American Triumph: 1939-1945: 4 STORIES IN 1

by Susan Martins Miller, Norma Jean Lutz, Bonnie Hinman

  Laura didn’t know what to do for her friend, whose tears were now running down her cheeks. She patted her on the back. Laura hadn’t known Yvonne’s brother. Her friend hadn’t had any sisters, and now she didn’t have a brother. Laura couldn’t imagine what it would be like to have only her parents as a family.

  “Do you have a handkerchief?” Yvonne asked.

  Laura shook her head.

  “I only have this one, but I can’t use it.” Yvonne pulled a lace-edged handkerchief from her pocket. Embroidered on one corner was a palm tree and the word Hawaii. No, she couldn’t use the special one that Charlie had sent her.

  “Use this,” Laura said and handed her a scrap of newspaper left over from when she’d cut out the letter E.

  Yvonne wiped her cheeks and blew her nose on the newsprint, which left black ink across her face.

  “Oh,” Laura said, “you should see yourself.” She grabbed the small mirror that hung on the wall and held it in front of Yvonne. “Your face is streaked with black.”

  Yvonne’s mouth dropped open, and she squealed. “I look like someone painted me!”

  Laura thought Yvonne was going to start crying again, but instead she laughed. She hooted, and Laura felt laughter bubble up inside her. Soon the girls were laughing so hard, tears spilled from their eyes.

  “Use this,” Yvonne said and handed a newspaper to Laura. Laura wiped her cheeks and looked in the mirror. Her face matched Yvonne’s.

  “What’s so funny?” Mrs. Lind stood at the office window. “What have you two gotten into?”

  “Nothing.” Through gales of laughter Laura asked, “Would you watch the office while we go wash up?” Not waiting for an answer, she opened the office door and dashed for their apartment with Yvonne right behind her.

  When the girls returned to the office, they were clean, and Laura carried a sheet and a pin cushion stuffed with straight pins. Mrs. Lind was talking through the office window to a short man wearing a brown suit. On the floor beside him sat two suitcases.

  “May I help you?” Laura asked and went inside the office. There was hardly room for her and the large woman beside her.

  “He wants a room. Isn’t 32 vacant now?” Mrs. Lind asked.

  “Yes. How long will you be here?” Laura asked. She filled out a form just like Corrine had shown her, had him sign it, and gave him the room key. The man picked up his suitcases and headed down the long hallway. “Thank you for watching the office, Mrs. Lind.”

  “You’re welcome,” she said, but she made no move to leave the small room. “What are you making?” She waved to the newspaper letters on the desk and the pile on the floor where Yvonne had been drawing the letters.

  Laura explained about the banner.

  “You’d have more room if you worked out there on the floor,” Mrs. Lind said, pointing to the lobby. “Stretch that sheet out across the couch to pin the letters on.” Without hesitating, she handed the scissors and pencil through the window to Yvonne. “Here.” She thrust the letters and the unused newspapers at Laura.

  Mrs. Lind was one pushy woman, but this time she had a point. There was more room to work in the lobby. While Yvonne pinned letters on the sheet, Laura quickly cut out the remaining letters. By the time Yvonne had to leave for home, the banner was finished.

  “Looks terrific,” Yvonne said. “Where can we hang it?”

  “In his bedroom, I guess,” Laura said. “No, maybe in the living room. Mama says he has to do exercises, so he shouldn’t be in bed too much.” They folded the sheet, careful not to dislodge any pins.

  “Tomorrow we’ll plan the food,” Yvonne said. “We need a cake. I’ll see how much sugar we have at home. And I’ll tell Kenny.”

  As soon as Yvonne walked down the stairs and waved from the bottom step, Laura went back into the office.

  “Thank you for watching the office, Mrs. Lind. I’ll take over now.”

  “Sure you don’t have anything else you have to do?” Mrs. Lind remained seated in the desk chair.

  “No, this is my job for the afternoon.”

  The phone rang, and Mrs. Lind grabbed the receiver. “Bayview Hotel … Yes … One moment … It’s your mother,” she said, placing the receiver on the desk.

  Laura looked pointedly at the woman, and with reluctant movements, Mrs. Lind stood and walked out of the office.

  “Thank you again,” Laura called.

  “Why was Mrs. Lind in the office?” Mama asked.

  Laura explained. “I was only gone a few minutes, but it was hard to get her out of here.”

  “She’s a lonely woman,” Mama said and then went on to tell Laura that Eddie was doing very well.

  “Good,” Laura said. “We’re planning a surprise for him.”

  “Oh, he’s planning a surprise for you, too.”

  No matter how much Laura pleaded or cajoled, Mama wouldn’t reveal the secret. Nor would she tell the family anything that evening when she came home.

  The next afternoon, Yvonne and Laura worked on making more decorations. Since they didn’t have balloons, they cut streamers out of more newspapers to tie in bows everywhere they could. Yvonne also announced that her mother had said they had enough sugar to make a cake.

  Maude said she’d also make a cake to celebrate Eddie’s return so everyone could have a big piece. Everything was set for the next afternoon. As soon as Mama called the office to let them know that Eddie had been dismissed, Maude would drive to the hospital and get them.

  But the call came in the morning. Corrine was running the office when Mama phoned. The doctor had come early and dismissed Eddie. As soon as Maude could get there, he could come home. She left immediately for the hospital.

  Daily work at the hotel came to a standstill. Laura called Yvonne, and she called Kenny. They both hurried over to the hotel, Yvonne carrying a cake fresh from the oven. Gary, Ginny, and Laura hustled about, hanging the banner, tying streamers on every chair, curtain rod, and candlestick in the living room.

  They finished their work and rushed to the lobby to await the honk of Maude’s car horn. The plan was for Gary to carry Eddie up the stairs, and then they’d all yell, “Welcome home, Eddie!”

  “They should have been here by now,” Ginny said after the welcoming group had paced the lobby for fifteen minutes and made countless trips up and down the stairs to the street below.

  “Maybe they had a flat tire,” Kenny said.

  “Are you waiting for me?” Eddie said from the hallway. Mama stood beside him, and Maude stood behind both of them.

  As one, the group turned toward his voice.

  “Eddie, you can walk!” Laura exclaimed.

  CHAPTER 4

  Madam President?

  Laura stared at Eddie and then rushed toward him.

  “Careful.” Mama stepped in front of him before Laura could reach him. “He can’t walk very well yet, but he wanted to surprise you.”

  Maude carried crutches and placed one under each of Eddie’s shoulders. He looked less tense now that he had some support. Lines in his forehead smoothed out.

  The others crowded around him.

  “Are you in pain?” Yvonne asked.

  “Can you go to school?” Kenny asked.

  “Did you walk all the way up here from the back steps?” Gary asked.

  “One at a time,” Mama said. “We don’t want to overwhelm him.”

  “I’m okay, Mama,” Eddie said with some of his old forcefulness. He turned and took a few awkward steps down the hall toward the apartment.

  “Mama and Maude carried me up the stairs to here. I’m not real good at walking yet, but I’m getting better.” He touched the wooden crutch to his right pant leg, and Laura heard a clunking sound. “This brace under here helps keep my leg straight.”

  Laura’s gaze shot to Yvonne’s. They’d discussed the posters of polio kids with both legs in braces. Did a brace mean that Eddie would never regain use of that leg? Mama had said he was getting stronger. Didn’t that mean that
he would return to normal and be able to run and jump?

  The group followed Eddie in a slow procession. Each of his steps seemed to take incredible concentration, and Laura found herself moving in the same way as Eddie with the same limp. She wasn’t trying to mimic him, and she certainly wasn’t making fun of him. She was trying to help—trying to take some of the burden from him, but she knew there was no way she could.

  Mama held the apartment door open, and as soon as they were all inside the apartment, Laura gave the signal. Immediately everyone yelled, “Welcome home, Eddie!”

  “We have cakes to celebrate,” Laura said.

  “I could eat a couple of pieces,” Eddie said. “Maybe three.”

  Mama laughed. “Eddie’s been without sugar for a long time.” She helped him sit on the couch with his legs stretched out.

  Corrine cut Eddie a big piece of cake and then took a piece with her and rushed back to the office. Ginny served the others, and they chatted with Eddie.

  Laura wanted to cut all the chitchat and ask if Eddie would ever be able to walk without the brace. She knew he’d been having trouble with that one leg, but she’d thought that it would get stronger. Mama had mentioned time and again that Eddie was exercising it. Now it appeared that he had no control over it at all. Laura could see the ugly brace where his pant leg didn’t cover it. She tried to look away, but her gaze kept coming back to his leg stretched out on the couch. Above his sock, the leg looked thin and bony. Tears stung her eyes, and she quickly got up and walked into her bedroom.

  “Laura,” Mama said from the doorway of the girls’ room, “are you all right?”

  “I thought he wasn’t going to be crippled,” Laura said. Her voice caught on a sob. “I thought he was going to be all right. But he isn’t, is he?”

  Mama crossed the room and hugged Laura. “He is all right. He’s not going to die from polio. That he has to wear a leg brace is a reminder of how much worse it could have been. We should thank God that Eddie’s not in a wheelchair like Mr. Clauson,” she said. “Before long Eddie will be able to walk without crutches, and knowing him, he’ll be running not long after that.”

  “With a limp.”

  “Yes, with a pronounced limp. But he’ll be walking.”

  “I prayed that he’d be all right.” Laura pushed away from Mama and plopped down on the bed.

  “He is all right,” Mama said once more.

  “But I prayed that he would be back to normal. God didn’t listen to me,” Laura said defiantly and stood up. She couldn’t sit still. She couldn’t stand still. She wanted to strike out, to do something to release the anger she felt at Eddie being cheated by life—first by the debilitating rheumatic fever, and now this. At the beginning of the summer, he’d had a whole body. Now he had one shriveled leg.

  “Laura,” Mama said, “God listened, and He answered your prayer—but not with the answer you wanted. Good will come from Eddie being crippled.”

  “How can it?”

  “I don’t know, but when bad things happen to us, God sometimes uses the situation so that we can learn and grow as people. We must have faith.” Mama handed a handkerchief to Laura. “Now dry your eyes, and go be with Eddie and your friends. Eddie needs you to be strong. Accepting that he will be crippled hasn’t been easy for him, either. He’s still fighting it. He hasn’t given up on a miracle restoring his leg.”

  Laura sniffed and wiped her tears. “Me, either.”

  With her head held high, she walked back into the living room and talked with the others about school starting in a couple of weeks and about the ever-present war. She sat down on the floor beside the couch where Eddie lay. She needed to be near her brother after a month of being away from him.

  “We’ve gathered tons of paper,” Kenny said and looked purposefully at the banner made of newspaper letters.

  “We can use those,” Eddie said, “but not for a little while. I like seeing my name like that.”

  Yvonne laughed. “The Girl Scouts are collecting paper, too.”

  Laura had been so busy with hotel work and running the office in the afternoon that she hadn’t had time to go out collecting. Instead, she’d made a place in the lobby for people to put their used paper.

  “Oh,” she said, “we didn’t finish the rooms.”

  “How many are left?” Mama asked in the normal business tone she used for hotel matters. For an instant it seemed that things were back to normal. If only Eddie weren’t stretched out on the couch and could hop up and race Laura down the hall to finish their chores.

  Reluctantly, Laura stood up. “Just a few. We’ll be back within the hour,” she said.

  Mama left Maude, Kenny, and Yvonne to occupy Eddie, and she went with Laura and the others to finish cleaning the empty rooms and making the beds.

  “Will Eddie be able to go to school?” Laura asked when they had finished the last room and were headed back to the apartment.

  “If you help him, I think he’ll be okay,” Mama said. “He’s got to practice walking. We can’t risk him falling down. That could further damage his leg. But we can’t let him baby it, either. Laura, you’ve got to work with him. Make him use that leg. The rheumatic fever already put him back one year. We don’t want him to get even further behind in his schooling.”

  That afternoon, Laura convinced Eddie that he could walk to the office and keep her company while she worked her shift. Mama didn’t offer to take over, so Laura figured that job was still one she’d do until school started. She carried an extra chair to use in the office while Eddie sat in the big chair behind the desk.

  “I sort the mail like this,” Laura said after the mailman had left a bundle of letters. She stood up and pointed to the boxes. “I match the names and the apartment numbers.”

  “Don’t talk to me like I can’t understand simple things,” Eddie said. “Remember, I’m a whole year older than you, even if we are in the same grade. And I may be crippled for a while, Laura, but I’m not dumb.”

  “I never thought you were,” Laura said.

  “Hand me my crutches,” he ordered.

  She gave them to him, and he used them to stand up. “What are you doing?”

  “I can put up the mail faster than you can,” Eddie said.

  “You can not,” Laura retorted.

  “Watch me,” Eddie said, and with one hand on a crutch for balance, he pushed letters into boxes with the other hand.

  Laura’s mouth fell open, and she started to snap at him; then she grinned instead. Eddie was back! Good old Eddie, who tried to make everything between them a competition.

  She watched him stuff the mailboxes. Although she did the job with a lighter touch, he may have been faster at it than she just because he wanted to beat her time.

  “Now you have to give it out to people, and you have to do it nicely,” she said. “They all want mail, and not everyone gets something. I’d better do that part. You don’t want to tire yourself by sitting up too long.”

  “I’m all right. I sat up lots of time in the hospital.”

  “What was it like?” Laura asked.

  “It was bad,” Eddie said as he sat down hard in the big desk chair. “But there were so many who were worse than me. Most of the kids were alone and didn’t have their moms with them. I heard Mama say she couldn’t have been there if it hadn’t been for the hospital being shorthanded and Mrs. De Wilde recommending her.”

  “Mrs. De Wilde, our principal?”

  “Yeah. Her brother runs the hospital, so Mama got special permission to stay with me, as long as she’d help with other patients, too.”

  That was news to Laura. She’d assumed all mothers could stay with their children. From down the hall she heard the distinct heavy footfalls that signaled Mrs. Lind’s afternoon trip to the office.

  “Well, if it isn’t Eddie back. You need me to work there so you can help him back to your apartment?” she asked.

  “No, we’re all right,” Laura said. “No mail today, but here’
s the newspaper.” She thought the woman would leave, but Mrs. Lind leaned on the counter in front of the office window.

  “How are you feeling, Eddie? You all right? Can you walk?”

  “I can walk pretty good,” Eddie said, although Laura knew that wasn’t true. “Just need some practice.”

  “Well, take care of yourself,” Mrs. Lind said. She took the Times and settled herself on the couch.

  “What happened to her?” Eddie whispered. He and Mrs. Lind had never gotten on very well.

  Laura shrugged. “You going to practice walking? Mama says you’ve got to get real good if you want to go to school on the first day.”

  Eddie winced. “I’ll walk to the apartment and get a drink.”

  “We ought to set up a schedule of walking,” Laura said. “Could you walk the entire hallway today? Tomorrow you could do it twice. Then the next day three times.” She could tell he was already tired from the excitement of coming home and sitting up for several hours, but Laura thought he would do better if he had a goal.

  Walking the halls became the plan. During the first week, Laura walked beside Eddie as he plodded along. Sometimes Kenny came over, and he walked beside Eddie. Some days it was Yvonne who walked alongside him. Day by day, Eddie became stronger. Mama showed him how to take the stairs. There was a method of using crutches going down and a different way to use them going up. Eddie got good at it, but the knowledge that it was now so much more difficult than before made Laura sad.

  A week before school started, Laura and Eddie changed the exercise from the hallways to the regular walk toward school. Each day they made it farther before they’d turn around and go back to the hotel. Laura had to hand it to Eddie. He worked hard at walking, harder than she thought she’d ever be capable of working. Sweat broke out on his forehead sometimes, but he wouldn’t give up. He kept walking.

  Each afternoon, she and Eddie divided the mail and put it up. They talked of his disability, but Eddie was vehement that his leg was not permanently damaged. He said if he tried harder, he could make it well. At first Laura had agreed, but she had watched him gain strength in his arms from using the crutches, not strength in his bad leg. Now she didn’t believe his leg would heal any more than she believed Corrine’s boyfriend would come back home.