TDTLBU Chapter Thirty-Nine

Katie stood alone in the church lobby and watched Lissie standing with John Kelly. The two of them were always together now. John had the look of a man struck dumb with love and went around with a dreamy glaze in his eyes. And Lissie... well... she tried to smile. And she was getting better at it. She almost seemed to be falling for John. But Katie knew John Kelly well and she knew how he longed to fight. And if Lissie found out...

Katie waited until Lissie left John's side and approached him as an old friend would. She greeted him cheerily, but she lowered her voice as she added,

"Do you have a minute? There's something... you should know..."

"Sure," he grinned. "What's up?"

"I don't know how much you already know..." Katie sighed. "About Lissie and Ronnie."

"Ronnie? Your brother, Ronnie?" It was obvious he didn't know.

"Yeah," Katie glanced nervously at Lissie across the room, talking to her mother. She hadn't noticed the quiet conversation. "They were planning to get married... until Ronnie enlisted... And then..." She sighed again and shook her head. "I'll get straight to the point... Lissie is a pacifist and she despises the war. If she ever got wind that you support it... Have you talked about it?"

John's face was white as chalk. He shifted uncomfortably and cleared his throat.

"Well.. yeah... I mentioned it a few times. And she let me know in no uncertain terms how she felt..."

"She left Ronnie because he became a soldier," Katie murmured. "He begged and begged her, but she wouldn't even listen. And I know you support the war... I just... I just don't want you to get hurt, Jack. I just thought you should know."

She left him standing alone, stunned into silence. Right at that moment, John resolved to never mention the war again. If necessary, he'd even pretend to be against it. It wouldn't help anything to cling stubbornly to his opinion when it wouldn't change anything. There was nothing he could do for the war. And he wasn't going to lose Lissie. 

                                                                                ✯✯✯

Donna stepped inside, closing the door so slowly that it hardly made a sound. Katie was sitting in the old wicker rocker, rocking slowly back and forth. A little fire crackled on the hearth, illuminating her face. Her eyes were tear-stained, her cheeks pale. A half-knitted sock lay in her lap, her fingers still tangled in the yarn. Jerry’s picture was half-hidden beneath the knitting, but she was staring vacantly into the flames.

"They're calling it the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal," Katie murmured, sensing her mother’s presence. "His ship was sunk by the Japanese and only… only ten men were saved. They kept it hidden… for confidentiality… which is why I never heard before now…” She picked up the newspaper lying on the coffee table beside her chair. “I’ve been reading the reports about it and… it sank in twenty seconds. The other ships around… they left without trying to… to rescue anyone. It was eight days before they started looking for survivors.” She choked back a sob, crumpling the newspaper in her hand. “When… when I think that he could have… survived the sinking… if only they had rescued them in time…" She lifted her face, her eyes bloodshot, her cheeks stained with tears. "It makes me want to hate the people on those ships too. And to hate the Japanese more than ever. But I… I don't. I'm already sick of hatred."

"Hatred is what caused this war," her mother agreed, sinking into the armchair across from her. "Hatred and greed and lust for power."

"I know." Katie lapsed into silence. 

"News from Ronnie this morning," Donna smiled weakly. "He says they made him a sergeant. I'm proud of him."

"God keep him safe," Katie whispered and Donna's smile fell. She was struggling with tears.

"My poor boy," she murmured, shaking her head. She stared at the envelope in her hands a moment before speaking again.

"This… came today… Mrs. Bailey asked me to bring it to you." When Katie didn't answer, Donna swallowed hard and continued in a low voice. "It's from Jerry."

Katie turned to her, eyes brimming over with tears.

"What do you mean?"

"It's his… his…" she didn't finish the sentence. 

Katie opened the envelope slowly, with trembling fingers. She withdrew the letter and scanned the first few lines. With a muffled sob, she passed it to her mother.

"You read it. I… can't."

Donna nodded in understanding as she took the letter back and read aloud.

Dear Mom and Dad,

If you are reading this, it means I’ll never make it home. Don’t be sad for me. I died in the service of my country and I can’t imagine a nobler cause. I was never afraid to die, although I didn’t think of it much. It all seemed a grand adventure. But I knew that if I didn’t make it through, that the worst part would be never seeing any of you again. 

They told us that a lot of the men write “in case I die” letters. At first I thought that was a pretty morbid idea. But then they told us we were going to Guadalcanal and I figured I might as well do it. Maybe it’d make you feel better to hear a few words from me after I’m gone. And I wanted a chance to thank you for being the best mom and dad any boy could hope for. You’ve loved me and prayed for me and taken care of me all my life and I can never say how grateful I am. I love you both to pieces. And I’m sorry for being such a terrible rascal when I was a kid. I know I got into awful scrapes and caused you a lot of trouble and was pretty much a little terror in general. It was dreadful, I know, but I had a lot of fun and it was a good life. I hope I made you proud of me.

I don’t think I have the heart to write two of these letters, so share this with Katie. And Katie, if you’re reading this, I’m sorry I didn’t come home to you. I love you more than I could ever say on a piece of paper with a dumb old pen. But you know how I feel. I’m so glad for all the times we’ve spent together. They’re among the best memories of my life. You’re the sweetest, prettiest girl I’ve ever met in all my life and I wish I could say more. I want to thank you for saying yes. But I want you to know that, while I hope you’ll never forget me, I want you to be able to move on with your life. If another fellow comes along and sweeps you off your feet, it’s okay. Go on and be happy. I’ll be watching you from up here and I know if you’re happy, heaven will be all that much better. Keep smiling, sweetheart.

Mom, Dad, all my junk and things, you can do whatever you want with. Except my bat, that’s for Josh, and the glove for Ronnie. Katie can have whatever she wants and you can keep all the rest. 

Love you tons,

Jerry

Katie looked down at her hand, touching the little dime store ring Jerry had proposed with. She glanced back at her mother and held her hand out for the letter. A single tear slipped down her cheek as she clutched it against her heart.

"Mama..." She lifted her head, drawing a deep breath. "I... I need to work. As hard as I can. I just feel that if I don't get as busy as possible, I'll go crazy!"

"I understand." Donna smiled sadly. "Staying occupied is the best way to deal with grief. What do you have in mind?"

"I want to do more active service. More than what I'm doing here with the sewing circles. I need to... get out of Jefferson... for a while. I…" she took a deep breath and looked up at her mother, her eyes serious. "Mom, I've decided to join the USO. But not here... In New York, I think. That's where it's busiest... They have men shipping out almost every day and they need help over there. And I can sing. I think... I think I'd like to try that for a while."

✯✯✯

"So tired, I could fall asleep if a Kraut had the barrel of a gun stuck 'tween my eyes," Dan's words were slurred with exhaustion as he leaned against the side of a dormant tank. He slid down against it until he hit the ground. 

"Yeah. Who cares about food 'n tents 'n all that?" Mac flung himself down in the dirt, helmet and all, and was asleep in moments. There were men lying strewn everywhere, in every imaginable haphazard position. Some lay in the ditches, some on the road, mindless of mud puddles. Andy had fallen asleep standing up against the side of a supply truck with his face buried in the canvas. 

"Hey, look at Andy," Josh whispered as he dug through his pack in search of food. As tired as he was, hunger was currently the stronger impulse.

"I can relate," Ronnie groaned, tossing off his own pack and collapsing onto it. There was an unmistakable crunch and another groan. "Dammit."

"What happened?" Josh grinned in the darkness, tugging at the lid on a can of spam. "Break your nose?"

"Worse. Broke my damn glasses."

"Oh." There was a pause. "Ronnie, I've never heard you swear."

"Never needed to before." Ronnie's voice was muffled as he rolled over. 

"What about that time you broke your glasses in seventh grade?"

"That was different."

"How come?"

"Shut up, Josh," Ronnie mumbled sleepily. "It's the middle of the night and we've been up for over twenty-four hours."

"Shut up? Ha! Got a bit of Emma in you after all," Josh laughed, but he shut up.

It was past midnight when a booming voice shouted out the word they all dreaded. Even in the dead of sleep, they heard it, their bodies reacting faster than their minds. 

"Ten-SHUN!!!" 

It was amazing just how fast men could get on their feet when exhausted past the point of comprehension. It was an instant transformation, weary soldiers snapping to attention with weapons at the ready.

"Wait, what's going on?" a tired and slightly annoyed voice broke the momentary stillness as it slowly dawned on the men what had happened. "Where's the Sarge?"

"I'm right here," Ronnie groaned, half-awake. "And it wasn't me."

All eyes turned to Josh who was bending over double, laughing so hard his face was red and tears were streaming down his cheeks.

"You again? Lemme at 'im," Ken snarled, lunging towards Josh.

"You've forfeited your right to live," Ralph cried. Josh was attacked from all directions at once and tackled roughly to the ground. 

"Alright, we've got the traitor," Mac called out, holding Josh in a headlock. "What's the sentence, Chief? Death by firing squad, beheading, or hanging?"

"Turn him over to the Krauts if you want," Ronnie shrugged. "See if they can handle dealing with him."

"Oh no, not that!" Josh yelled in mock horror. "Anything but that. C'mon, Chief, help me! I'm too young to die!"

"You're on your own with this one, pal. Good luck." Ronnie saluted the haphazard tangle of soldiers and promptly went back to sleep. 

"Just get him to shut up," Mac advised. "And if he attempts something like that again, we'll load him into a torpedo gun and send him straight into enemy lines."

"Can't we do that now?" Sam grinned in eager anticipation. 

“Won’t work now. All the torpedo guns are back on the ships. We have to think practically.” Mac shook his head. “Anybody got some of that fancy new tape?”

“Gotcha covered,” Sandy produced a roll as if he had been waiting for this very moment. It took six of them to hold Josh down. He was fighting like a bucking bronco and yelling loud enough to alert everyone within miles, enemy included. 

“Shut up, you radge,” Mac laughed and wound tape around Josh’s mouth while Sandy found another roll of tape and bound his ankles. “You’re gonna get us all killed. C’mon lads, get his arms behind his back. We gotta make sure he doesn’t make a sound all night.”

“Ya sure this is a good idea?” Dan frowned. “If we have to get on the move real fast, what’ll we do with him?”

“Trust me,” Mac grunted as he taped Josh’s wrists together. “If the enemy attacks, we’re better off without this goofball. Anyway, worst comes to worst, we’ve all got knives, don’t we? We’ll cut him loose in a couple of seconds.”

“It’s gonna be bad when we do cut him loose,” Sam raised his eyebrows. “He’ll kill all of us.”

“If we thought of this months ago, we’d all have had an awful lot more peace and quiet,” Sandy shook his head regretfully. “Next time I write home, I’m gonna ask for a boatload of this tape.”

“It’s standard army issue, man.” Mac stood up, grinning down at Josh who was glaring murderously at him. "There. That takes care of that. Now I'm gonna get some sleep. Remember… torpedo."