The Five O'Clock Follies by Theasa Tuohy

Author:Theasa Tuohy
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: american journalists vietnam war 1968 tet offensive female war correspondentswomen�s issues
Publisher: Calliope Press

Chapter 34

Choices

Black or white? The choice seemed to boil down to that. A black silk, or a white linen? She hadn’t worn a dress in so long it was nice to have the luxury of such a minor dilemma.

She slipped the silk from the weird bamboo curlicue that passed for a hanger in these parts and opened the second door of her armoire/closet. She hadn’t opened this door wide enough to view herself in its full-length mirror for a month or more. Right arm across her chest, she held the dress against her body to study the effect. The black looks hot, she thought, the white cooler, more demure. Cool is what I need, I think, to slow down what may be turning into a headlong rush.

Showered, legs shaved, makeup in place, and with an extra squirt of perfume, she started down the wide, carpeted stairs in her high heels and the crisp white dress.

There he was, Curtis, waiting in the lobby. He looks like he took as much care to dress as I did, she thought. Clean-shaven, no safari jacket, an expensive looking summer suit. As he watched her coming down the last few stairs, his smile lit up both their faces. She could feel her widening grin matching his.

The party hosts were friends, or more likely sources, of his. The first thing Angela noticed was that the house had air conditioning! The elegant woman who greeted them at the door appeared middle-aged, and her slightly lock-jaw speech bespoke New England. She quickly introduced Angela and Ford to the nearest couple (a bird colonel and his wife), her mauve taffeta skirt whispering against the intricate Persian carpet as she moved on. A waiter appeared to offer champagne.

“Nice to meet you,” the colonel’s wife stuck out her hand. It was square and firm and brown. No nail polish, a no-nonsense hand, surprising in this setting.

“Ah yes,” said the colonel, looking at Angela with the light of recognition. “An interesting case.”

“Case?” Angela replied, a questioning look on her face.

“Well, yes, of course, you were the woman who was captured. But perhaps I shouldn’t be mentioning it. Is it classified?”

“Classified?” Ford looked from one to the other. “What are you talking about?”

“Well, now, there’s John and Barbara,” the colonel said to his wife, nodding his head toward a couple who had just entered. “We haven’t seen them in ages. We must say hello. Nice to have met you,” he said, as he took his wife by the elbow and steered her toward the new arrivals.

“What was that all about?” Ford turned a bewildered face to Angela.

She laughed. “I had a debriefing yesterday. Just a bunch of boys playing cloak and dagger.”

“I love the moxie of your brave front,” he said, smiling, brushing a stray wisp of hair from her cheek, “but are you sure it’s not something we need to worry about?”

“They wanted to know what I’d seen, and I told them. Don’t worry,” Angela assured him, smiling inwardly at his concern, “I think it was fine.

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