It turned out that Madge was returning from some errand and she was working the same shift. For the next two hours I just hung around the shop and talked to the two ladies between customers. Madge had a brother who had been drafted into the Army about a year ago and was assigned to the infantry. He was currently at Ft. Benning in Georgia but was scheduled to deploy to Vietnam in about a month. I told her I'd probably see him there, but I seriously doubted that I would.

Maribeth told Madge about our river trip and how much fun it'd been. She left out our brief sexual perversion on the river bank, but did a good job of describing everything else. Madge thought it would be fun and said that she and some friends might do it. Maribeth said, "take two cars."

Business picked up considerably after 4 p.m. so rather than watch the two of them count and tag clothes, I gave Maribeth an appropriate goodbye kiss, and asked her, "do you like baseball?" She was surprised by the question but gave me a nod, but I didn't elaborate. I told her I'd pick her up at 11 a.m. the next day and we'd be outside, so dress accordingly. I waved to Madge and headed back to the house.

I hadn't known before that morning that there was a regularly scheduled poker game at the house every Wednesday during the summer. Some brothers lived in town and would come over. Usually there was five or six and pizza would be ordered in. Of course, beer was the beverage of choice. It turned out that we did end up with six, including me.

I won some and lost some and basically broke even. I'm not a great gambler, and I had earned a reputation as a pretty conservative player. My highlight of the evening was that early on, I had won some and was playing with the bank's money. We had a nice pot building and so I decided to do something I never do. Win it with a bluff.

I raised and kept raising. Pretty soon we were down to Chip Evans and myself. Now I was seriously into my own money and in my hand I had.... absolutely nothing. The coup de grace came when I tossed a $10 bill in the pot. Chip looked at the pot, at me and at his hand. For a second I thought he was going to call, but then, with a word that sounded suspiciously like "shit," he folded. I spent the rest of the evening giving it all back.

Way too many beers later, I collapsed in bed at around 2 a.m.