It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time by Tom Corbett

Author:Tom Corbett [Tom Corbett]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: -
Publisher: BookBaby
Published: 2020-03-16T00:00:00+00:00

Tim (and spouse) at peace with his intestines (2009).

C H A P T E R 1 5

Insights

“Something’s wrong here!” Maureen exclaimed.

“Besides the fact that we are stuck listening to the guys whine about stuff?” Cate, her site mate in India asked.

“Beyond that. Not exactly wrong I suppose, but something is bothering me. It seems like we’re always looking at the dark side of things whenever we get together. I mean, we tend to fall into this pattern of dark humor and disaster stories. Think about this, the guys inevitably talk about their pathetic sex lives which always puts me into a deep coma.” Several of the women assented to this observation.

Cate was nodding her head. “You are totally right. Why is that? I mean about our going to the dark side, not the guys’ boring sex lives.”

Janice chimed in. “I suppose it’s our selective memories. The hard things stayed with us, but there was a lot of good stuff as well. India was tough for me, as it was for most of us.”

“Absolutely,” Cate picked up the thread of the dialogue, “but in the end, it changed my life. It really pointed me in a new direction.”

Connie seemed to agree. “Yes, if we thought about it seriously, we could see how our time there transformed us.”

A question popped into my head. “Here’s something that I’ve been wanting to ask.”

“No, we won’t go to bed with you.” Laura responded absent any affect.

“Funny lady. However, my question is this. Knowing what you know now, how many of you would do it all over again?”

The women eyed me suspiciously but slowly, when they reluctantly determined I was being serious, most hands went up. “Not unanimous, I see but a majority, most in fact. And those with reservations.”

Dee spoke uncertainly. “Peace Corps yes, for sure. But maybe a different country or a program where I knew what I was doing.”

“I think I get it. No one is rejecting Peace Corps but perhaps looking for situations that make more sense.” Several affirmations could be heard. “Let me suggest this, then. How many of you women would do it again if the experience could be tweaked to improve it a bit?” Now almost all the hands from 44-A went up in the air.

“Tweaked how?” Maureen asked suspiciously.

“For example, if you could have been stationed with me for two years.” I tried to deadpan it but failed.

“Oh my God!” and other oaths could be heard as all the hands fell again.

“Well, I think we have a consensus here. I was going to going to suggest a recruiting idea to Peace Corps, at least to attract younger women. Envision a picture of me with the slogan: Spend two years in the desert with this virile example of pure manhood, 180 pounds of twisted steel and sex appeal.”

“Shit, Corbett,” Paul guffawed, “you passed 180 pounds decades ago and never looked back.”

Connie raised a hand. “Wait, let’s not be harsh. I’ll admit that Corbett was kind of cute a half century ago.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.