Gertie announces, “I’ve been thinking I might want to be a teacher. My Father said the war has shone a light on education” One of the Sisters passes and Gertie goes quiet until we have more distance. “He said millions of potential recruits were turned away because they didn’t know how to read or write!”
Lily gasps, “No fooling?”
“No fooling! And to top it off, because so many jobs became available with men enlisting, teachers are leaving their positions for better paying jobs. There simply are not enough to go around now. It’s a darn shame, he said, but it does leave opportunity for me, don’t you think?” We nod and she asks, “I might be able to work anywhere I choose since they’re so hard up. Say, would any of you girls fancy being a teacher after graduation?”
“Not I,” Lily says. “I don’t have the patience for it.”
Outside we stroll together down the path under shady oak trees which surround the red brick of our school, and Sable says, “I’m thinking of going into the sciences. Research and all that. Ever since I was accepted to Vassar, it’s been on my mind.”
“I could see you in a lab coat.”
She looks at Lily. “Could you, really?”
“Well sure, why not? You’re the smartest of us.”
Gertie asks, “What about you, May?”
“I might like to be a pilot.” The girls react, and I smile, “It’s true!”
“Where are you going to do that?”
“I haven’t discovered where, yet. But I might just join those women who fly bullets around. You remember the ones! The WASPS!”
Sable shivers and hugs her books closer. “How could we forget?”
“Are you afraid of flying?”
“Why do you think I skipped the Ferris wheel?” We stop and stare at her, and she looks over her glasses at us like we’re the biggest lugheads she ever saw. “Have you ever seen me get on that thing? Every year I find a way to steer clear!”
Stunned we never noticed, we continue walking in silence for a bit, running our memories back to all the times she squeezed out of what we thought was fun, on account of she was afraid of heights this whole time!
Finally Lily asks, “Have you received a letter from him,” a breeze lifting her hair in a pretty way, now that it’s getting longer.
“Not yet.” Watching a butterfly flutter past I add, “It’s been seventy-three days today, since I saw him.”
Nobody teases me for counting. In fact, they take time very seriously.
We all do, these days.
The war began in 1939. America joined in 1941, three years ago this month. And I suppose around now is when Jerald enlisted, back then. That’s an awful long period of time, with terrible news reported daily. Grief is everywhere, folded flags delivered to parents, wives, and children for far too long.
They’re waiting for his letter with me, just to make sure he’s alive. Hank has had no news good or bad.
As we approach Sable’s car, Lily lightens the mood on purpose. “Say, how about bowling this weekend? Peter suggested it, and I think it’s a fine idea, don’t you?”
“When did you talk to him?” Sable asks her.
“Just last night. On the telephone.”
“Does he call often?”
A blush rises in Lily’s cheeks. “What are you getting on about?”
“That’s not an answer.”
“You know how often he calls.”
“I want the other girls to know that Peter Thomas Tuck calls you every single night on the telephone. Every night!”
Gertie and I drop our jaws on the sidewalk.
“It’s not a big deal,” Lily insists. “We enjoy talking, is all.”
Sable bumps their hips together. “I’d say!”
“I wish Hank would do that!” Gertie switches her books to her other side. “He only calls about once a week.”
“But you saw him when we all went to the movies on Saturday,” I remind her to make her feel better. “And you held hands the whole time!”
“Yes,” Gertie says, wistfully. “I just wonder, when I hear about Peter, why it’s not more.”
Sable rolls her eyes. “This is why I’m going into science. There are more important things to think about than boys. Just imagine, I could help cure diseases! That seems a worthwhile way to spend one’s time. Oh, I know it’s not for everybody,” she admits, on account of the looks on our faces. “I just know it’s for me. And one of the things this war has given me is the understanding that we women should make our mark. Do you girls want a ride home?”
Gertie and I look at each other, deciding, and we both shake our head at the same time with me saying, “Thank you, Sable, but I think we will walk today. It’s lovely out.”
Lily climbs into the passenger side and waves to us, placing her books on the floor as a footrest. Sable places hers in the backseat, carefully spacing them so they don’t slide around easily. She hops behind the wheel and says, “So long! See you tomorrow!”
Lily waves one last time as they drive off.
It’s a chilly Tuesday but nevertheless, Gertie asks, “Would you like to stop for ice cream on the way home, May?”
“That would be swell.”
We move for some younger girls hurrying to join their waiting parents, then fall into an easy pace side-by-side.
“You’re awful quiet today.”
“Am I? I just miss him, I guess. That mock air raid we had today felt different than the others somehow. I was curled under my desk and I thought of him at sea, in a submarine with the Germans hidden in dark waters.”
“May! You can’t think like that. You’ll scare yourself!”
“It’s the truth, isn’t it? And isn’t he scared, way deep down even if he doesn’t know it? What must it be like to steer a submarine when you don’t know what’s hidden waiting for you half the time. Did you know that they invented sonar radar to tell when another boat is nearby? It sends out a signal that pings over and over. And when the ping returns, depending on how fast and all,
