The Woman Who Fell To Earth

Chapter 20

Venus

Mrs. Pritchard rapped her withered knuckles on the door at exactly seven o'clock, her little white dog at her feet. Art opened the door with a flourish. "Welcome, Mrs. Pritchard, Mollie. Please come in."

"Thank you, dear," said the old woman. She handed him a wicker basket with a checkered cloth napkin over the top. "I brought David some scones. You can have some, too, Arthur. They are always eating scones on those British programs they show on public television."

David stood in the kitchen, fussing over the stove. "Thank you, Doris, how kind," she called. "Make yourself comfortable in the living room. I will be right in."

"Do you need any help?" Doris asked.

"No thank you. Go sit down."

Doris sat in one of the black leather arm chars. Mollie curled up obediently on the rug at her feet.

David walked in with a glass baking dish as a makeshift serving tray, holding three mugs of coffee and three plates. Each plate held a perfect triangle topped with sliced strawberries. "Doris, I made a torte. I'm quite proud."

"As you should be. That sounds lovely, dear."

"I hope it's edible. It's the only thing I've ever baked, and Art's kitchen is...well...Art's kitchen." Both women laughed.

"I'm sure it will be delicious," said Doris. "Now stop with the excuses and hand me a slice."

David set a plate and mug on the side table next to Doris, who immediately sipped the coffee and ate a forkful of torte with a compliment. She set another plate and mug in front of Art, and placed the glass baking dish on the coffee table. She sat on the sofa next to Art.

"So, Mrs. Pritchard," Art began, "David tells me you were in the WAC, was this during Vietnam?"

"Yes I was. After I finished high school, I did what most girls my age did and worked as a secretary. But when the war started, I joined the WAC. I didn't have any nursing education, nor was I interested in being around all that death, so I enrolled in cryptography training."

"And David said you met Elvis during his enlistment?" Art asked.

"Yes I did," Doris blushed. "But that was before my service. I was visiting family in Germany at the time. It was not wartime during Elvis's enlistment. But I was there at the same time. My cousin Hildegard, who lived in Germany, and her friends had heard that Elvis was staying at the Hotel Grunewald instead of regular barracks. So we started sneaking out, telling our parents we were going to the movies, and would ride our bicycles to the hotel in hopes of catching a glimpse of him. One day, we did see him. I said some things, he said some things and," she smiled coyly. "Well, I'm not the type to kiss and tell."

"Mrs. Pritchard!" exclaimed Art. "You vixen!"

"That's what Elvis said," the old woman giggled.

David patted her knee. "Naughty."

Doris laughed again. "Oh, it was such a time. I'll never forget. But it was seeing Elvis in uniform, and thinking that if a celebrity like him could serve our country, why shouldn't a girl like me? Shortly thereafter, I finished high school and enlisted. I was sent to Saigon. I was discharged before the war ended, but I was ready by then, after working six days a week. We feared for our lives there. So I was ready to come home.

"But once I came home, I realized how short, how fragile life is. I couldn't dare spend it behind a secretary's desk when there was so much to see and do. I'd spend six months at a job, then take the earnings I'd made and spend the next six months traveling, exploring, living!" She looked far away, reliving those moments from her past. "I rode camels in Egypt, learned to sail in Morocco, flew airplanes in Alaska, rode an elephant in India, lost a week in Brazil. I can happily say that at eighty years young, I've seen all I've wanted to see, done everything I've wanted to do."