Beach Tale: "Easy Money", a short mystery

          Lance watched from his perch atop a stool at the Tiki Hut, a beachside bar that catered to the swimsuit clad.  Lance thought the tiki theme a bit overdone, but who was he to judge?  A balmy breeze blew off the Atlantic and beach babes strutted their stuff by the surf, and other normal circumstances Lance would be enjoying himself.

But tonight had a job to do.  He forced himself to keep his eyes on Charlie, his partner-in-crime, seated at the opposite end of the long teak counter.  Charlie paid the bartender with a crisp twenty-dollar bill, which was Lance’s signal to order a drink. 

          “Barkeep,” Lance called out, waving two fingers in the air, “I’ll take a Coke when you get a chance.” 

Beach Tale: The Times They Are A-Changin'--Navy Spouse Edition

Let’s face it, times have changed, especially in the Navy Spouse ranks.  And it’s easy to see the changes when flips through an ancient copy of Welcome Aboard—A Service Manual for the Naval Officer’s Wife by Florence Ridgely Johnson (an Admiral’s wife, so she knows of what she speaks.)  Published in 1951, it gives a great perspective on what spouse life was like back in the day when the Navy’s unofficial motto was, “If we wanted sailors to have a wife we’d have issued them one in their sea bag.”  Some of the stuff is absolutely hysterical and horrifying at the same time.  Here are some excerpts, followed by a few editorial comments about Navy Spouses life in 2012.  Enjoy! 

Beach Tale: "Prescription for Love" a short romance

          Maddie wasn’t sure she could take another step.

          “Which grocery store shall we hit tonight?” her sister Kara asked.

          “Huh?”  It was all the response Maddie could muster as they finished the grueling eight-mile run along the beach.  She bent at the waist and rested her elbows on her knees as she sucked in lungfuls of refreshing salt air.

          “I’m thinking the Green Grocer over on West Washington might be good.” Kara, who was in far better shape than Maddie, sounded less like a steam locomotive puffing up a mountain and more like someone who had just finished a game of Wii bowling. 

          Maddie had assumed, erroneously, that joining her sister on an after-work run would replace their usual evening activity of late—man hunting.  Kara had read in a magazine that a good place to meet eligible bachelors was at the grocery store, so the sisters had been cruising a different one every night for the past three weeks.  So far, they hadn’t met a single eligible man.    

Beach Tale: A Beach-themed Fable

              Way back when I was a young girl, my parent’s would park us in front of the TV on Saturday morning and toss us a box of Cap’n Crunch or Fruit Loops cereal (both great for leaving a “trail of crumbs” a lá Hansel and Gretel.)  Mom and Dad would then slink off to the kitchen where they could enjoy a morning of peace and quite with their coffee and paper.  I know your first thought is quite possibly, “Why didn’t anyone call Child Protective Services?” But let me explain that 1) the cereal was fortified with 14 vitamins and minerals (I think) and 2) there were some teaching moments on Saturday Morning TV back in the day.  Like Aesop’s Fables.  I can almost hear the music now as a cartoon fairy flies onto the screen and opens a voluminous book of Fables, and I would watch with rapt attention as I learned my moral lesson.  You might remember the classics such as “The Tortoise and the Hare” or “The Ant and the Grasshopper” or “The Boy Who Cried Wolf” or “The Fox and the Grapes” (from whence we get the phrase “Sour Grapes.)  Classics, all.