Well into the month of June of 1945, the battle of Okinawa still raging, Sally, having deposited the war collection at the coalyard this Saturday, swung open one of the garage doors and pushed in the garden cart, then latched the door. She stepped into the back entry and jumped the steps into the kitchen and immediately checked through the mail her mother always left in the napkin holder on the table of the kitchen nook. She let out a sigh of frustration. The vacuum of no letter from John in over four months sucked her heart.…

…“I suppose I’m not as good at collecting cooking fat and whatever as I had thought….Must’ve been all Janie and Pamela’s doing.” She plopped into the nook.…

Dolores[her mother] said genuinely. “You shouldn’t blame yourself, after all—people have sort of died with our president—hard to regain traction for the war effort.”

“Yes, I suppose all of us have a little.”

“Euphoria too—what with VE Day,” her mother added, edging into the nook next to Sally.

“Oh, Mother, if they only knew how very dreadfully alive the war still is! Oh, God, it’s been going on so long on that devil’s island!” She reached for her mother and hugged her. She murmured into her mother’s breast, “Oh, Mom, it just keeps getting worse over there instead of better—one horrible skirmish after another—almost three months now! It is so much in the news now that I cannot avoid it.… Why don’t those awful Japs end it—can’t they see?…Oh, the pointless destruction of lives.”…

 …Johnny’s mother began nervously, rocking in her chair, clutching at something underneath her shawl,…

“Oh, Mother Cory, I’m caught between breaths, please tell me what the letter says,” Sally begged, sitting on edge of Mr. Cory’s old armchair, rubbing sweaty palms.

“Oh, my dear, you look so faint, so bleached-out; I worry…both…that is,…you…are so faithful…oh, gracious,… last month…”

“Last month! Good God! A letter last month and you didn’t tell me?”

“Well, not actually…Well, yes, I thought it best not…well,…oh, how terrible it was for you the last time…at Boug…”

“Oh, God, no! Then it’s not a letter—oh, not again!” She slid off the chair, drew up her legs and tapped her forehead repeatedly against her knees, sobbing hysterically.

Mrs. Cory, fidgeting with her shawl, stared at her with flooded, weary eyes and let her cry. Finally she moaned, “I’m so ashamed; I just couldn’t tell you about the telegram.”…

A Tale of Love & War, Volume II available on www.publishamerica.com

in a couple of weeks.

Copyright © 2005 Richard R. Kennedy All rights reserved. Revised: November 11, 2005.

http://stevendedalus.joeuser.com