"Well. HC-8 flies the Ch-46 Sea Knight helicopter and performs search and rescue and vertical replenishment in support of the Atlantic Fleet." he replied proudly. 'However," he continued before Mommy could ask him how dangerous it all was. "HC-8 also operates Heliops."
"What's that?" I asked first.
"That. Sailor Girl, is the Atlantic Fleet Helicopter Operations School, and yours truly is to be an instructor, which means." he continued without taking a breath. "as permanent a location for us as is possible. Maybe as long as three years!"
Mommy just stared at him. She looked as if she were afraid she had dreamed the words and if she said anything or interrupted him, it would all pop like a bubble of dialogue in some cartoon.
"Of course, this means a promotion." he said, and stood at attention. "You are now looking at Lieutenant Commander Houston, pay grade zerofour."
He turned his shoulder down to be sure we both saw his new shoulder board with its thick band, narrow band, and thick band. Then he flipped out a packet of pages and handed them to Mommy,
"Our new digs," he declared.
She looked at the pictures of the housing on base. "Nice, huh?"
"Yes," she said after taking a breath, leaning back, and turning to me.
She could see it in my face: I knew it was to be goodbyes again, the departing words spoken practically in mid-sentence. Daddy caught the look on both our faces.
"Sailor Girl will be fine," Daddy said, "Shipping out is in her blood by now, right. Sailor Girl?"
"Right, Daddy."
"I'm sorry, honey," Mommy said. "I know you've made some friends."
"It's all right. There's no one with whom I'm that close." The truth was, there wasn't, but I also knew it was my fault more than anyone. else's.
"You'll have a bigger room," Daddy promised. "It's going to be a very nice house and a good school and..."
"She knows the drill by now. Roland." Mommy said. "Save your breath."
He nodded. She stood up and kissed him. "Congratulations. Roland."
"I'm closing in on that admiral," Daddy said proudly. "What do you say we celebrate and go out to dinner?"
Mommy looked to me.
"It's all right. I've almost got all my homework done," I said. "My sailor girls," Daddy said, and hugged us both.
I looked at the house I had barely grown to know, the house we were now deserting like a sinking ship. Someday, I thought, will live in one place for a long time, and I will get to know people and have real friends, and all this will seem like a dream.
Would I be happier?
I longed to discover the answer,
.
We were going clear across the country. from California to Virginia. Daddy decided we would sell our car, ship what we wanted to take with us, and fly. We would buy a new car in Norfolk. His orders required a very fast departure anyway, so if we didn't, he would fly. and Mommy and I would have had to drive across country ourselves, not that we hadn't gone long distances ourselves in the past. This time more than any time, however, they both wanted to have the sense of a truly new beginning with as much of it as fresh as possible. Possessions were more temporary for us than they were for most people. We had no furniture we had to take with us. Any pictures and decorations Mommy had bought for the present house would be either given away or sold.
Most of the children of naval personnel whom I have met and known seem almost numb to being ripped up and out of their "digs," as Daddy liked to call them. The faces of my current girlfriends were stoical, neither sad nor happy for me exactly. There was some curiosity about where we were going and what my father was going to do, but almost before I finished describing it all. I could see their eves shifting, their attention moving off me, their mental erasers working, scrubbing my name and face from the pages of their memories. I had yet to actually walk out of the school and leave our house. but I was gone as far as they were all concerned. I couldn't blame them.
The phone didn't ring the day we were scheduled to depart. No one called to say goodbye or promise to write or ask me to write. We naval children floated by one another like faces on balloons, caught in some wind over which we had no control. We were ribbons tied to the rear bumpers of cars and had just as much power and say over where the car would turn and go. At least gypsies moved in a small community, remaining together as if the world moved under their feet and they never left. Occasionally. I had run into someone I had known from a previous naval base whose father had been transferred shortly after or even before my father. but I found this more of an exception than a rule, and, besides, it didn't result in any tightening of any relationship. I think we were all afraid of the same inevitable goodbye.
It couldn't have been a more beautiful May day for our arrival in Norfolk. Virginia. The sky was my favorite shade of turquoise, close to my eye color, with clouds of whipped cream that looked dabbed onto a canvas, seemingly unmoving. It was war
m with a soft breeze. and I remember how everything looked so new and crisp to me.
Daddy was right to be enthusiastic about our new home. It was in a gated community, and each home had beautiful landscaping. As soon as we arrived, the wives of other naval officers were on the scene to greet Mommy. One of them brought her daughter along. Her name was Autumn Sullivan, and she was just two months younger than I. We would be in the same grade and have the same classes. I could see she was anxious to tell me all about the school, the teachers, the other students, and activities.