Crew L-18 had been on Alert since last Thursday, just four days ago. They had already pulled twelve weeks of Alert this year, and this was only April. ON-a-week and OFF-a-week was getting pretty old. The schedule never changed. It was a way of life, all in the name of maintaining the deterrent force to keep the peace. This was during the height of the so-called "Cold War".
Some fellows passed the time by reading. Others played cards, and a few brought along hobby materials to while away the long evenings. Building model airplanes or HO-gauge railroad cars was popular. Some were content to sit in the television room, turning their brains to mush with the drivel that passed for network programming. But Jack did his own thing. He painted.
No. Jack was not an artist. He wasn't even painting one of those "paint by the numbers" pictures. He painted dimes. That's right, he painted ten-cent coins. In fact he had a whole roll, five dollars worth, that he proceeded to paint. With brush and a bottle of green paint, Jack wiled away his evenings painting each and every coin in the roll, all fifty of them. It drove his pals to distraction.
"Why in the hell are you doing that?" asked his navigator, Bob.
Jack just smiled, responding "Oh, it's just my thing."
Finally, the next Thursday came. That was turn-over day, when other crews would replace those now on alert. Jack, Bob, and the other 90 crewmen, plus dozens of ground support folks, would get to go home ... home to see their wives and kids. Most of the crews lived on the air base.
Bob drove Jack home and dropped him off in the driveway of the modest house on LeMay Lane, right in the center of the on-base housing area. Jack waved good-bye as the car backed away. There, on the front porch in the front of Jack's place, stood Marie and Jack's three kids. Enthusiastically the kids ran down the walkway to greet, hug and kiss their father. Marie waited, smiling, for her turn. She was delighted to have her man home again, if only for just a week.
Jack set his B-4 bag down on the front porch, reached out for his beloved Marie and drew her close in a warm embrace. They kissed and held each other for several minutes. In fact, the three children grew impatient for more of their father's attention.
Jack leaned down, unzipped a side pocket in his bag and reached inside.
"What ya got, Daddy?" asked Susie, the youngest. "Did you bring us something? Huh?"
Jack smiled, put his arm around Marie and turned to the three children standing there. They knew that Daddy had something in his hand, but they knew not what.
Jack tore off the paper wrapper around the roll of dimes and poured the fifty coins into his hand. Then he declared to the anxious youngsters "Here's some money for you. Five dollars worth of coins just for you."
With a vigorous wave of his hand, Jack scattered the coins, those dark green coins all around the front yard. The grass was tall and would well hide the money from the anxious children.
He swept Marie up into his arms, carried her into the house and down the hall toward the bedroom. "That ought to keep 'em busy for a half hour or so," he declared as he gently placed his beautiful wife onto the bed.
Marie smiled, fully appreciating her husband's newest ploy for gaining them some private moments, even during the middle of the day.