Where America's Day Begins:
Goldie spent the layover talking to some GI’s. One of them
walked over. He was tall with dark hair and an earring on one
ear. Celia wondered if the earring was an okay thing in the
military. It didn’t used to be. She decided not to ask.
“Cee,” Goldie said, “This is Tom. He says he has a car we
can use when we get to the island.”
“It’s a little old,” Tom informed them. “I left it at the
airport so I’d have transportation when I got back, but my
girlfriend decided to pick me up.
“It’d be a favor to me if you two take it off my hands. I’ll
let you have it one day free. It’s a bomb, but she runs good. Ten
dollars a day after that.”
“Okay, Cee?” Goldie asked.
“Fine with me. We’ll need transportation, anyway.” Their
flight was called. Tom smiled and boarded the plane with the
other GIs.
“What’s a bomb?” Celia asked.
“We’ll soon find out,” Goldie said.
“Something called a bomb sounds dangerous,” Celia
insisted.
But once on the plane, she got comfortable and fell
asleep. And sometime during the flight, just like when
Cinderella’s ball gown turned back to rags and her royal coach
turned into a pumpkin and the coachmen back into mice,
Friday magically turned into Sunday...
They arrived at the Guam airport and saw Tom holding
hands with a petite blond at the baggage area.
“That girl couldn’t get any closer to Tom if she was a
tick,” Goldie whispered.
“You’re right about that,” Celia whispered back. “I guess
we get to use the car for sure.”
“Welcome to Guam,” he said, “where America’s day
begins.”
“What does that mean?” Goldie asked, as she grabbed for
one of her suitcases...