American Triumph: 1939-1945: 4 STORIES IN 1

by Susan Martins Miller, Norma Jean Lutz, Bonnie Hinman

  Mandy quickly pulled on her skirt and blouse, acting as though she heard nothing. But inside she wanted to scream at them to stop. Her shoes and stockings were on in a flash, and she was going out the door of the locker room when she heard Helga hollering because her clothes were nowhere to be found.

  How Mandy wished she could do something. But what? Her stomach was churning as she hurried back to class. Later, when class began, Helga was missing. Mandy learned later that the girls told Miss Bowen that Helga took a shower with her clothes on.

  Would Miss Bowen have believed such a story? Maybe so. After all, everyone said Helga was not right in her head. Elizabeth and Jane said she was madder than a March hare. Mandy wasn’t so sure about that. Just because her feet were crippled didn’t mean her brain was.

  Poor Helga was driven home by Miss Bowen and didn’t come back to school that day.

  Mandy had no trouble getting up the next morning. She was awake and dressed before Mr. Buckley, the milkman, pulled up to the house to deliver their daily milk and cream. When it was time to leave for school, John and the twins weren’t at the front door waiting for her. She was there first.

  When John asked why she was ready so early, she told him about Miss LaFayette’s offer to let her come to the library before school.

  “I like Miss LaFayette,” Susan said as she skipped along beside them.

  “Me, too,” Ben echoed. “She’s nice. She comes to our room and reads us a story. I sit on the blue circle at story time.”

  “I sit on the yellow circle. Yellow’s my mostest favorite color. Sunshine is yellow.”

  As the twins walked ahead of them, John said, “You must’ve made an impression on the librarian. What did you do?”

  Mandy smiled. “Actually, it’s because I wasn’t listening. I didn’t hear her say we could only check out two books, and I had five. Had to put three of them back.”

  John laughed. “I guess only a librarian could appreciate that.”

  As they talked about school, Mandy considered telling him about the incident with Helga in gym class. How the girls had soaked Helga’s clothes. But before she had a chance to decide, two boys from down the street called to him.

  “See you later,” John said and sprinted off. Mandy wished someone were calling to her to hurry and join them.

  Before going downstairs to the library, Mandy glanced about to see if anyone was watching. But it was early and the halls were nearly empty, so she felt safe.

  Miss LaFayette smiled when Mandy came in. “Good morning, Mandy,” she said, peering over a low bookshelf. “How’s my fourth-grade avid reader?”

  “Fine, thank you.” Mandy felt warm inside. “Shall I lay these here?” She put her two books on the librarian’s desk.

  “Yes, please. I’ll check them in later. Come here. I want to show you something.”

  Mandy followed her into a small room behind the checkout desk. Waving to a counter, Miss LaFayette said, “Here are the books that have just come in. They’re ready to be put on the shelves, and I thought you’d like to see them first.”

  “Goodness gracious.” Mandy breathed a deep sigh. “Do you really mean it?”

  “Why, of course I mean it. Come take a look.”

  Mandy ran her fingers over the bright, shiny dustcovers. They were beautiful. So fresh and new. Out of the stack, she chose one novel and one biography.

  “I’ll take these.” She suddenly felt very shy.

  “Good choices. Come, let’s check them out for you.”

  After the returned books were checked in and the new ones checked out, Mandy thanked Miss LaFayette. But the thank-you seemed paltry. She wished she could explain to this pretty lady just how much her kindness meant.

  Mandy hurriedly took her things to the classroom and then went outside since no one was allowed to loiter in the halls before the bell rang. That afternoon, she’d be able to take one of her new books outside and read during recess.

  Later, when they were all seated in Mrs. Crowley’s classroom, Mandy heard someone say, “Hey, Einstein!”

  At first Mandy ignored the voice, but the boy next to her tapped her shoulder. “Hey, brain,” he said, “Elizabeth wants you.”

  She looked around, and Elizabeth pointed to Mandy’s desk, where the brand-new library books lay in plain sight. Mandy cringed. She should have put them inside the desk so no one could see them.

  “Where’d you get the new books, Mandy Einstein?” Elizabeth whispered. “Do you get special favors at the library?”

  “She must be Miss LaFayette’s pet,” Jane said.

  Mandy turned around to face the front and tried to ignore the chorus as they whispered, “LaFayette’s little pet! LaFayette’s little pet!” over and over again.

  That day in the locker room, Mandy was the target.

  “Does anyone else in school get nice, new library books?” Elizabeth taunted as they were changing into their gym suits.

  “Only the brain, Mandy Einstein,” Renee chimed in.

  Mandy said nothing, but her face felt hot, and her stomach rolled so that she thought she was going to be sick. Later she wondered how she even made it through phys-ed class.

  That afternoon, she took a book outside with her and sat far from the others under one of the few shade trees on the school grounds. She opened the first in the Elsie Dinsmoor series. Miss LaFayette had encouraged her to begin the series. “I’ve ordered the entire set,” she had said. “They should be arriving next week.”

  Mandy didn’t even notice that the Golden Ring had slipped up behind her, but when she looked up from her book, there they were. All four of them. She noticed their saddle oxfords were getting a little scuffed after a couple weeks of school. Especially Lily Madison’s.

  “I think that brand-spanking-new library book should have been mine,” Elizabeth said in her lilting voice. “Don’t you, girls?”

  “I don’t see why not,” Jane agreed.

  Mandy’s heart pounded. Why couldn’t they just leave her alone? She’d never bothered them.

  “But then,” Elizabeth went on, “I’m not a little pet.” She shook her head and curled up her pretty lip in a mock pout. “I’m not as good as the brain here.”

  “But you can have the book if you want it, Elizabeth.” Jane took a step closer.

  Mandy tightened her grip on the book, but it was too late. Before she could think to wrap her arms around it, the book was snatched from her hands.

  “Hey!” she said, springing up to her feet. “Give that back!”

  “What do you know?” Renee squealed. “She really talks.”

  The four girls laughed and danced around, passing the book one to another while Mandy watched helplessly. Suddenly the bell clanged. Renee, who was holding the book, said, “My, oh my, time to go.” With that, she deliberately dropped the lovely new book into the dirt, tearing the cover and bending the pages.

  As the Golden Ring marched smugly away, they were hooking little fingers and laughing. Mandy rescued the book from the dirt and tried her best to wipe the pages clean with the skirt of her dress. Whatever would she tell Miss LaFayette?

  Now she knew how Helga felt when she went home in wet clothes. She guessed having the school librarian for a friend wasn’t such a good thing after all.

  On Friday night, Mark came to supper at the McMichael house. Having worked on the docks for several years, Mark had rippling muscles and a broad chest. He was a happy guy with a broad smile and a shock of brown hair that fell across his forehead.

  The two lovebirds pushed their chairs close to one another at the table. Every once in a while, Mark would reach over and touch Lora’s hand. Mandy thought that would be terribly embarrassing, but it didn’t seem to bother Lora one bit.

  Seeing them so happy made Mandy feel sad inside. She wanted to be happy for them, but she felt too miserable. That morning she’d intentionally turned around the i and the e in the spelling word receive. She was determined never to get a perfect spelling score again. It
was easier and simpler to miss one or two words each week on purpose. And that’s exactly what she planned to do.

  She wasn’t sure how far she’d take her plan, but she could easily write shorter paragraphs in language class and mix up the state capitals in geography. There had to be a way to make the Golden Ring stop making fun of her. The plan to stop doing her best seemed to be the only way.

  “But our army is pathetic,” Mark was saying to Dad as they ate Mama’s delicious pot roast.

  Mandy suddenly became aware of the voices swirling around her. They were talking about war again.

  Dad nodded grimly. “Pathetic is right. And that doesn’t even take into consideration our lack of a fully equipped navy.”

  “Or the lack of air power,” Peter put in.

  Mandy cringed at their words. She hated when the conversation turned to war—as it always seemed to do.

  “The totalitarian countries have more than fifteen hundred aircraft,” Dad said, waving his fork in the air. “The United States may have about eighty. That’s way out of balance.”

  Not wanting to be left out, John added, “Our teacher, Mr. Cutts, says that Britain has always controlled the seas and will keep on doing so without our help.”

  Dad shook his head. “But, Son, there’s more to this than ruling the seas. This war will be won by the nation who rules in the air.”

  Mandy’s father knew exactly what he was talking about. He helped design the airplanes that were being turned out at the Boeing plant. Those fighters and bombers were being shipped to Britain to help defend against the threat of attack from Nazi Germany.

  Later, the family retired to the living room, where they listened to Fulton Lewis Jr., the radio news commentator from Washington, DC. That meant even more talk about war and serious things.

  Mandy went to her room to read a library book.

  The next evening, as the family was in the living room after supper, they heard Mark’s Ford drive up.

  Mother looked up from her knitting. “What are the kids doing coming home at this hour?”

  They all knew that on Saturday night the couple never arrived home until around eleven. Even then they would sit out in the Ford talking.

  Soon Mark and Lora were standing side by side in the living room doorway, holding hands and looking rather sheepish.

  “Mother, Daddy, everyone …” Lora stretched out her left hand. “Mark and I are engaged.” But before anyone could react, she added, “And Mark has enlisted in the navy.”

  Mandy felt as though she’d been hit in the face with a bucket of ice water.

  CHAPTER 6

  The Lie

  Mandy watched as her mother’s face turned pale. Everyone froze, and the room was dead still for an endless moment.

  The twins were sprawled on their stomachs, scribbling in their new coloring books. Suddenly, Susan leaped to her feet. “You’re gonna be a bride, Lora? A real bride with flowers and a veil and everything?” She ran to hug her sister, breaking the awkwardness of the moment.

  Lora gave a nervous laugh. “I don’t know about all that, Susan. We’ve decided to wait to get married.”

  Mama sighed then. She and Dad were on their feet hugging Lora, shaking hands with Mark, and giving their congratulations.

  “You’re sure you know what you’re doing, son?” Dad asked.

  “Oh, yes, sir,” Mark answered. “Lora and I’ve talked this over. I want to get into the service now before it all breaks loose.”

  Dad nodded. Mandy thought her father’s eyes looked wet, and he was biting his lip.

  Lora looked past her parents and said, “Well, what about the rest of you? Has everyone turned into zombies?”

  Mandy didn’t feel like congratulating them at all. Why did they want to get engaged if Mark was going to be leaving? It all seemed so senseless. And so scary. Especially when Mark said, “before it all breaks loose,” as if he had no doubt that war was coming. She followed John and Caroline in giving hugs and her best wishes, but her heart wasn’t in it.

  Since Peter was still at work, Lora and Mark decided to run over to the Tydol station and tell him their news.

  “They have more surprises than Mystery Theater,” John said after they were gone. He went back to his stack of comic books and started reading again.

  They all tried to go back to what they were doing. Dad’s newspaper was open again, but Mandy could bet he wasn’t reading it.

  “Mark’s so young to be going away.” Mama’s voice was wistful. The knitting lay untouched on the lamp table beside her.

  Dad put down his paper. “I know, Nora. But if war does come, boys younger than Mark will be called.”

  “I know, Paul. I remember,” she said softly.

  Of all things, why does Mark have to join the navy? Mandy wondered. Especially now, when German U-boats were shooting torpedoes at everything afloat. She didn’t even want to think about it.

  Late that night as she lay in bed trying to sleep, she could hear Caroline and Lora talking in low voices in their room. The phonograph was playing the yearning strains of “Red Sails in the Sunset.” Mandy wondered if Lora was happy or sad. How could her sister bear to let Mark go away?

  Mandy didn’t return the soiled library book on library day because she didn’t want the Golden Ring to see her. Instead, she waited until the next week, when she could go into the library early. The book didn’t look all that bad, but there was a tear on the dust jacket.

  She tried and tried to think of a way to tell Miss LaFayette what had happened to the book, but nothing seemed right. Being a tattletale was out of the question. She considered returning it and saying nothing, but that seemed terribly ungrateful after the librarian had been so kind to her.

  Walking into the library, Mandy lay the book on the desk in front of Miss LaFayette. “Miss LaFayette,” she heard herself saying, “do you have any little sisters or brothers?”

  Miss LaFayette looked at the book and then looked up at Mandy, her doe eyes soft and kind. She nodded. “A younger brother.”

  Mandy pointed to the book. “Well, I have a little sister and a brother.”

  “The twins? Susan and Benjamin?”

  “That’s them,” Mandy said, feeling her chest go tight.

  Miss LaFayette smiled. “It happens, Mandy. I know you would never intentionally damage a brand-new book.”

  “No, ma’am,” she answered honestly. “I never would.”

  Miss LaFayette gave her permission to check out another book. As she walked out of the library, Mandy told herself that she never actually said the twins did anything. So it wasn’t really a lie. Then why did she feel so dirty inside?

  Steam rose up in miniature clouds as Mandy smoothed the iron over one of John’s starched shirts. The steam created a warm mixture of clean-outdoor and laundry-soap smells. There was so much starch in the shirt, she practically had to peel it off the ironing board to move it around.

  Supper was over, and Mama had set up the iron and ironing board in the kitchen for her. Fibber McGee and Molly, one of Mandy’s favorite programs, had just come on the radio. Every time Fibber opened a closet door, Mandy heard a frightful crashing noise as all the stored junk came tumbling out. She giggled every time it happened.

  Caroline told her they used sound effects to make that kind of racket. Mandy supposed that was true. Nothing was real on the radio or at the movies. Except for the newscasts and newsreels. They were real. And they were scary.

  “You’re supposed to iron the yoke first.” Caroline’s voice intruded into her thoughts. “I thought you knew how to iron.”

  “I do know how to iron.” Mandy held up the shirt and studied it. It wasn’t as good a job as Mama would have done, but it looked good to her.

  “Here.” Caroline came around to the other side of the ironing board. “Let me show you.”

  Mandy stepped out of the way. She hated it when Caroline started acting like she was all grown up. Besides, Mandy was missing the best part of Fibber McGee a
nd Molly. At supper, Caroline had accused her of setting the table the wrong way. What was next?

  Caroline took the shirt from her. “Like this,” she said as though she were showing Susan how to tie her shoes. “Fold the crease across the yoke and iron the yoke first, then the collar, then the sleeves, then the rest of the shirt, in that order. When you do it right, it won’t look like a little kid ironed it.”

  Mandy took the shirt back from her sister, put it on the hanger, and hung it on the rod with the rest of the dresses, shirts, skirts, and blouses. She looked at the clothes still in the laundry basket, every piece dampened and rolled up tightly to retain the dampness. At the bottom was one of Lora’s full skirts. Yards of material to iron. She reached down, picked it up, and held it out to Caroline. “Here,” she said. “Show me how to iron this skirt.”

  Caroline pressed her lips together and squinted up her eyes. “No need to get smart. I was just trying to help.”

  Mandy said no more, but she didn’t see how being bossy could help anyone. She reached over and turned the radio up a little. As long as she listened to the radio programs or read a good book, she could ignore all the unpleasant thoughts chasing around in her head.

  Just then, Lora came into the kitchen. “Ready for me to start on my half of the ironing?”

  Mandy smiled. “I was ready before I started on this.” She set the iron on its heel and waved at the full skirt draped over the ironing board.

  “I’m surprised you didn’t leave it for me.” Lora put her arm around Mandy and gave her a squeeze. “You’re a good worker, Mandy.” She leaned over to plant a soft kiss on Mandy’s cheek.

  Mandy wanted to tell Lora that Caroline had accused her of being a lazybones, but she didn’t think Lora needed to know anyone else’s troubles. After all, she had enough on her mind with Mark leaving in two days.

  “I’ll finish the skirt if you’d like,” Lora offered.

  “Thanks.” Mandy stood a moment, savoring the sweetness of Lora’s presence. Surely Lora was dreading Mark’s leaving, but her face didn’t show it. “Guess I’ll go do my homework,” Mandy said.