She heard things about Billy Dunn that she had a hard time believing, to look at him. He was a double ace. He'd shot down ten Japanese airplanes. Nobody would believe that, to look at him. He looked like a boy.
And Pick Pickering, who came across initially as such a wise-ass: He wasn't that way, really. He told Colonel Dawkins he was going to turn in his wings after his buddy was hurt so badly-that poor kid wrapped up like a mummy in Ward 9D. He told him he didn't want to fly anymore; that he was afraid. But Galloway wouldn't let him.
And then Captain Galloway, who was just as drunk as the others, said with great affection: "The truth, Colonel, is this sonofabitch can really fly; I couldn't let him go; The Corps needs him."
And she learned that Galloway had taken Pickering with him when they flew to some Japanese-occupied island and rescued some people who were there reporting on Japanese aircraft movement.
And that Billy Dunn had been the squadron commander while they were gone. He really looked like a college cheerleader, Carol thought. How could this kid be a Marine officer, much less a double ace and an acting squadron commander?
The first time she saw him in the hospital, she actually thought that he looked like a cheerleader wearing his big brother's uniform. A drunken boy.
And then she remembered that Billy didn't seem as drunk as the others, later on... that he'd been quiet and thoughtful. They stopped dancing after Colonel Dawkins came. At the time, she was grateful; she thought she was probably going to have to fight him off, the way he was dancing so close to her.
Especially early on, when he had an erection. But he was a perfect gentleman about that, Carol now recalled. He was terribly embarrassed, and swiftly moved his middle away from hers.
But it meant he was interested in her, excited by her. And that alarmed her: While she wasn't a virgin, neither did she sleep around, especially with a kid she'd just met... especially with a kid five or six years younger than she was-at least five or six years.
Well, he hadn't even made a pass at her, tried to steal a quick feel or anything like that. He was really a nice kid.... A kid? how could she call this man a kid? A double ace, who was going to get both the Distinguished Flying Cross and possibly the Navy Cross too, Colonel Dawkins said?
And then he just disappeared, even before Colonel Dawkins left. And this solved Carol's problem of how to handle him when he made a pass at her. She didn't want to hurt his feelings, but she was not about to go to bed with a kid... even if he was cute as a button and a genuine hero. And more mature, more of a man, than he looked like.
Well, it really didn't matter. No harm done. No feelings hurt. Thank God. Colonel Dawkins said there would be a car at Muku Muku at five in the morning that would take them to Honolulu to catch the Pan American commercial flight to San Francisco. She'd probably never see him again. Which was probably a good thing, because the truth seemed to be that she was more attracted to him than was good for her.
She looked at herself in the mirror one more time, lifted the towel off of her head and brushed her hair out, then turned the light off and went out of the bathroom into the bedroom.
She could hear the surf crashing on the beach below. This was the first time this evening she was conscious of it. She went out onto the balcony and looked down. There was just enough light to see the surf. It was a beautiful night.
She stood there, looking out at the stars and the water for several minutes, and then she turned around and started back to her room. She would have to somehow wake up early enough to rouse Flo and get the both of them back to the Nurses' Quarters before the other girls started to get up-and started to make wise-ass remarks about where they'd been all night.
And then, farther down the balcony, she saw the coal of a cigarette glow bright; and in the light, she could make out Billy's face.
I could pretend I didn't see that and just go back in my room. But he has seen me. And he knows that I have seen him.
She walked down the balcony to him. He was wearing a robe like hers; and when he saw her coming, he got up from the chaise lounge where he had been sitting.
"Couldn't sleep?" Carol asked.
"No," he said.
I am making him uncomfortable. It's almost as if he's afraid of me.
"This is really a beautiful place, isn't it?"
"Yes."
"Billy, are you all right?"
"Yes, of course I'm all right. Why shouldn't I be all right?"
"I'm sorry I asked."
"That's all right. Forget it."
"Billy, did I say something wrong? Did I do something?"
"Of course not."
"You had a lot to drink...."
"Yeah."
"Is that why you... just disappeared?"
He didn't answer for a moment.
"When I disappeared, I was getting sober," he said finally.
"Then why?"
"Sober enough to realize I'd been making an ass of myself with you."
"Don't be silly. I didn't feel that way at all."
Why did I say that? Not only isn't it true, but it's encouraging him.
"The reason I left was because you had just decided to stay over," he said. "I was afraid."
What the hell is he talking about?
"Afraid? I don't understand."
"I was drunk, and we were fooling around. But that was all right, because you were going to leave, and that would be the end of it."
I will be damned! He thought I was interested in him!
"And you thought I was staying because of you?" she blurted.
"Pretty dumb, huh?"
"Billy, I did nothing that gave you any right to think anything like that."
"I know. Now I know. I'm sorry. The thing is, I don't know much about women. I don't know anything about women."
What does that mean? That you've never had a girlfriend? That you 're a virgin, for God's sake?
"You've never had a girlfriend? Come on!"
He did not reply.
"I can't believe that, Billy."
"Yeah. Well."
My God, he means it!
"Oh, Billy," she heard herself say; her hand, as if with a mind of its own, reached out and touched his cheek.