TO OFFICER-IN-CHARGE USMC PUBLIC AFFAIRS DETACHMENT. IF TIME SCHEDULE OF WAR BOND TOUR
NUMBER TWO PERMITS, A TEN (10) DAY ADMINISTRATIVE DELAY EN ROUTE LEAVE IS AUTHORIZED.
3. DIRECTOR, PUBLIC AFFAIRS, HQ USMC AND OFFICER-IN-CHARGE USMC PUBLIC AFFAIRS DETACHMENT
LOS ANGELES, CAL. WILL BE INFORMED BY PRIORITY RADIO OF DATE, TIME, AND MEANS OF DEPARTURE OF SUBJECT OFFICERS IN COMPLIANCE WITH THESE ORDERS.
BY DIRECTION:
J. J. STEWART, BRIG GEN, USMC
"Jesus!" Galloway said, disgustedly. "How do we get out of this, Skipper? Or at least how do I?"
"I spoke with General Mclnerny," Dawkins said. "He thinks he may be able to get you out of it. I told him I need you to refit the squadron. These two heroes are stuck."
"Stuck with what?" Pickering asked. Galloway handed him the radio message.
"No! Jesus H. Christ!" Pickering said when he had read the message. He handed it to Dunn.
"You're on the Pan American clipper departing at 0700, Mr. Pickering," Dawkins said.
"Can I take my ten days' leave here?" Dunn asked. Dawkins looked at him. "I'm in love," Dunn explained.
"Will you stop that?" Lieutenant Ursery said.
"Love will have to wait," Dawkins said, smiling. "Duty calls, Mr. Dunn. You will be on that PAA clipper."
"I don't know why he talks like that, Colonel," Lieutenant Ursery said. "He's crazy."
"Yes, I know," Dawkins said. "If the offer is still good, I think I would like a drink."
"Denny," Pickering said. "Would you get the Colonel a nice glass of cyanide, please?"
"We've got just about everything, Colonel, pay no attention to Mr. Pick," Denny said. "What can I fix you?"
"Bourbon?"
"Finest Kentucky sour mash coming up."
"Skipper," Galloway pursued. "There's no way I can get out of this?"
"I told you, Charley, General Mclnerney thinks he can get you out of the war bond tour, but you're going to have to go to the States tomorrow."
"I know General Mclnerney," Pick said. "Maybe if I asked him..."
"Try saying 'aye, aye, Sir,' just once, Mr. Pickering," Dawkins said.
"If you know him, Pick," Bill Dunn said "ask him if he can fix it so I can spend my ten days' leave with Whatsername here."
" 'Whatsername'?" Carol Ursery exploded.
"Tell him I'm in love," Dun said, unabashed.
"Can you call the States from here?" Galloway asked.
"There's a hell of a wait for personal calls, Charley," Dawkins replied. "It took me four hours to get through to my wife."
"Who do you want to call, Skipper?" Pickering asked, and then, smugly, "Ah! Ward's aunt!"
"Watch your mouth, Pickering!"
"Do you wish to be nasty to me, Sir, or do you want to talk to the sainted Aunt Carolyn?"
For a moment, Colonel Dawkins was convinced that Galloway was going to really rip into Pickering. But what Galloway said was, "Don't tell me you can get a call through?"
"You got a number, Skipper?" Pickering asked. "I'll just bet that P and FE has a priority. If I can get through to the switchboard in San Francisco, they can put you through to anywhere in the States."
Galloway dug out his wallet.
"Pickering," Colonel Dawkins asked. "What's your connection with Pacific and Far East Shipping?"
Pickering looked at him.
"Sir, my father owns it," he said simply. "But I would appreciate it if that didn't get around."
[THREE]
Jenkintown, Pennsylvania
2345 Hours 20 October 1942
Mrs. Carolyn Ward McNamara was thirty-two, blond, long-haired, long-legged, and at the moment fiercely annoyed. It had taken a long time to get to sleep, and when the telephone at her bedside table rang, she did not welcome the intrusion.
It was probably a wrong number. Or worse, some goddamned man who'd decided it was his duty to comfort the grass widow in her loneliness.
Some goddamned man who 'd needed liquid courage to find the nerve and had drunk enough so that he either didn't know what time it was, or didn't care.
She sat up in bed, turned on the bedside lamp, grabbed the telephone, and snarled into it, "Who is this, for God's sake?"
"Mrs. Carolyn W. McNamara, please," a female voice asked. It was an operator.
"Who is this?" Carolyn snapped.
"Are you Mrs. McNamara?" the operator persisted.
"Yes, who the hell is this?"
"Go ahead, Honolulu, we have Mrs. McNamara on the line."
"One moment, San Francisco," another female voice said.
San Francisco? Honolulu? What the hell is this? It has to be about Charley! Oh, God!
"Muku Muku," a male voice said.
What did he say?
"We're ready with Mrs. McNamara on the mainland."
"One moment, please."
"Galloway."
"We're ready with your party, Captain Galloway. Go ahead, please."
"Oh, God, Charley!"
"Carolyn?"
"Yes, yes, yes. Charley, where are you? Are you all right?"
"I'm fine. How are you?"
"Where are you?"
"Hawaii."
"Thank God! I've been so worried. Charley, you're not hurt?"
"No. I'm fine."
"The newspapers have been full..."
"I'm fine."
Damn him, he would tell me he's fine if he had just lost both his legs.
"What are you doing in Hawaii?" Carolyn asked suspiciously.
"Chasing bare-breasted girls in grass skirts, what else?"
"Charley, damn you!"
"Look, the reason I called, I'm going to have a couple of days, maybe a couple of weeks, in the States. I wondered if I could come to see you....
"You wondered if you could come to see me?"
"Well, you know. I thought about your family."
"When are you going to be in the States?"
"We're catching a plane to San Francisco in the morning. We ought to be in there tomorrow night sometime."
"What are you going to do in San Francisco?"
"You're not going to believe this, but they're sending me on a war bond tour."
"Why shouldn't I believe it? Jimmy Ward's been on one."
"Yeah, I forgot. Where is he?"
Jimmy Ward was First Lieutenant James G. Ward, USMCR, Carolyn Ward McNamara's nephew. Jimmy Ward had brought then Technical Sergeant Galloway to his parents' home, where Aunt Carolyn had first met Sergeant Galloway. Jimmy Ward was thus responsible for substantially changing her life.
Who the hell cares where Jimmy is? Carolyn thought furiously.
"Right now he's in Washington," she said. "Tell me about the war bond tour. Where are you going to be?"
"I don't know. We're supposed to get a ten-day leave before it starts, and I thought maybe I could come to see you."
There you go again! You thought maybe you could come to see me? Goddamn you, Charley!
"Tell me something, Charley," Carolyn said. "Do you love me? Or are you just lining up the standard Marine Corps girl in every port?"