The hell it isn’t,Aunt Caroline thought. And that isn’t all that’s interesting about that young man.’
"Have you been flying airplanes like that long, Sergeant?"
"No, Ma’am," Charley Galloway said.
"What do you ordinarily fly? And stop calling me ‘Ma’am,’ it makes me feel ancient."
"Until recently, I was a fighter pilot," Charley Galloway said. "I usually fly Wildcats."
"I didn’t know that, Charley," Jim Ward said, impressed. Aunt Caroline picked up on that, too.
"Why aren’t you flying them now? And for that matter, what’s a Wildcat?"
"The hottest fighter in the world," Jim Ward said firmly, almost with awe.
"We lost all of our planes on December seventh," Charley Galloway said. "At Pearl."
"You were at Pearl Harbor?"
"Yes, Ma’am."
"If we’re going to be friends, Charley," Aunt Caroline said, "you’re really going to have to stop calling me ‘Ma’am.’ "
How the hell could we possibly get to be friends?
Charley saw, in the rearview mirror, that Aunt Caroline was smiling at him. He had a momentary, insane thought: She’s smiling at me the same way Ensign Mary Agnes O’Malley smiled at me just before she grabbed my joint in the Ford on the way up to the cabin in the mountains.
Immediately, he had more sensible thoughts:
Jesus Christ, I’m letting my imagination run wild. Lieutenant Ward’s Aunt Caroline is a lady, for Christ’s sake! Probably a married one. Not a slut in a Navy uniform. Ward’s Aunt Caroline is not about to grab the joint of a Marine sergeant! And you better watch your fucking step, pal You’re out of your depth around these people. Schneider, that starchy little prick, would love to tell Hershberger I got out of line here. And Hershberger told me what General Mclnerney said would happen to me if I so much as farted and embarrassed Marine Aviation. You know the rules. It’s always been the same choice, fucking or flying. They’re giving you a second chance to fly. Don’t fuck it up!
Charley Galloway smiled politely at Ward’s Aunt Caroline’s reflection in the rearview mirror.
"Yes, Ma’am," he said.
Lieutenant Ward laughed.
Charley took the chance. He winked at her reflection in the mirror.
Aunt Caroline stuck her tongue out at Charley’s reflection in the rearview mirror. Charley’s heart jumped again.
(Four)
2307 Watterson Avenue
Jenkintown, Pennsylvania
2140 Hours 13 February 1942
Because Lieutenant Jim Ward’s mother and dad really went out of their way to make Sergeant Charley Galloway feel welcome and comfortable, they severely undermined his determination to stay off the sauce in the process. Mr. Ward, who’d been in the Army in World War I, made a pitcher of martinis soon after they came in the house. Charley didn’t like martinis, but he had two-the first to be polite and the second because he saw that Lieutenant Schneider didn’t like to see him drinking at all.
There was red wine during dinner to go with the steaks; and cognac after dinner, when they went down to the basement game room. Mr. Ward poured generously, and whenever Charley lowered the level in his glass a quarter-inch, he "topped it off."
Jim Ward’s girlfriend and a friend of hers for Lieutenant Schneider were both good looking, but Charley thought that neither of them was as classy or as good looking as Aunt Caroline. Wearing a soft, pale blue cashmere sweater and a pleated skirt, she was even more beautiful than he had thought the first moment he saw her. With absolute innocence, they had been sort of paired off, as the only unattached people who would make up a couple.
They sat beside each other at dinner, and several times their knees brushed under the table. Charley didn’t think it was his fault. He didn’t have much room for his knees, squeezed as he was between Ward’s mother and Aunt Caroline.
Aunt Caroline was wearing a perfume he had never smelled before. He had a wild fantasy of burying his face between Aunt Caroline’s breasts and inhaling to his heart’s content.
He smelled the perfume again in the basement game room when Aunt Caroline bent over, at Mr. Ward’s order, to "touch off" his cognac snifter.
"No more for me, please, Ma’am," Charley said.
"I don’t think you’re having a very good time, Charley Galloway," Aunt Caroline said.
"I’m having a fine time, thank you," Charley said.
"Why don’t you dance with Sergeant Galloway, Caroline?" Lieutenant Ward’s mother said.
"Would you like to dance with me, Charley?" Aunt Caroline asked.
I’d cut off my left nut for the chance to put my arms around you.
"I’m not a very good dancer," he said.
He saw Lieutenant Schneider looking at him uneasily.
He’s afraid I’m going to grab her on the ass, or say something dirty in her ear.
Aunt Caroline spread her arms for him, and Charley stood up.
He put his arms around her and felt the warmth of her back, and then the soft pressure of her breasts against his chest; and the smell of her filled his nostrils; and the primary indicator of his gender popped to attention the moment that Aunt Caroline elected to move a little closer to him.
She was startled; but he was literally immobilized with humiliation. They stopped dancing. When he glanced nervously around to see if anyone was watching, he saw that they were alone in a small corner of the game room. He wondered how they had gotten here.
"I’m sorry," Charley said.
"I’m not," Aunt Caroline said matter-of-factly, not withdrawing her midsection at all. "I was beginning to think you were a faggot."
"Do I look like a faggot?" Charley asked, shocked, after a moment.
"Not at all, but neither did my husband, and he was-is-as queer as a three-dollar bill," Aunt Caroline said.
"Your husband’s queer?"
"My ex-husband is," she said.
Her hand had been brushing his neck. She dropped it, caught his hand, and led him back to the main area of the game room. She let go of his hand.
"Charley’s too polite to say so," Aunt Caroline said. "But he’s bushed and wants to go back to the base."
Very quickly, Lieutenant Schneider said, "Galloway, we’ll all be leaving shortly. We can leave together."
"Oh, I know how Charley feels," Aunt Caroline said. "Four’s company and five is a crowd, right, Charley?"
"Something like that," Charley said.
"And I’ve got a busy day tomorrow, too," Aunt Caroline said. "And I drive right past Willow Grove, so I’ll take Charley back to the base."
"That’s very good of you, Caroline," Charley’s dad said. "Then I’ll take the boys back later."
"Oh, I can drive them, Mr. Ward," Jim Ward’s girlfriend said. "You won’t have to."
They were almost at the gate to Willow Grove before Aunt Caroline spoke.
"I’m sorry you didn’t have a good time tonight."
"I had a good time."
"You were uncomfortable," she argued. "Because Jim and his friends are officers, and you’re not?"
"That didn’t bother me," Charley said.
"Then it was me," she said. It was not a question. "You don’t have to be afraid of me, Charley."
He didn’t reply.
"How old are you, Charley?"