Yours,
Jerald Cocker
32
MAY
FEBRUARY 1945
T he telephone rings and since Mother is cooking dinner, I rush to answer, shouting, “I’ll get it!”
“If it’s Helen, tell her I’ll ring her back.”
“Alright.“ I lift the mouthpiece from its cradle. “Kearns residence.”
Gertie is on the other line. “Oh May! Come quick!”
My throat goes dry and my heart stops beating. She knows something has happened to Jerald. Hank must’ve told her, and she knew to call me straight off.
I barely get out, “What is it?”
It sounds like she’s in tears. “Meet me at the malt shop!”
“Gertie, is it Jerald? Please tell me! I beg you!”
“It’s not Jerald, it’s Hank! He’s dropped out and enlisted!”
“I’ll be right there!”
I hang up so quick it topples. Righting the telephone, I shout, “I’ll be back before dinner!”
“Where are you going?”
“Hank enlisted in the Navy!”
As I race to the door, she calls out after me, “What’s the fuss about? That’s what he was planning on.”
“Not this soon! He’s dropped out of high school!”
“Oh dear! Poor Frances!”
“Can I have money for a malt?”
“And ruin your appetite? I think not.”
I run to the kitchen. “Gertie will need one! This truly is a dire situation!”
Stirring mashed potatoes in a bowl on her hip, she sighs, “You’ll find a quarter in the change pocket of my handbag.”
I run to plant a quick kiss on her cheek. “Thank you!”
While I dig out the coin she mumbles, “Both her boys in this dreadful war. I would be worried sick. May, you watch the clock now! Don’t make us come get you!”
I rush outside, pick my bike off the lawn, and peddle like wild. At an intersection two blocks away I nearly get hit by a car, the horn telling me I ought to be more careful next time.
A row of bikes left outside gets a new friend as I race in to see Gertie alone in a booth, staring at the salt shaker. As I slide across from her, she lifts her head, not her spirits. “I didn’t even get a chance to say goodbye.”
“Didn’t he see you before he left?”
She shakes her head a little. “He phoned me from the Naval base in Norfolk. He’s already begun training to be a pilot! His parents didn’t know until he was there and there’s nothing they can do!”
“How is that possible?!”
“I don’t talk to him every night, you know that! They were in D.C.! The Battle of the Bulge went on for over a month. Hank said tensions are high in Washington. They must have had their minds full! I knew he was unhappy. That horrid battle was all he talked about, and when it ended, well, he was biding his time until his birthday!” She covers her face, telling me through her fingers, “He couldn’t sit in a classroom a day longer while everyone in his family was doing their part!”
I reach across the table and clasp her arm. “That was awfully noble of him, Gert. Aren’t you proud?”
Muffled comes the answer, “I’m so proud I could bust!” She drops her hands, face red as a tomato too long on the vine. “But I didn’t get a chance to say goodbye! How could he do that to me?!”
“He was afraid you would talk him out of it,” I gently explain. “Perhaps seeing how sad you were would’ve made him want to stay.”
She sniffles, lungs heaving. “You really think so?”
“Well sure, he called you, didn’t he? If Hank didn’t care, he would’ve just up and vanished without a word!”
She wipes her nose with the back of her hand. “That’s true!”
“Of course it is. Hank cares very much about you. Everyone knows it.”
“But he never said we were going steady, like you did with Jerald.”
I smile at her silliness. “He was here with you, and you were the only girl he ever spent time with on the weekends. Suppose we hadn’t said we were steady, and I met a fella while he was at sea. And remember, I’m the one who said it first!”
Ethel is reluctant to take our order. She and I don’t think highly of each other to this day. But she’s the only waitress here at the moment. Not much choice there. “Are you sharing a malt again?”
“No, we’ll have two.”
I show Gertie the quarter and her ears perk up. “Where’d you get that?”
“Mother gave it to me.”
“We could have five soda pops with a whole quarter!”
I lean closer. “How about we get two malts and leave sourpuss a huge tip just for fun?” Ethel scowls at me, and walks off. I shrug to Gertie, “What’s she upset for? Doesn’t she like tips?”
“May, you are bad!”
“Got your smile back, didn’t I? That’s worth every nickel in the whole world put together.”
Peter, Lily, Sable, and Marvin run in, one after the other to pile into the booth with us. Peter makes like Hank did, sitting on the back as he asks, “Hey, did you hear? Hank joined the Navy!”
Gertie and I look at each other, and she asks, “How did you find that out?”
“So you knew? Why, he just phoned. Say ten minutes ago. I drove right over to Sable’s and got the girls.”
Marvin explains, “I was already there.”
My eyebrows rise. “Oh, you were, were you?”
Sable sticks her tongue out at me as Peter asks Gertie, “How did you find out?”
Her shoulders proudly square as she answers, “He called me first, of course. How do you think I know?”
They dive into our friend’s bold decision, dissecting how he could have accomplished such a feat — did he thumb for rides?! — and while they do, I’m smiling at Gertie, pleased that she’s confident of her place in Hank’s brave heart.
33
MAY
M other and I drive to the Cocker residence in our best dresses. “What if she isn’t home?” I nervously ask.
“I don’t know if she’s home this very minute, but they are back from Washington, that I’m sure
