Chapter 8 - An Ocean Away

October 7, 1943 - Edmonton,  Alberta, Canada

"You can write it all you want, Pollyanna, but Mom still won't let you post it," said Vera.  She mimicked their mother perfectly:  "Girls don't call on boys, boys call on girls.  You write when you are written to.  We do not chase boys.  We conduct ourselves with dignity and grace."

Mary crumpled the note paper and sighed.  "I know.  I wouldn't know what to say, anyway, without looking like a dope.  I mean, if he'd wanted me to write him, surely he'd have written me by now ...?"

"Some boys just don't write letters, and sometimes when they go over there they ... can't.," said Vera with a shrug.  "But I wouldn't waste another moment's thought on him.  There are too many fish in the sea ..."

" ... and you can call me Annette," grinned Mary, finishing the joke.  "There's a poster up for a dance Friday night.  I'm game ..."

"... she said, so the hunter shot her," said Vera with a giggle.  "Friday night it is.  Wear your new sweater.  We'll be the ees-bays ees-nays.  Take that, Justin the Ding-a-Ling, wherever you may be!"

Mary grinned, happy with the plans, finally forgetting all about Justin, banishing him from her thoughts completely.  Except, of course, for the constant wishing that he would write her.

                                                        ********************************

October 7, 1943 - R.A.F. Flight Training School, near Wrexham, Wales

"You reading that thing again?" Paul Steen snatched the flimsy  blue airmail letter out of Justin's hand and his voice slid into falsetto as he pretended to read: "Dear Jussy-Wussy,  Oh, how I miss you, my dearest, darlingest, sweetie-pie.  I miss you ten million kissie-wissies.  Please give my regards to your handsome friend Paulie-Wolly and tell him I can't wait to see him again -- "

Justin clipped Paul across the back of the head and grabbed the letter back as his best friend roared with laughter.  "You're such a gone goose, Ling.  Stop mooning over your lovey dovey letters and come on into town with us tonight.  There's some sort of show at the Music Hall.  Maybe we'll find us a little Welsh rabbit or two."

"You guys go on ahead.  I might catch up."

"Oh, fer chrissakes, just throw it on the pile in your damn footlocker.  It'll be there when you get back.  Come out and have some fun."

"Alright, alright,"  Justin opened the lid of his footlocker and placed the carefully-refolded letter on top of all the others.

"A lot of letters ..." he thought, as he regarded the pile.  He checked his tie in the mirror on the post near his bunk, straightening it before he  grabbed his cap.

As he headed for the door, he couldn't escape the rest of the thought: " ... and none of them from her."

                                                            ****************

October, 1944 - Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

"Ling?  Yeah.  Jus Ling.  I remember him.  Wasn't he Steen's buddy ...?"  The airman, freshly returned from England, was having a smoke outside the dance hall at the end of the evening.  This last was directed to his pal, who was hungrily eyeing Mary up and down.

"Steen?  Yeah, there was Steen and Walker and Ling and a couple of Brits, all hung around together," said the buddy, and added,    "Didn't have much to do with the rest of us.  Always out looking for girls."  Even if it wasn't true, it could be, and a fella could be forgiven for trying to get any advantage he could muster with this one.  She was a looker, for sure.

Mary thanked the young men, neatly deflecting their innocent (or perhaps not-so-innocent) advances, and rejoined her sisters.  Edna read the look on her face.

"They knew him," she said, and Mary nodded.  She was damned if she would cry over this, but ... it made her feel empty to know she'd been just cast aside.

"Well, that's that, then.  No more mooning over him," said Vera.  "He'll live to rue the day he turned his back on Mary Lou Houtton!" 

The three girls linked arms as they walked home from the dance hall, singing in decidely imperfect harmony.  They sang "Don't Sit Under the Apple Tree With Anybody Else But Me", and "I'll Be Seeing You" and  the latest song on the radio, "You Always Hurt The One You Love"

    You always hurt the one you love
    The one you shouldn't hurt at all
    You always take the sweetest rose
    And crush it till the petals fall
    You always break the kindest heart
    With a hasty word you can't recall -
    So If I broke your heart last night,
    it's because I love you most of all ...

After a while, Vera and Edna noticed they were reduced to singing two part harmony, and they stopped.  The girls walked on in silence.

                                         ********************************

May, 1945 - Marshalling Area, Liverpool Waterfront

"If it doesn't fit in your duffel, it stays here, boys," barked the ship's Executive Officer. 

The weary pilots and aircrew sat gathered in clumps on the pier, waiting for orders to embark.  "You board the ship, officers to the right, enlisted men to the left, find a bunk, make as much space for yourself as you can, and please, gentlemen, we all hope you have a lovely voyage, but stay the fuck out of our way.  We're working men, not dainty little flyboys."

Catcalls and fart sounds followed the XO as he smirked across the yard to the gangplank and boarded the vessel.  A whistle blew and the Canadians began streaming onto the ship.  Paul and Justin stuck together, found a couple of cramped bunks, stowed their gear under the bottom one and set about exploring the ship.

"Ten days or so across, then maybe six days on a train, and we're home," said Paul.  "Home from the war, we'll be heroes!  What are you going to do first thing, when we get home?"

"I dunno.  Spend some time with my folks, I guess," said Justin.  "My kid sister will be sixteen - maybe I'll take her out somewhere."

"That's it?  Aren't you forgetting somebody?"  Paul said.  "Jussy-wussy's getting homey-womey ..."

"Oh, sure, yeah.  No I didn't forget her.  I thought you meant after I saw her.  Sure, she'd be first."

Paul looked carefully at his best friend.  Justin avoided eye contact.

"What?  I just didn't mention her, was all it was.  Let's go see if they have a kitchen on this scow."

                                                      *************************************************

June, 1945 - Calgary, Alberta, Canada

"Forty minutes, boys.  Forty minutes and the train pulls out.  Don't wander too far away." 

The conductor would be glad to see the end of these cross-country runs, offloading soldiers and sailors and airmen in their home towns.  Military discipline didn't have too strong a hold over these boys now that they'd been demobilized.  He was more than a little tired of cleaning up vomit, breaking up fights, and shushing drunken soldiers when other passengers were trying to sleep.

"What are you gonna do?" asked Paul.

"I don't know.  What would you do?"

"A promise is a promise."

"I guess so.  So, I should just ... go home?"

"You asked me."

"That would be the right thing to do."

Paul nodded.  "Yep."

"The smart thing, too."

"Definitely."

"I mean, for all I know, she's already married."

"For all you know, she's dead."

"Don't say that."

"She's probably not.  But you haven't written to her or heard from her in two years.  For all you know, she could be."

"She's probably married.  Girls like that, the guys are all around them."

"Maybe she has kids."

"She doesn't have kids."

"How do you know?"

"I just know.  Anyway, it'd be dumb to go.  I should just go home."

"That's the smart thing to do."

"I've known her - what, nine, ten hours?"

"If that."

"Compared to ..."

"... years."

"So, no comparison."

"None at all."

"So a smart man would just stay on this train."

"That he would."

"So ..."

Paul grinned.  "So, call when you finally do get back to Vancouver."

"Is this crazy?  This is crazy, isn't it?"

"Definitely."

Comments

[Carrie]

Ahh...I guess it pays to stay up late.

Wonderful.

[Bucky Four-Eyes]

OK, my old eyes made me copy the middle section into an editor where I could enlarge the type. Those soldiers talkin' to your mom were DAWGS, I tell ya.

[Nils]

Thanks for the heads up, Bucky - there was some cutting and pasting in the editing of this chapter and it affected formatting. Firefox over-rode the glitch, so I never saw it when I checked, but inferior browsers like IE (g) made the middle section come out in microscopic font. I have since fixed it, I hope.

But hey - nice to know if held your interest enough to make you want to cut and paste and enlarge. And don't feel bad about getting old. It's happening to a lot of good people, and you all have my sympathy.

[MrsDoF]

If you hold down the Control key and then hit the + (plus) key over beside the numbers, the Font will enlarge. Do the same with the - (minus) to reduce it again.
It's an old trick from the days before a computer mouse.

I just looked again at Canada on a map.
A very wide country to be traveling by train.
The poor conductor....

[Nils]

Yep, MrsDoF ... 5000 miles, give or take. I once travelled from Winnipeg to Vancouver by train ... took about 2 days, as I recall. It'd be a bit longer for these boys ...

And thanks for the magnifying tip. I'll pass it on to my older friends.

[Squirl]

Hey, I'm one of the older friends and that trick works great!

This is such a fun story. But what I wanna know is why he never wrote to her?

[Nils]

Patience, Squirl. All will be revealed in the fullness of time :)

[Tracy Kaply]

Hooray! More story!

[Lyn]

I'm waiting with bated breath! Truly enjoying your writing and the story itself.

[William]

I want to hear about the other woman.

[Effie]

Ooh--this is getting soooo good....can't wait for more!

Happy Canada Day a few days late--did you watch any fireworks??

[Gora_Kagaz]

finally! haha, anyway, absolutely loved it. i especially loved the last bit [the conversation between Paul and Justin.]

[Laura]

This is great!

Yeah, I took a train from Saskatoon to Toronto one summer. NOT FUN. And that was in the 80's. In the 40's I am sure it was not great either.

I am sure the reason he didn't write has something to do with the other woman. Very anxious to hear:)

[Laura]

Yeah, why didn't he write to her? Men are such scum. ;)
Intriguing, this last chapter. What happens next?

[CircusKelli]

See... I wouldn't have let a little thing like decorum and "dignity and grace" and "Mom" stop me if I really wanted to send that letter...

but that's me. :)

[Nils]

... and that's also the era you grew up in, darlin'. Different times.

[Karen]

I'm thinking this story is begging to be saved ... in a bound journal of some kind with pictures of them both throughout their life.

(sigh)

Yes, I am a romantic sap.

[CircusKelli]

Karen, that's a fantastic idea!

[MrsDoF]

Aw, I checked three times, but no new chapter today.
I guess daughter's wedding stress is contributing to story delay.

Good Luck, Sir Daddy of the Bride. We'll wait.
Nighty nite.

[Katherine]

More, I need more! I just found your site and read all 8 chps. - it's fascinating. What a wonderful story so far and you're a fabulous storyteller. You should publish this.