Mrs. Lieutenant: A Sharon Gold Novel by Phyllis Zimbler Miller Page B

over first thing in the morning.
She isn't sure what her welcome will be. Kim was pleasant after the
incident at the PX. Yet when Sharon dropped her off at her
apartment afterwards, Kim didn't invite her in or make plans for
tomorrow.
    Sharon glances around the living room of the
small apartment. She can't stage a sit-in, refusing to budge. And
Sharon reminds herself of her liberal principles – not judging
someone on one small incident.
    “I'm not sure she wants to spend time with
me,” Sharon says.
    Robert throws her a questioning look. Sharon
hesitates before continuing, “In fact, I don't know if the carpool
thing will work."
    "Why not?" Robert sits down on the couch.
    Sharon tells him what happened in the PX,
then asks, "Why is she so upset about black men?"
    "You're the one who's assuming it's about
black men. Maybe it's all men. Maybe she thinks all men are always
looking at all women." He smiles. "Which is probably true."
    She picks up one of the sofa cushions and
beans him with it. "You better not be!"
    He holds up his arms to fend her off. "Not me
of course. Other men, looking for – conquests."
    Sharon sits down next to Robert. "I think it
was only because he was black. Besides, it's obvious we're not
single or we wouldn't be here."
    Robert squeezes
her. "Maybe for some men a married woman is more exciting – the
lure of the forbidden."

KIM – III – May
14
70 injured in clash on Wall Street between
construction workers and student anti-war demonstrators ... May 8,
1970
    “ When you have received an invitation to a social
function, acknowledge it within twenty-four hours.” Mrs. Lieutenant booklet
    Kim drops the mixing bowl into the sink. Two
filled cake tins occupy the tiny oven, the thin batter transforming
into a dense chocolate cake.
    She came home from the PX with Sharon and
immediately started to bake – a calming activity. She's not sure
about this carpooling. She and Sharon are so different.
    Last night as she and Jim drove home from
Sharon and Robert's apartment, Jim said, "They seem nice, don't
they?"
    Kim didn't answer. She watched her husband's
profile as he drove, aware of how much she wanted to fit into the
role of an officer’s wife. Had she said the right things? Or had
she embarrassed him?
    "Robert's idea to carpool is a good one," he
said. "You'll have to spend a lot of time with Sharon but at least
you won’t be alone."
    Kim knew what her husband wanted to hear –
her having a personal escort wherever she went on the post was
important to him – so she said: "We'll have a good time
together.”
    Jim turned the car into their apartment
complex. "You can hang out at the Officers Club. Just stay away
from the other officers."
    Kim's face burned. Why did Jim always have to
warn her about other men? Didn't he know how much she loved him?
That she would never look at another man in that way? She knew why
he was suspicious of her ...
    She got out of the car and walked beside her
husband. Her husband . Such strength, such
comfort in those two words. How could she ever live without him?
Every night she prayed she wouldn't have to.
    They walked into the apartment and Jim turned
on the television. Kim didn't stay to watch the news. There was
nothing she wanted to know from that box. Instead she headed to the
bedroom and extracted her pet white rat from the closet.
    Squeaky never failed to comfort her. Just
watching his little nose quiver as he ran around the bedroom took
her mind off "things." That was the word she used for what she
wouldn't even permit herself to think about – the war her husband
might have to fight in.
    Now she removes the cake tins from the oven
while she thinks again of Sharon Gold. Number one, she is a
Northerner so she probably doesn’t like Southerners. Number two,
she comes from a large city so she will obviously be more
sophisticated and make Kim feel like a country bumpkin. Number
three, she is Jewish so she will ... be different than Kim. All in
all, three good