JOHN CHAPTER FOUR Fort Lewis, Washington      I stayed in Turlock, with Cathy until John got settled at Fort Lewis, near Tacoma, Washington. He got a small apt that had been a motel. It was very close to a mental hospital. I was alone much of the time as John was off on maneuvers a lot. He bought me a gun that I kept on a suitcase under my bed. The only time I started to use it, was one night when John came home in the middle of the night without notice and I almost shot him.      The apartment was very much like a little cabin. Very small kitchen, living room, bedroom, and bath. I would wash the diapers by hand each time, 6 rinses. At first, I hung them outside to dry and they froze onto the line. Soon I learned to just hang them over a rack I had placed over the register. They were stiff without the air dry, but made do.      Mimi Tennent, another Lt's wife befriended me and drove me to the commissary etc. before we got a car.      We had a windfall of $300 for something and went immediately to a used car lot and bought a real lemon for $600. Plymouth, I think. It quit about half way home from the dealers. I learned to drive in that car, with Cathy in the car seat next to me. I didn't know that you didn't need to put the emergency brake on every time you parked so I often tried to start driving with the brake still on and jerked poor Cathy in her auto seat a lot. She was good about it. Later, when we would drive the hills in the city of Tacoma I worried that the brakes would give out. Luckily we all survived. When we went to Seattle and were on the hills, I worried about it. Hated to admit to John what I'd done so long. John was a bad driving instructor. You should never learn to drive from your husband. We had several good friends there, Mimi and her husband Ted Tennent, who was also a 2nd Lt. Like John. Frequently, John and him would go on maneuvers for days at a time and we gals were alone.

 

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