Saturday, June 19, 2004

Chapter 13…..1971, 21 years old and discovering BARS!!!

I was a waitress at the “Kennel” in downtown Oak Harbor. Oak Harbor is a small town about 4 miles from Naval Air Station Whidbey Island. Well, men are in abundance here, and being 21 and having free reign of the bars, it was heaven!! I had two roommates, Ellie and Ann. Ellie was about 7 years older than me, and Ann was 1 year younger. We would dress up all purty and head to town almost every night! There were dances at the Oak Harbor Tavern, and we would dance every dance!! There was a bald headed Chief (Josh) that would go to town in his dress blues and stand at the bar and drink room temperature Heidelburg beer. When he walked into a bar he would automatically buy the bar a round and every girl in the place a drink. We would know his “route” and would be a step ahead of him. We would go into the first bar and order a Black Russian (Vodka & Kahlua). They were expensive, but were all booze, and we would get at least three free ones at each place. We would watch him, and when he was half through with his second beer we would head to the next bar and be there when he came in to buy a round!! Heeheeheeheeheeheehee!! There were only two cocktail lounges (besides the private clubs) in Oak Harbor, but 6 Black Russians are enough for any drunk for one night!!
I would help out my roommates once in awhile cleaning houses. They were hired by the contractors when they built new houses to clean up after the builders were through. We survived paycheck to paycheck. I never knew what savings were. We would spend all our money in the bars.
There was a house of “druggies” living next door to us, and we would pull pranks on each other once in awhile. One day they were having a party and they all passed out about midnight. I snuck over there and put some wet newspapers in a metal bucket and lit it on fire to smolder a little. Then I pounded on the door and yelled FIRE!! They were all freaking out, and we were rolling in laughter. It sure ruined their mellow “high”. Egads, thinking back on it, it really isn’t that funny, but it was at the moment!! Remember, this is my drunk diary!!

The next day Ellie was baking a German Chocolate cake and I asked her what is was for, and she said for the neighbors, for a “peace offering”. I was feeding the cat, so I looked at the batter and poured some cat food in the batter. We baked the cake and they ate it, saying it was delicious!! We then told them it had “Friskies” in it. They moved a few weeks later. No sense of humor!!

I was at a party at my mom’s house and was driving home drinking a beer. I turned onto my street and I dropped the beer and bent to pick it up and went over the center line. Yep I got my DUI!! They made me park the car right where it was. I asked if I could park it in my driveway about 50 feet away and they said no. I was taken to the Police Station and blew the machine. They made me wait ½ hour and do it again. If I was that high the second time I was going to the hospital!! Heck, I wasn’t even drunk by my standards!! They called my mom to come get me and when she came into the Police Station she was bouncing down the hall screaming for her baby!! She was drunker than I was, and they looked at me and told me to take my mother to my house (a mile away) and keep her there!! (Dad was working at the base as a Firefighter at the time 24 hours on 24 hours off). They towed my car and impounded it, so I had to drive my mom’s car to my house. Back in 1971 a DUI cost me $179.00 which was a fortune to me!!
I was dating a guy in the navy (surprise) and he got orders to Crystal City by Washington DC to train to be an advisor for the Viet Nam war. After he left, one of my roommates got married and the other one was moving in with her boyfriend, so I moved in with my old roommate in Oak Harbor.
I was there about a month when my boyfriend got a 9 day vacation and drove all the way to visit me! He didn’t tell me he was coming. He asked me to go to DC with him, so overnight I packed my clothes and grabbed my cat and told my parents we were going, and off I went on a new adventure!!
Tomorrow….Washington DC!!

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