Part 9 (1/2)
Well, the wives simply couldn't manage without all the perks their new Texas lifestyle demanded.
Out in the garage, Wally's blue Corvette convertible (he'd later get a cherry red Maserati, which just happened to have been previously owned by blonde s.e.x kitten Brigitte Bardot), was getting lonely. Jo had her eye on a sleek, s.e.xy car to keep it company, a car she expected to purchase at a deep discount.
Jo had long ago chucked the archaic ways of The Navy Wife. Jo and Wally loved taking their new sailboat out on breezy Sunday mornings, so much that they eventually stopped going to church. Heaven would have to wait, because Jo simply couldn't get enough of the Texas suns.h.i.+ne. Soon she had acquired her new Toronado and was following adventuresome Trudy's lead, driving well above the speed limit. Jo and Wally would even race their cars down the highway, Jo's muscle car against Wally's s.e.xy Corvette. Who was going to ticket an astronaut, or his wife, in Houston? They even had CB nicknames for each other: Skyray and Sunray.
The Glenns were throwing a welcoming party for the New Nine in their Timber Cove home. The new silver-suited cold warriors had been training at the Cape for a few months while their own dream homes were being built, courtesy of their share of the Life money. The rookies left it up to their wives to settle things on the home front-specifically, to begin building their new homes. New Nine astronaut wife Jane Conrad was still trying to sell their old home in Rancho Santa Fe, near the Miramar Naval Air Station in San Diego, where her real-estate broker put an ad in the local newspaper: ”House for Sale. Owner Going to the Moon.”
On the day Pete had been announced as one of America's new astronauts, Jane had answered a ring at the door and found a peppery little reporter named Regis Philbin asking for her reaction to the news. The press was already calling her husband the ”tattooed Ivy League astronaut,” making a big deal about the contrast of his bad-boy att.i.tude with his preppy look. ”Princeton Pete” dressed in typical Princeton attire-dirty white bucks, b.u.t.ton-down Brooks Brothers s.h.i.+rt, khaki pants. Towering over Regis, Jane said this was just another day in the life of being Pete Conrad's wife. Totally surreal.
All of the wives of the new astronauts were eager to join the exclusive Astronaut Wives Club. Conrad Hilton had personally invited the ladies to be his guests for a long weekend at the Shamrock Hilton in Houston so they could attend the Glenns' party. The girls at the front desk were effusive in their welcome. Jane could certainly get used to this!
In her room, a heavy gla.s.s ashtray held a book of matches inscribed JANE & JIM. Jane grinned at the mix-up-Jim was Jim Lovell, the husband of her dear friend Marilyn from Pax River. The two attractive brunettes-Jane being tall and model thin and Marilyn a more sultry Liz Taylor type-were always being confused with each other.
At the Shamrock, Jane freshened up and went down to the lobby to find Marilyn, who'd experienced the same matchbook mismatch-her box said MARILYN & PETE. Then the two went to the hotel beauty parlor. They wanted to look their best when they met the Mercury wives at Annie Glenn's tonight.
The gals had no idea what was in store for them personally as astronaut wives, but they were convinced it would be fabulous. They'd seen the first generation on TV and in magazines. And to think, they'd now be in the same league with Jo, their old friend from test pilot school. Still, they were nervous about being accepted.
When their husbands, Pete and Jim, had gone down to the Cape to witness their old test pilot school cla.s.smate Wally's launch, they'd gotten an eye-opening initiation into astronaut life. Trolling the Holiday Inn, Jim and Pete happened to enter a room where Bob Hope was talking with some of the Mercury wives.
The group turned and looked at the boys like, Just who the h.e.l.l do you think you are? Clearly the Mercury Wives were territorial. Bryn Mawreducated Jane didn't need her Seven Sisters breeding to read between the lines of that cream-colored congratulatory card from Jo. Jo was a living doll, of course, but she was terribly busy with Wally's shot. All the grueling post-flight events: ticker-tape parades; the obligatory visit to Wally's hometown of Hackensack; the White House visit with Jackie. Jane would obviously understand.
Jane and Marilyn gabbed away as the hairdressers worked on them, piling their hair higher and higher into the beehive do that was all the rage with the stylish Houston ladies. ”Gorgeous,” p.r.o.nounced the hairdresser when she was finished.
Balancing their new sky-high hairdos, they went to meet their husbands at NASA's temporary offices in downtown Houston. A secretary went to collect the boys.
As Jim strode toward Marilyn, he looked over his shoulder, to make sure no one was around. ”Marilyn, what the h.e.l.l did you do to your hair?” he whispered.
After all these years, Jim still carried in his billfold a photo of Marilyn at seventeen, wearing Bermuda shorts and a tight sweater, with her dark curly hair tousled. And that's how he liked her.
Pete was used to Jane's fas.h.i.+on daring, so he just laughed. He found it hilarious that his buddy Jim got all riled up over such trivial matters. Jim was an utterly competent pilot, but Pete nicknamed him ”Shaky.”
Finally Jim asked, ”What is that?” as he nodded at the girls' heads.
Jane and Marilyn answered in unison, ”It's a beehive.”
That night the couples drove out to Timber Cove, where old-fas.h.i.+oned gas lamps flickered along the gently curving roads. Ranch houses lined the streets with names like Whispering Oaks Drive and Pine Shadows Drive. Finally they arrived at the Glenns', on the right of Sleepy Hollow Court. The house looked sweet with its low-hanging s.h.i.+ngled roof. The most pleasant aroma greeted them when they entered. Something savory was baking in the oven.
Everything in the house was perfect-the cozy rugs, the fireplace. Annie was a wonderful hostess, going out of her way to make her guests feel at home. Jane and Marilyn hadn't known about Annie's stutter. They'd read all about her in Life, but she didn't speak to the public very often. Annie just smiled and checked the ladies off her list. There were so many new wives to meet-Pat White, who looked like a porcelain doll; Faye Stafford, a big-haired Oklahoma girl; Susan Borman, with her blonde bob perfectly flipped up. There was also Pat McDivitt, Marilyn See, and Barbara Young.
Jane and Marilyn immediately ran to Jo. She looked fabulous. Perhaps it was the afterglow of her White House visit.
As the wives chatted away, the men of Mercury made it pretty clear to the new astronauts that they were not too thrilled about having to cut the Life pie into another nine slivers. And they would not be sharing ”Big Daddy,” a.k.a. Leo the Lawyer, the expert who had gotten them all their perks. In case there was any question of rank, some of the New Nine wives were calling Annie and Jo ”ma'am,” and their husbands were referring to the Mercury astronauts as ”sir.”
New Nine astronaut Jim Lovell had proudly picked out a lot in El Lago Estates, the development across Taylor Lake from Timber Cove-where most of the Mercury Seven lived, just ”a holler” away from each other. The newer development of El Lago was where many of the other New Nine families were building their charming dream homes, because the lots were more plentiful and less expensive. But when Jim took his wife, Marilyn, to see the lot, she wasn't too crazy about it. She told Jim that she'd prefer to be on the water in Timber Cove. That's where Annie Glenn lived, and besides, that's where their best friends, Jane and Pete Conrad, were building. Marilyn, needless to say, got her way.
Marilyn had met Jim in the cafeteria at Juneau High School in Milwaukee, where she was was.h.i.+ng dishes and Jim was serving hot lunch. They had gotten together after Jim's date for the prom dumped him at the last minute because he wasn't nominated for prom king. (Marilyn wondered how that girl felt now.) Marilyn had always wanted a life of glamorous adventure, ever since she had packed her trunk and left her home in Milwaukee to move to the East Coast, where Jim was attending the Naval Academy in Annapolis. Jim was very handsome and ever so bright. He seemed to know a little something about everything. And now he was an astronaut!
And she'd get to live on Lazywood Lane in Timber Cove, which was very, very glamorous because all of the men in the neighborhood were going into s.p.a.ce, and then to the Moon. There was, however, one catch.
”You have to build the house,” Jim told her. ”I'm going to be too busy training.”