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While I was at the University, I received a surprise visit from Col.
Martin...
So
I went down stairs and, low and behold, it was Colonel Martin (Colonel
Martin was my American step father with whom I never did get along). So I
stood there looking at him and he
said, “Are we going to shake hands?” So
I held out my hand
and we shook hands. Then he said, weakly, “We’ve missed
you.”
I didn’t say anything for a few moments.
Breaking the silence, he said, “Your mother was quite worried about you.”
Mother! His wife is sure as heck not my mother and never could be. I said,
“Colonel, my mother is in China.”
He said, “Well, we don’t know that.”
“Why don’t we know that after all you’ve been in China all during the war,
haven’t you?”
He said, “Yes, but I couldn’t find her.”
I said, “Were you in Kunming? “
He said, “Yes, I was in Kunming, but Kunming is a very large city.”
I said, sarcastically, “I'll bet you tried very hard to find her. She
certainly would not have been hard to find. Everybody knew her.”
He said, “Yes, everybody knew her, but nobody knew where they went.”
I said, “They left Kunming, - even my sisters?”
He said, “Yes.”
I said, “And they didn’t bother to contact me?”
He said, “I guess not.”
I said, “That is very hard for me to believe. I’m sure that you and Mrs.
Martin have been very careful to hide the truth from me, and I’m not sure
I want to know the truth now. But, now, I’ve got a different family. I
have a new life; I like it, and I don’t intend to change it.”
He said, “I understand you’ve been doing very well.”
I said, “You understand that from whom?”
He said, “I’ve talked to a number of people.”
I said, “Here at the school?”
He said, “Well, yes, here at the school too.”
I said, “I don’t like people poking into my affairs."
He said, “Well, you don’t have to rude.”
I said, “I’m trying not to be rude. I’m also trying not to let you know
what my true feelings are.”
He said, “I can guess what they are. The way you ran off like that! I’m
surprised the Army didn’t want some proof of age. To allow somebody to
join at 15 years of age! I don’t understand how you could have gotten away
with it.”
I said, “Colonel, it wasn’t at all difficult. They wanted people so badly,
they couldn’t wait to get me in.”
He said, “I understand that you encountered Major Catalano.”
I said, “Yes, I did. And he was certainly nice to me. He took care of me
all the way across on the Queen Mary.”
He said, “Yes, I heard about that.”
I said, “Word really gets around, doesn’t it.”
He said, “Yes, word gets around. This is a small army. I don’t care how
many men are in it, we know what we want to know about everybody.”
I said, “Then I guess you know about Colonel Meiers.”
“Yes, I know about Colonel Meiers.”
“Have you talked to Colonel Meiers?”
The Colonel actually smiled, then said, “Yes, and he had wonderful things
to say about you. It made me quite proud.”
“He is a very wonderful man. I have never met anybody as wonderful as that
man or his family.”
“I’m surprised you didn’t get engaged to his daughter. She certainly is a
good looking girl.”
“You mean you’ve met her?
“Yes, they’re in the States.”
“I didn’t know that. I haven’t heard from them.”
“Maybe you haven’t heard from them because they don’t know where to write
you. They have no idea what your address is.”
Then I realized I had never given them Erika’s address. They didn’t know
my address. I said, “It’s is my 201 file.”
He said, “He doesn’t have your 201 file anymore.” Of course. I'm no longer
there. That was pretty stupid of me.
I said, “If you have their address, I’d like to write to them.”
He said, “I can do better than that, I have their phone number. I’m sure
they’d like to hear from you.” He said, “Are you going to invite me in to
sit down?”
I thought, boy I’m really being rude. We went into the living room, sat
down. One of the guys was in there, reading, and he got up and left. I
thought, that’s really being polite. I said, “You don’t need to leave;
this isn’t really a private conversation.”
He said, “We always leave when there are visitors.”
We talked a while and then the Colonel asked me if I was going to ‘come
home for Thanksgiving’. I thought, no – that’s not home. I said, “No, I
can’t afford to leave. I’m working for AT&T.”
He said, “I was wondering what you were doing for money. Are they paying
you well?”
“They are paying me very well. It’s an excellent job and I have a great
boss. I have no complaints.”
Then he asked, “How are you doing in school?”
I said, “It couldn’t be any better. The Head of the Math Department has
taken me under his wing. The Head of the Physics Department has taken me
under his wing, too. And the other subjects are a breeze.”
He said, “Well, if you’re doing so well here, why did you do so poorly in
school?”
I said, “You just can't understand, can you. When you brought me to the
United States, I was an outcast. Everywhere I went I was ridiculed. You
guys sent me to Linguaphone to teach me how to speak English. That didn’t
do any good. We moved out to Montana to the ranch because you wanted to
get away from the coast thinking there might be air raids. The people in
town were so nasty, so I wound up going to school in North Dakota.”
He said, “We figured you just wanted to ride the horse.”
I said, “Well I did. She was a good friend and always knew what to do. And
I enjoyed riding under the stars. How is she?”
He said, “I hate to tell you but she died shortly after you left.”
I said, “I could read something into that, but I won’t.”
He said, “You might as well read something into it because I think that
horse was very attached to you. She wouldn’t let anybody else get on her.”
Finally he got up and said, “I think I’ve overstayed my welcome and should
leave now. I would sure like you to come home for Thanksgiving. We’ll fly
you home; we do have an airport in Glasgow.”
I said, “Well sir, like I said, I’m really kind of stuck here.”
He said, “How about Christmas.”
I said, “I have other plans for Christmas.”
He said, “I thought you might. But I did want to look you up and make sure
you’re okay. If you need anything, you know where to find us.”
I said, “Yes I do and thank you for coming, sir.” As I was going back up
to my room, I realized that he hadn't given me the Meiers phone number.
He was gone, and I never saw him again.
and, of course, there is much, much more in my book.
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