Patti O'Donoghue
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Cecilia Anne Stanhope, Celia to her friends, watches in horror as the small aircraft carrying her parents crashes. Her only relative is her aunt, Air Force Captain Anita Carter, who lives on Ramstein Air Base, Germany. This new place is far away and so different from her beloved eastern North Carolina woodlands. Celia does not like her aunt and her aunt appears not to like Celia. It's a regular standoff between two strong-willed females. Mix in her aunt's boyfriend, Captain Michael Howland, who tries to be nice to Celia--maybe too nice--and the fireworks spark. What Celia needs more than anything is a friend. Then she meets the golden one, Regina "Goldie" O'Brien. Talk about double trouble! These two girls are it!
Patti O'Donoghue launched her writing career as a freelance writer in Goldsboro, NC. She has served as Director of Public Information at Mount Olive College in Mount Olive, NC and, for 12 years, as the President of the Mount Olive Area Chamber of Commerce. She has worked as a photographer with the Goldsboro
News-Argus and at Kraft's Studio and is the author of numerous magazine and newspaper articles. She holds an advanced SCUBA dive rating which she received at Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, in the early 1980s. Her travels have taken her to the Western Pacific Islands of Guam, Saipan, Tinian and Rota, as well as the Caroline and Palau Islands. Her husband's 33-year Air Force career took the family to live in Germany, Turkey, Guam and various bases in the United States. Ms. O'Donoghue is the mother of five children who she credits with providing the "luscious details" for her stories.
“Hey, Cee! Come on out,” a voice called from the street. The golden one had arrived on the back of a motorcycle piloted by a long-haired German boy. He wore a ragged black leather jacket with an American flag patch on the back, sewed on upside down.
It was 7:30 and she was late. Celia had been scared to death that her new friend wouldn’t show up. Now she was scared to death because she had. The motorcycle popped and roared and cut off. Aunt Nita will hear about this, Celia thought. Maybe she won't get mad...
Celia skipped down the front steps of the building. She could feel the eyes of every living soul in that building zeroed in on her and her new friends.
“This here is Eugene, Cee. Only in German it’s pronounced Oi-gen. I love it. Sounds like some kind of pig. Oi-gen, this is Celia.” The German smiled and bowed, not at all offended. She had just finished the introduction when another motorcycle roared up.
“Hey, Karl, wondered what happened to you,” Goldie said. “Cee, this is Karl, spelled with a K.” The newcomer extended his hand and smiled. He wore wire-rimmed glasses and his shirt, rolled up at the sleeves, was unbuttoned to the waist.
The Germans were friendly and spoke English. All three of her visitors lit cigarettes and offered her one. She declined. The Germans talked about the superiority of American brands. She did not dare invite them into the house. So they got to know one another out in front of the building, smoke suspended in the glow of the street light.
Eugene, who was a student in Heidelberg, and Karl, who worked as an apprentice electrician in Kaiserslautern, wanted to know all about North Carolina and the USA in general. They were distressed to hear about her parents and how she was forced to leave her home. Goldie put her arm around Celia.
“Cee, I didn’t know. I’m sorry,” she said. Karl and Eugene nodded. It was about the best evening Celia could remember since the last time she’d stayed up half the night listening to her daddy and Mr. Henry argue about the Democrats.
“Well, Cee, gotta get home,” Goldie said later. “I’ll meet you tomorrow at noon by that big pile of dirt in the woods on the way to the pool, okay? Come on Oi-gen, Karl, let’s go!” They zoomed off.
"My god, Cecilia! German men on motorcycles! Smoking on the steps. Were they drinking, too? How did they get on base? I can't believe you did this to me," Celia's aunt yelled the next day. In trouble again, Celia thought...
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