really think so, Dad?" Ben said, winking at Mary Anne.
"The old Dad soaked up quite a bit of culture while he was sportin' around the capitals of Europe."
"You're just too modest to flaunt it, aren't you dear?" Lillian said softly.
"That's right. Modesty is one of my worst faults," Bull shouted, laughing, enjoying himself in the last fifty miles of his journey.
"Hey, Dad," Matt said," why doesn't the Marine Corps send its families overseas sometimes?"
"They're probably afraid that Marine kids would whip up on Air Force kids."
"Could you imagine living in Gay Paree, speaking French like natives," Ben wondered aloud.
"I can say hello, good-bye, and kiss my fanny in eight languages," Bull boasted.
"Why, Bull," Lillian said," I didn't know you were multilingual."
"I pick up languages real fast," he replied, missing the irony in her voice.
"If you'd only work a little harder on your native tongue," she said.
"Very funny."
Mary Anne spoke out brightly, extravagantly. "Let's talk some more about how lucky we are to be military brats."
"I'm so lucky that I get to go to four high schools instead of just one," Ben declared with feigned enthusiasm.
"And I, the lovely Mary Anne Meecham whose beauty is celebrated in song and legend . . . "Mary Anne began.
"Boy is that a laugh," Matt said.
"Quiet, midget, before I feed you to a spider."
"Mom," Matt called.
"We just have a little ways to go, children. So try to get along."
"Or else I'm gonna have to butt a few heads," the colonel glowered through his sunglasses.
"Anyway," Mary Anne continued," I'm lucky enough to be absolutely friendless through an entire school year until the month of May. Then I make lots of new friends. Then I'm lucky enough to have Daddy come home with a new set of orders. Then I'm lucky enough to move in the summer and lucky enough to be absolutely friendless when school starts back in the fall."
"I know you're kidding," Lillian said to Mary Anne. "And I know all of you are upset about leaving Atlanta."
"Tough toenails," Bull growled.
"But these are some wonderful parts about growing up in a Marine family. You learn how to meet people. You learn how to go up to people and make their acquaintance. You know how to act in public. You have excellent manners and it's easy for you to be charming. I've had many compliments about how polite my children are. This is the benefit of growing up in the military and the gift you take with you no matter where you live. You know how to act."
"But the main thing, hogs," Bull said," you get to hang around me and all my good qualities will rub off on you."
His family groaned in chorus and the colonel threw back his head and bellowed with laughter.
"I can't wait to get out of this car," Karen said after a silent five-mile stretch.
Matthew added," I've got to go number one. My teeth are floating."
"You should have gone when we stopped for the train," Bull said.
"I didn't have to go then," Matthew replied.
The car was silent as the Meecham family moved across the bridge that crossed the Combahassee River, toward their fourth home in four years. All hills had died in this last slant toward the sea. Stands of palmettos and live oaks met the car as the road ribboned out straight in its last sprint to the barrier islands. But the most remarkable feature of the land was the green stretches of marsh fringing the rivers and inlets that spilled and intersected through the whole landscape. These were vast, airy marshes, some of them thirty miles wide, as splendid as fields of ripened wheat, yet as desolate in some ways as the dark side of the moon. Every eye in the car filled up with marsh, moved by it, stirred, yet uncomprehending. It was an alien geography that thrust outreaching along the water's edge; a land of a thousand creeks, brown and turgid, but rich in the smell of the sea.
Lillian knew about marshes from girlhood summers spent on the Georgia coast.
The Chevrolet crossed a bridge that announced the entry
"The old Dad soaked up quite a bit of culture while he was sportin' around the capitals of Europe."
"You're just too modest to flaunt it, aren't you dear?" Lillian said softly.
"That's right. Modesty is one of my worst faults," Bull shouted, laughing, enjoying himself in the last fifty miles of his journey.
"Hey, Dad," Matt said," why doesn't the Marine Corps send its families overseas sometimes?"
"They're probably afraid that Marine kids would whip up on Air Force kids."
"Could you imagine living in Gay Paree, speaking French like natives," Ben wondered aloud.
"I can say hello, good-bye, and kiss my fanny in eight languages," Bull boasted.
"Why, Bull," Lillian said," I didn't know you were multilingual."
"I pick up languages real fast," he replied, missing the irony in her voice.
"If you'd only work a little harder on your native tongue," she said.
"Very funny."
Mary Anne spoke out brightly, extravagantly. "Let's talk some more about how lucky we are to be military brats."
"I'm so lucky that I get to go to four high schools instead of just one," Ben declared with feigned enthusiasm.
"And I, the lovely Mary Anne Meecham whose beauty is celebrated in song and legend . . . "Mary Anne began.
"Boy is that a laugh," Matt said.
"Quiet, midget, before I feed you to a spider."
"Mom," Matt called.
"We just have a little ways to go, children. So try to get along."
"Or else I'm gonna have to butt a few heads," the colonel glowered through his sunglasses.
"Anyway," Mary Anne continued," I'm lucky enough to be absolutely friendless through an entire school year until the month of May. Then I make lots of new friends. Then I'm lucky enough to have Daddy come home with a new set of orders. Then I'm lucky enough to move in the summer and lucky enough to be absolutely friendless when school starts back in the fall."
"I know you're kidding," Lillian said to Mary Anne. "And I know all of you are upset about leaving Atlanta."
"Tough toenails," Bull growled.
"But these are some wonderful parts about growing up in a Marine family. You learn how to meet people. You learn how to go up to people and make their acquaintance. You know how to act in public. You have excellent manners and it's easy for you to be charming. I've had many compliments about how polite my children are. This is the benefit of growing up in the military and the gift you take with you no matter where you live. You know how to act."
"But the main thing, hogs," Bull said," you get to hang around me and all my good qualities will rub off on you."
His family groaned in chorus and the colonel threw back his head and bellowed with laughter.
"I can't wait to get out of this car," Karen said after a silent five-mile stretch.
Matthew added," I've got to go number one. My teeth are floating."
"You should have gone when we stopped for the train," Bull said.
"I didn't have to go then," Matthew replied.
The car was silent as the Meecham family moved across the bridge that crossed the Combahassee River, toward their fourth home in four years. All hills had died in this last slant toward the sea. Stands of palmettos and live oaks met the car as the road ribboned out straight in its last sprint to the barrier islands. But the most remarkable feature of the land was the green stretches of marsh fringing the rivers and inlets that spilled and intersected through the whole landscape. These were vast, airy marshes, some of them thirty miles wide, as splendid as fields of ripened wheat, yet as desolate in some ways as the dark side of the moon. Every eye in the car filled up with marsh, moved by it, stirred, yet uncomprehending. It was an alien geography that thrust outreaching along the water's edge; a land of a thousand creeks, brown and turgid, but rich in the smell of the sea.
Lillian knew about marshes from girlhood summers spent on the Georgia coast.
The Chevrolet crossed a bridge that announced the entry
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