I wanted to know if she was the same girl I knew in California, and I think she had the same question about me.
My conclusion was that her personality hadn’t changed, it just had a more sophisticated veneer. It was only a veneer, with a smile the California girl would appear.
I could see her beside me in the Court of St. James or a movie premiere, or just goofing around in jeans and a tee-shirt.
We finished dinner and talked a little longer but the girls had to get back to school. They had a curfew on Friday at eight o’clock. On Saturday it was ten o’clock and eight again on Sunday.
That made sense if you had custody of a bunch of teenage girls and wanted to return them to their family in the same condition you received them.
Nina and I agreed to spend Saturday together. Her friends were told to butt out by Nina when they wanted to join us.
She would meet me here at the hotel in the morning.
We did meet Saturday and had a wonderful day as she gave me a tour of Zurich. We stopped for coffee and tortes, had lunch at a sidewalk bistro and dinner at a place that served hamburgers and French fries American style.
At the end of the day, I walked her to the gate to her school. Before we got there she stopped around the corner from the school and gave me a scorching kiss.
Prior to this, I didn’t know what she considered our relationship to be. I was happy to know she wanted to take up where we had left off in California.
I asked her why here on this corner.
“I would be in so much trouble if I was seen kissing you in front of the school. Now when you take me to the gate we can shake hands. Of course, I will spill the beans with all the girls.”
“Well if you are going to spill the beans, let's do it right.”
At that, I kissed her starting out tenderly and worked my way up to demanding. She responded but finally pushed me away.
“Wow, wow, wow you have learned how to kiss since we were together last.”
“All those movie scenes my dear.”
“I bet.”
We laughed and I escorted her to the gate where we very formally shook hands. She spoiled it a little when she held up her hand in the British V for victory, not Churchill’s V but the proper one.
Our date for the weekend was done, she had classwork she had to do on Sunday. It was also best that I headed back to Oxford. I had schoolwork of my own to do.
I told her I would call her in the middle of the week and that I would definitely be back in several weeks.
I did use the plane to fly back to England but I wasn’t certain that I really needed it.
The first thing I did Monday morning was to go to a flower shop and send flowers to Nina.
After classes on Monday, I received a phone call at The Meadows. It was an international phone call from Mr. Monroe, Nina’s dad.
My first thought was panic!
It turned out he didn’t know I had seen Nina over the weekend. He acted happy to hear it.
What he called about was that Pinewood Studios wanted to do a screen test and see if they could use me in any of their upcoming films. I agreed to do the test, it is not as though I had to study for them. He gave me a contact to call to set things up.
I had the impression that Mr. Monroe had contacted them to try to keep me in the industry. I could understand that as I was a moneymaker for his studio.
It was too late in the business day to call so I put it off until Tuesday.
Tuesday when I called I was put right through to a Mr. Parker. He had been told that I was a student at Oxford so he was willing to work with me and have the screen test this coming Saturday.
Chapter 27
I got the weirdest phone call on Monday. Before I left for class the British Foreign Office called. These are the guys who wanted to turn me over to the East Germans.
Now they wanted me to play golf with some Arab Prince. He was with the House of Saud who owned all the oil in Saudi Arabia.
Apparently, he had got it into his head that he wanted to play golf with the winner of the US Open, namely me.
I was going to turn them down flat when I was told it would be at St. Andrews. Now, who would turn a chance down to play at a course like that?
Especially since they were picking up the travel and golfing expense.
It would be this Wednesday. I would have to cut some classes but priorities are priorities. I had to do it for England, my duty and all that. That would be my excuse and I would stick to it.
I asked around if anyone knew of this Prince. He seemed to be a big party guy. He was attending Cambridge but spent more time in the casinos and bars of London than school.
I just didn’t see him as much golf competition. I flew up to Saint Andrew's the night before. A flunky from the Foreign Office was waiting for me. He took me to a third rate hotel for the night. I wasn’t too impressed with the Foreign Office, but I suspect I wasn’t high on their list of people to care for.
