I had just a few minutes until I was due at the Rice Mill...important pick up...and once I picked it up there was no stopping until it got where it was going. So I raced into the Cholon PX parking lot and dashed inside...Cholon was run by the Navy, that meant cheap cigarettes...very cheap. It wasn't very often I could get there when it was open so I was really in a rush. I was so pleased to see there was no crowd to speak of...lookin' good for a quick pit stop.
As I was speeding down the aisle to the back of the store where the "Ship Stores" cigarette were ( a dime a pack for unfiltered, fifteen cents for filters)...I saw a small woman with bright red hair and freckles standing alone in an adjacent aisle. She was pretty. She gave me a huge knee weakening smile. But as rare as white women were in that place, I was a soldier on a mission and had very little time to complete it. I turned from her and dashed after my smokes. As I was picking up my limit of cartons, something about her smile haunted me...it was like I knew her...she looked so familiar. That's a good start..."Haven't we met before?" I retraced my steps toward the front of the store and unbelievably, in the short time since I had passed her, a huge mob of GIs and sailors had gathered around her and were making a big fuss over her. There were some mid level brass and cameramen with her. Rats...oh well...no one was in line so I cut a choggie for the checkout. The clerk on the register took my money and asked if I had seen her. "Yeah, who is she?" "Who is she? That's Ann-Margaret...that's who's she!"
I walked my confused dumba** back to my jeep and headed for the Rice Mill with bare minutes to spare. Ann-Margaret. "Kitten with a Whip" had been in black and white but I was sure she was a blond. "Viva Las Vegas" she was brown haired and TALL. But in the Cholon PX she was short, red haired, freckled, and beautiful...and set up with a great smile...and I walked right by her while her entourage rounded up every other GI in the store to create a photo op. I really blew it.