Phone cqll from NYC

I think it was two days after i returned that the call came from S. He did not have time to talk long for his flight to Sacramento was leaving in minutes. I had to arrange to get hold of a car and drive to the air force place in Sacramento. S tried to convince me that he could hitch hike. I said wait for me.

I asked Mr S, S.s stepfather if I could borrow their car with assurances that I would fill the car with gas before I returned it. He said NO. AND FROM NOW ON WHEN YOU ENTER THIS HOUSE YOU HAVE TO RING THE DOORBELL. I was shocked. Throughout the war he had been my best friend. He had been generous and jovial. Everyone remarked about the change in him. And now because S. was returning he had become an ogre and the two had not even seen each other. I was devastated. I felt I had lost a good friend. I called the Aunts and Uncle and asked if I could borrow their old old Ford. They said Of course. But our tires are not very solid. Uncle P drove over and I took him home and continued on my way. It was a scary drive for me for I was not that well versed with the traffic around San Francisco. And I did not know where that Air Field was once I got to Sacramento. I had been scared before, but I knew I could make it.

I had a flat tire before I left the Peninsula. That was lucky for I knew my way around there and I called the garage that I had used when I worked at the hospital. They were about to close, but I convinced them it was a national emergency and so they came. When the repair truck arrived the man said: Where is the spare? I said: I don't know. He found it and it was flat. "I may have one this size in the truck. But you really should not drive anywhere on these old tires, I told him how important it was that I get to Sacramento soon and he understood. If you were my daughter I would forbid it. But I will wish you Good Luck and you will need it.

I think the Air Base was on my side of Sacramento. I made it in fairly good time and I had to wait till S. was disenrolled in the War Effort. And then he finally had time to to talk to me. He was starving and we stopped at a fast food someplace on the way to the Peninsula. When I told him about his stepfather he was not at all surprised. He felt it was typical behavior for him. We got home late and someone had seen to it that we did not have to ring the doorbell. S. went in to give his mother a hug and a kiss. Luckily his parents slept in different bedrooms. Next morning we decided that we would return the car to his Aunt and Uncle with a full tank of Gas and a gift card for new tires. And then look for an apartment.

We looked at the classified ads. We called an old friend of the family's and found out that rentals were hard to come by. Several people told us not to buy anything at this time for prices were predicted to come down soon. We were in a unique situation and felt we had to get out as soon as possible. I said let's call Tom, the patient who so wanted to walk. And so we went to an Auto place and bought a car, went to see Tom, who had the perfect apartment for us to rent right alongside the
Bay Shore Freeway. And by 10.30 am we were all set to move into our new abode. All we needed was furniture and cooking equipment etc.

Someone gave us an old black double bed with all the bedclothes and linens. And so we were all set for camping in our new headquarters. That night we went to sleep early and at 2.30 some one was knocking on the door asking if they could use our pone for they had been involved in an accident. We told them we had no phone. We wondered if this was going to be a nightly occurrence, but it never happened again in the year and half we lived there