sandal and waved her hand vaguely. “I shop.” I revised my opinion of Friona from lonely to aloof. Not an exotic sea creature. More like a bored mermaid. She twisted around, inspected the room. “What’s taking Keith so long? I swear.” She stood and said abruptly, “See you.”
Mitch arrived with two plates and we moved to the tables to sit with Abby and Jeff. They were easy to spot because Jeff’s tall figure topped with red hair cut in a crewcut towered over everyone. I popped the top of my Diet Coke, poured it into the clear plastic cup of ice Mitch had brought back, and took a bite of hamburger. No efforts to be supermodel thin for me. Livvy babbled away in her car seat near my chair, a combination of gurgles and murmuring.
Abby pulled a key out of her pocket and slid it across the table. “I brought a copy of our house key. I locked myself out last week and Jeff had to drive all the way home to let me in. At least he wasn’t on a trip or I’d have had to fork over fifty bucks for a locksmith. Do you mind keeping an extra key for me at your house in case it happens again?”
“No, of course not. In fact, it’s a great idea. I’ll leave one with you, too.” I worked my key off my key ring and gave it to Abby. “I’ll get Mitch’s key before I leave. I’ll be there to let him in.”
Livvy’s gurgles merged into a few gulps. I checked her face. Tomato red. A storm of crying was about to break. I looked at Mitch and he smiled and shook his head. “Right on cue.” He picked her up and walked. I ate fast.
“Hello, everyone,” boomed a man up front. “I’m Colonel Briman. I want to welcome all the new arrivals.” He whipped off his hat and set his flight bags down. He must have come straight from the flight line. “Everyone who has transferred here within the last month, please stand up, stand up. Welcome to Greenly AFB.
“We’re a team here and we want everyone to join in and be right at home. If you need anything, anything, just let me or my wife, Jill, know.” Briman had wiry brown hair, a tan face, and green eyes made greener by the flight suit he wore. There was a round of halfhearted applause and we sat back down. “Now some ofyou know we have to pick up an additional rotation to the sandbox in December, but I’m going to make it as painless as possible.”
No one made a sound, but the temperature in the room seemed to drop about twenty degrees. The “sandbox,” the deserts of the Middle East and Southwest Asia, are the bane of everyone’s life in the Air Force. It didn’t really matter where, Iraq, Qatar, the UAE, or another small but strategic country. It would be a hot, dry, and lonely time away from home. Mitch had been there last year over Christmas. It was something almost everyone hated, but you didn’t complain, at least not in front of the squadron commander. “We’re glad to have you new folks here and I know we’ll work together and make a great team,” Briman concluded. “Now I’ve got a meeting, but my door is always open to anyone at Team Greenly.” He picked up his flight bags and headed out.
Team concept was big right now. Briman must be brushing up on it, I thought cynically. Then I felt bad. It wasn’t his fault there was a deployment over Christmas. I met Mitch’s dark eyes and he said quietly with a minimal shrug of one shoulder, “I’m low man on the totem pole here.” I sighed. He would be gone over Christmas this year, too.
Diana, a thin woman with straight blond hair cut in an androgynous “little boy” style, slid into a seat, moving with a fluid, catlike grace. I’d met her at the coffee. She hooked her short hair behind her ears and introduced her husband, Brent. His thin blond hair fell across his forehead as he leaned over to shake my hand. “So nice to meet you.” He held my hand in both of his, looked directly into my eyes. Diana and Brent looked like a magazine ad for expensive perfume; both were blue-eyed blonds and attractive.