It was a warm evening in Sydney, the war in Vietnam was a long way away, and you could see the lights of many city construction, it made for a lot of shadows, the dusty roads with cars passing our bus. At the corners of the streets were illuminated by lights, and the moon, cast a rippled Bay. In the park from my hotel, there was bound boats, dock, and when I sat on the bus with a young, sixteen year old girl at my side, I thought of a cold beer. The bus had stoppednext to my hotel took me to go out one night in the city, with some of the local girls, we were American soldiers on leave from Vietnam. Miss Andrea stood up, she was pretty young hostess, our guide, about thirty. Beautiful, but too old for me, flirt with, I was 22 then.
"Where is George?" Asked the bus driver.
"He is sick tonight, I was assigned to go in his place!" the driver said in a hoarse voice.
"Good"she said, "but we must lead the girls on the bus, of course."
(The girls just had an ad in the paper for free visits with the feast American GI's, the response from Vietnam, on leave, and therefore not subject to conditions, no expectations. It was one thing usually at night, and the landlady assured the parents, every girl back home to tour secure in ten hours, was a four-hour tour.)
"I hope we can go somewhere where we can get some cold beer and"Dance, I said to the young beauty beside me.
The bus bumped as he stopped at a red light, and a man and a woman came staggering down the road.
The girl next to me, was thin, a young woman, dark brown with a nice milky white complexion and thick hair roots. He was looking very clean and tidy.
"This is a nice hotel for you," he said, "I have just built."
"Yes, I take it could be."
"Maggie, my name is," and she reached outto greet me as right.
"I do not mean to be rude, but I'm 22 years old, and you're just a baby."
"Really," he said.
"Yes, that's the truth."
"How long have you been at war?"
"Six months, because ..."
"What do you want?"
"I work hard, that's all that matters."
"I live on a farm with my family, and grandmother, she has been sick lately."
"She is as beautiful as you?"
"She says," and she laughed.
"I think so, too bad you're soyoung people. "
"I'm sixteen," he said.
"Where is your company?"
"Maybe it really far, but I heard about this program and life on the farm are bored, so I got permission to tour once with the American soldier, many of the girls from my high school to go do it."
"Well, as you can see, no truth in everything."
"How old are you to be?"
"Fifteen or sixteen years ..."
"But I wanted right away, she says I look older."
"Your face looks sixteen"I said hesitantly, but his body looked more feminine, to say the least to me that I have, I think she felt it.
"How much did he cost for the tour?"
"Fifteen dollars, I think that's what I gave to the manager, and gave me a ticket, and I have a ticket to Andrew, when I got on the bus."
"So that's how it works," Maggie said. "We are free to go"
"You mean, as long as you talk to the American GI?"
"Not necessarily, said Americans areget my master, so you can enjoy the evening and I heard that before though, and seems to be. And I was curious. "
"I heard ocher, or Ozzie, not all, gentlemen, how?"
"I think it is, Australians and I think some people would disagree with you," and she smiled. I felt better to leave that area alone, although I have heard that several times in less than a week. So I'd be a bit 'more benefit to them, not using any slang thought we were talking about popularThings: Elvis and the Beatles, and President Nixon, and I told my hometown in Minnesota.
Then out of nowhere, turned around and kissed me on the cheek and smiled at me.
I was very tolerant of people then, and she had no experience or real knowledge of worldly people. She reacted impulsively I thought, perhaps, a paperback novel.
"Oh, my God, my friends go wild when I tell them what I did."
The bus then stopped and thereeverything went into a nightclub. As we all went in, I thought, here is a country girl, coming up to the big city, we sang a few songs on the bus, and somehow took a bold step by step together for a kiss on the city, and I really need to look safe, not dangerous, on the other hand, seemed so innocent, how do you make ... But my idea then was, is and always has been, a friendship more important than ever to put any time if you are attracted to a girl.And if that fails, you are friends. The ratio between boys and girls are more or less the same all over the world 105 boys for every 100 girls, which was the last time I read it, and that in time of war, perhaps contrary to say, I found rates in Australia would be better not for men to use reason, everything that had to do was be present and useful in some cases. So we went fishing and caught fish, check out their femininity. Will be gone tonight andtomorrow will be in my thoughts, and four other days I returned to Vietnam as a trout caught in a pit of mud, I said.
"As you know as in my country?" she asked, as we all stood in a circle group in the disco.
"It 's pretty big," I said, and I went to the bar, left the group for a moment, and ordered a cold beer, drank it in three moves, as the owner has ordered two bottles of champagne, a tray of glasses. Then I came back with the group.
Maggiestanding next to me, he takes his glasses and drank the champagne, "It 's my first time I had been drinking," he said.
"It 's a beautiful night," I said.
"We have to go in 15 minutes," said Andrea, "you guys should get on the bus, Americans can stay here if they want, otherwise we will return to the hotel."
"I want to stay a bit, '" said Maggie, for lead. And I say to her: "You do not know him or her, plus one, signed a piece ofBook by saying that he would agree that we are back where we picked up at a certain time, that is, our tour in the office! "
They told me again, they could get in trouble if they would return with them. He was now holding my hand slightly and hold my hand. Then I went with her to the group of girls in the bus was a couple of GI's behind the club, and we returned to our original seats. As we drove back to my hotel, she leaned her head on my shoulder, she was tired,perhaps not even notice, but she had fallen asleep. In the hotel I woke up, and she gave me her phone number.
The next day I tried calling but no one answered the phone. I answered the call several times a week, long-distance calls. Between calls, I stumbled across the city, and the beach, and a pair of nightclub shows and drinking with the girls I never knew, and just living up. Then I received a call fromis the hostess the night before I had to catch my plane back to Saigon, I had asked what was going on because no one answered the phone, but she was so I had to check the rings the right number, "" Maggie called, he said, "the other day, unfortunately I did not have before you, but her grandmother died, and she's terribly busy with the funeral," he said.
She told me not to call again, and I did not ask why. I just said, "Hey!" and left at that. There is no good, I thinkforget it, I told myself, will always remember that kiss and I will remember forever, she said: "The Americans are the masters," and that a glass of wine. But it makes you think how it could become evident when things were a bit 'different.
For God, who forty years ago, was this year.
No: 738 (02/16/2011)
