TOMMY’S BAND AND THE BABE
from chapter 8
TRIPS TO THE CITY / TOMMY’S BAND/ AND THE BABE
I made it my business to get down to the city as much as possible. I would spend time posting notes around the base soliciting a ride to New York. I worked a swing shift sometimes, so I would be looking for a ride on different days. Most of the time I would catch a ride on Fridays, which was the day most GIs would be going home for the weekend. Some guys would go as far as Virginia from Cape Cod. We were advised against it, but if you had two guys driving it was no problem. I was going what seemed like every weekend, and I had hooked up with a contingent of drivers that were going to the city on a regular basis.
One trip I made to the city was with a fellow troop who was also from Richmond who was good at hooking up with the babes, so I had no problem hanging with him. He was a one of those long distant runners who would shoot down to Richmond on alternate weekends. He proved to be a good source for a ride to the city, and we went together often. As we were returning on one trip, we started to smell smoke coming from somewhere in the car, so we pulled over to investigate the situation. We opened the trunk to find some rags that had been stuffed in a hole in the floor of the trunk. The rags had caught fire in the trunk of the car. We thought we had the problem solved when we removed the rags, but we didn’t realize that the exhaust pipe had broken off directly under the hole in the floor of the trunk. This was causing carbon dioxide to seep into the car through the rear seat, as we continued to drive back to the base.
We were half way through Connecticut when we realized that the CO2 was going to be a problem, because my partner started to get sleepy and he was really having a difficult time keeping his eyes open. We stopped the car occasionally and got out to catch a breath of fresh air. We were cutting it close to getting back on time, and couldn’t really afford to stop any more. We had all the windows down and he tried driving with his head out of the window. The air was very cool, and that made it a little uncomfortable, but the cool air was also helping us to stay wake. We knew that the CO2 was getting to us, but we didn’t think it was that bad, until Ronnie started to throw up. I knew we were in trouble then, and the only option we had was for me to drive, because I was in better shape than he was. I was able to catch a little more fresh air by hanging further out of the window. The only problem was the fact that I didn’t have a driver’s license, but we had no choice.
I took over driving while Ronnie was still convulsing and he didn’t look good at all. I was a Survival Instructor, so I was determined to figure a way out of this situation. I just kept driving the car with my head stuck out the window and I tried holding my breath as much as possible, and I finally worked my way back to the Base. We had made it back just in time to go to work, but there was no time to change clothes and we were to sick to do anything anyway. I drove straight to the Base Hospital and the immediately admitted us. That was the last thing I remembered, until we woke up 24 hours later. The Doctor said we were suffering from CO2 poisoning and dehydration. This twist of fate kept us from being AWOL and gave us a couple more days of from work.
Most of the trips, however, were un-eventful and didn’t create half as much excitement. I contacted one of my first cousins Tommy, who had his band in the city. I went to visit him many times, and sometimes I could play and sing with his band. Sometimes I played the percussion instruments and sometimes I would just hang out the band. They were doing all the songs that I really liked and many of the tunes that I was learning to play on my bass.
There was a beautiful girl that came to see the band the first two weekends that played, and inevitably she caught my eye I was just hanging out with the band, so it was my duty to check out the babes. Most of the guys in the band were married anyway. Every now and then we would catch each other looking at each other, and that went on over a few weekends. “She’s always here”, I said to my cousin. “What’s the story?” He said,” go for it “ I couldn’t believe this beautiful women was sitting there at the table and not getting any play. I figured that she must have been stalking someone in the band, but that wasn’t the case at all. After checking her out for a while, I couldn’t wait any longer. I had to make my move, and I did. I went over to he table and asked for a dance and she said, “okay”. Wow, I thought to myself, I couldn’t believe it was going to be that easy. We dance a couple more times that evening, and she invited me to join he and her friends at her table the guys in the band were going crazy watching me make my moves. I had temporarily loss my interest in the band at this time. I hung out with her and her friends for the rest of the night, then we exchanged phone numbers and made a date before we parted for the evening.
I was dying as the young lady and her friends left the club. I really didn’t want to see her leave, but I didn’t want to appear too over-zealous either. The lady was a real eye-catcher. She had long dark hair, braided into a Pony’s tail, medium complexion, and soft radiant skin. Her eyes were bright and she looked Native American and Hispanic. I didn’t really care what she was; all I know is that she was fine and I was determined to get next to her. The guys in the band were totally stunned. They couldn’t believe it and I couldn’t believe it either. The whole band gathered around me like so many dogs in “heat” and was asking me all kinds of question about the babe, as if I really knew anything. “Hell, I just met her.” I said. Then I had to get another drink. I was supposed to hook up with her the next night at her house, somewhere in Queens, but I didn’t know my way around the city that well. My cousin went over the map with me and told me that I could use his car.
It was Saturday night and I called the babe to say I that I was on my way over, but unfortunately I was lost. I took the wrong turn somewhere and found myself in White Plains, which is nowhere near Queens. “I should have been there an hour ago.” I was saying to myself, as I became more and more lost. I couldn’t even find a phone. There was no phone to find. It seemed like every turn I made took me further away from where I wanted to be. I was almost crying. “How could I be so stupid?’ I kept asking myself. Why didn’t I leave two hours ahead of time? I knew it was too late now. I was an hour and a half late, and I didn’t think she would still be waiting for me. She may think that something must have happen because I did call her on time. Now here I am on the Major Deagan Expressway with no idea where I am. Eventually I found my way back to my cousin’s house. He told me the girl had called, but he had no idea where I was. He had been a little worried too, since I had not called I left at 8 PM and now it’s 10:30 PM and I’m just getting back to Tommy’s house. When I called her, she was still at home, but she was disappointed that I didn’t make it. I told her that my cousin would bring me to her house the next day before I had to return to my Base. The next day Tommy took me to her house and I visited with her for a while before Tommy returned to pick me up. It was a nice date, but it would have been better I’m sure if I was more independent.