Suspicious flashbacks after the delayed revelation of Truth!
[PS: If anyone recognizes this story and can enlighten me about true facts, I would appreciate an eMail.]
After I returned from 'Nam, we went to Sacramento for my first assignment as an Instructor in Nav School! Early on, Raquel mentioned some middle-aged guy in the base library had been coming on to her when she was there with Baby Ivan to get some books to read to him. She passed it off as nothing but I told her I wanted to know & could help stop him if it happened again; I didn't hear anymore, but she DID go back to the library for more baby books.
Another time during my Instructor tour, one of my co-workers (Dave McDonald) was unexpectedly at my home talking with Nora indoors when I came home unexpectedly one midday. I think I may have been scheduled to fly but the flight finally cancelled after 3-4 hours after takeoff without getting fixed. I don't think Raquel or Dave ever gave me a good reason for why Dave was really there, but I made sure I showed him my gun collection before he left -- especially the pistol I kept loaded and handy! Neither of them had told me anything prior about their meeting, and it could not have been for a sponsor project because during my last 2 years in that assignment, I was no longer a class sponsor.
I didn't notice any other suspicious occurrence until 2 years later in Lubbock while I was on an AF scholarship for a Master' s degree in psychology. I also worked at the Lubbock County Mental Health Center providing counseling to finish off an internship to finish my OTHER Master's degree in counseling. But a Doctoral classmate named Dick Davidson had been studying with me from time to time at our house which was rather close to campus. (I should mention I had gotten approval from Texas Tech to press on converting my Master's program into a Doctoral program in hopes that AF would also approve it. I was taking double overload courses every semester in order to qualify and complete it in almost the same time that AF had already approved for the Master's!) After awhile, Dick seemed to be over at our house "waiting to study" a little too early and a little too often when I would be getting home from classes or my counseling internship. Dick also had become much more reticent in most conversations with me whenever we would have them on-campus. We didn't seem to have so many conversations anymore, either.
The second "university-tour incident" occurred at Rod Davila's birthday party as I recall Raquel telling me much later -- after we moved from Texas to Ohio. There was just a small group of 3 or 4 couples at Rod & Sue's and I didn't notice anything out of the ordinary. But Raquel told me years later (I think it was at the "7-year revelation" point,) that the tall Mexican-American lawyer slow-dancing with her had tried to feel her up repeatedly as they danced. That was Perry Alberto, a lawyer whose wife was a social worker at the county mental health center where Rod & I worked most days. I can't remember who was dancing with whom -- I'm sure I wasn't dancing with anyone except my wife since I am a virtual "non-dancer". It may be that I was in the kitchen talking with other guests or Rod or Sue while this sneaky lawyer-dancing was going on. I don't remember seeing or suspecting anything then. Raquel had finally started taking some classes at Tech so she certainly had other people as social contacts in her undergraduate classes. But this circle was more her own age -- I was 31, Raquel was 28, Sue was 26. Perry was a little older but his wife was like the rest of us.
It is even possible that Alberto had gotten a cue from Rod if Rod had had some contact with my wife that I didn't know about. I WILL say I have always been suspicious because of a COUPLE of times when Sue came over to catch me at home when no one else was there. Attractive Sue was not explicit but she gave very strong vibes that sure seemed to make it easy for me to come onto her if I'd wanted, THOSE two different days! Actually, I had to go out of my way to avoid it the more "obvious" time that something was up, and invited Sue outside into the backyard so I could examine house repair projects; I insured I stayed outside until I could bore her enough that she decided to leave. (Sue may have even invented the excuse of planning to meet Raquel there at the house as if intending to talk with her instead of me. But, even then, that would have struck me as a "likely story.") I'm sure both Raquel and Sue could tell I was very attracted to Sue -- even BEFORE I learned Sue had not given birth to her 2 adopted sons! But, against my prurient impulses, I behaved like a perfect saint and played everything completely straight & proper as if just one good friend visiting platonically with another! This remained puzzling to me for as long as I believed in Raquel's truthfulness with me and her basic innocence.
Sue & Rod and Raquel & I had gone out together a number of times & we enjoyed being mixed Anglo/Mexican couples and we associated with another Anglo/Mexican couple we knew from AFROTC. It occurred to me later that Sue's pair of afternoon visits could easily have been a set-up arranged between Raquel and Sue (and who knows who else) to assuage someone's "guilty conscience" -- perhaps, an equalizing for some misbehavior that Raquel had already been involved in. Perhaps Chicano misbehavior that someone thought allowed for some sort of rendezvous between Sue & me, the Anglos in the closest pair of friends. Or, perhaps, just a form of surrogate parenting with me being an unsuspecting surrogate sperm donor! Hmmm... This reminds me of a point for later -- when my brother-in-law was killed in a car accident soon after my earlier potential Sue-icide (but you'll have to wait to hear that one).
[PS: If anyone recognizes this story and can enlighten me about true facts, I would appreciate an eMail.]
After I returned from 'Nam, we went to Sacramento for my first assignment as an Instructor in Nav School! Early on, Raquel mentioned some middle-aged guy in the base library had been coming on to her when she was there with Baby Ivan to get some books to read to him. She passed it off as nothing but I told her I wanted to know & could help stop him if it happened again; I didn't hear anymore, but she DID go back to the library for more baby books.
Another time during my Instructor tour, one of my co-workers (Dave McDonald) was unexpectedly at my home talking with Nora indoors when I came home unexpectedly one midday. I think I may have been scheduled to fly but the flight finally cancelled after 3-4 hours after takeoff without getting fixed. I don't think Raquel or Dave ever gave me a good reason for why Dave was really there, but I made sure I showed him my gun collection before he left -- especially the pistol I kept loaded and handy! Neither of them had told me anything prior about their meeting, and it could not have been for a sponsor project because during my last 2 years in that assignment, I was no longer a class sponsor.
I didn't notice any other suspicious occurrence until 2 years later in Lubbock while I was on an AF scholarship for a Master' s degree in psychology. I also worked at the Lubbock County Mental Health Center providing counseling to finish off an internship to finish my OTHER Master's degree in counseling. But a Doctoral classmate named Dick Davidson had been studying with me from time to time at our house which was rather close to campus. (I should mention I had gotten approval from Texas Tech to press on converting my Master's program into a Doctoral program in hopes that AF would also approve it. I was taking double overload courses every semester in order to qualify and complete it in almost the same time that AF had already approved for the Master's!) After awhile, Dick seemed to be over at our house "waiting to study" a little too early and a little too often when I would be getting home from classes or my counseling internship. Dick also had become much more reticent in most conversations with me whenever we would have them on-campus. We didn't seem to have so many conversations anymore, either.
The second "university-tour incident" occurred at Rod Davila's birthday party as I recall Raquel telling me much later -- after we moved from Texas to Ohio. There was just a small group of 3 or 4 couples at Rod & Sue's and I didn't notice anything out of the ordinary. But Raquel told me years later (I think it was at the "7-year revelation" point,) that the tall Mexican-American lawyer slow-dancing with her had tried to feel her up repeatedly as they danced. That was Perry Alberto, a lawyer whose wife was a social worker at the county mental health center where Rod & I worked most days. I can't remember who was dancing with whom -- I'm sure I wasn't dancing with anyone except my wife since I am a virtual "non-dancer". It may be that I was in the kitchen talking with other guests or Rod or Sue while this sneaky lawyer-dancing was going on. I don't remember seeing or suspecting anything then. Raquel had finally started taking some classes at Tech so she certainly had other people as social contacts in her undergraduate classes. But this circle was more her own age -- I was 31, Raquel was 28, Sue was 26. Perry was a little older but his wife was like the rest of us.
It is even possible that Alberto had gotten a cue from Rod if Rod had had some contact with my wife that I didn't know about. I WILL say I have always been suspicious because of a COUPLE of times when Sue came over to catch me at home when no one else was there. Attractive Sue was not explicit but she gave very strong vibes that sure seemed to make it easy for me to come onto her if I'd wanted, THOSE two different days! Actually, I had to go out of my way to avoid it the more "obvious" time that something was up, and invited Sue outside into the backyard so I could examine house repair projects; I insured I stayed outside until I could bore her enough that she decided to leave. (Sue may have even invented the excuse of planning to meet Raquel there at the house as if intending to talk with her instead of me. But, even then, that would have struck me as a "likely story.") I'm sure both Raquel and Sue could tell I was very attracted to Sue -- even BEFORE I learned Sue had not given birth to her 2 adopted sons! But, against my prurient impulses, I behaved like a perfect saint and played everything completely straight & proper as if just one good friend visiting platonically with another! This remained puzzling to me for as long as I believed in Raquel's truthfulness with me and her basic innocence.
Sue & Rod and Raquel & I had gone out together a number of times & we enjoyed being mixed Anglo/Mexican couples and we associated with another Anglo/Mexican couple we knew from AFROTC. It occurred to me later that Sue's pair of afternoon visits could easily have been a set-up arranged between Raquel and Sue (and who knows who else) to assuage someone's "guilty conscience" -- perhaps, an equalizing for some misbehavior that Raquel had already been involved in. Perhaps Chicano misbehavior that someone thought allowed for some sort of rendezvous between Sue & me, the Anglos in the closest pair of friends. Or, perhaps, just a form of surrogate parenting with me being an unsuspecting surrogate sperm donor! Hmmm... This reminds me of a point for later -- when my brother-in-law was killed in a car accident soon after my earlier potential Sue-icide (but you'll have to wait to hear that one).
posted by Richard A at 8:30 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home