by Vickie Hall
He pulled her tight, held her as if she might run away or disappear in a puff of hallucinated smoke. “Oh, Bonnie…” he breathed against her ear.
She pushed him back, gently, carefully. “Let’s keep walking,” she said.
For an instant, she thought he was going to protest, but he surprised her by taking her hand. “I think you’re right,” he said, walking in step beside her. “I’ve got to be back on base in a little while.” He lifted her hand to his mouth and kissed it. “I have another pass for tomorrow. Can I see you?”
She nodded. “But not at the canteen. Let’s meet at the same café, about two o’clock?”
“Okay, I’ll be here,” he said. Then he laughed, a short, knowing laugh. “If my buddies could see me now, they wouldn’t believe their eyes.”
“Well, maybe tomorrow we’ll have to do something about that.”
“Like what?”
“We’ll get our picture made, and then they’ll have to believe you.”
Luther paused on the sidewalk, his eyes wide. “You’d do that? You’d have your picture taken with me?”
She gave him a peck on the cheek. “Sure. You don’t think I’m going to let my fella go off to war without a picture of us, do you?”
“Your fella?”
“Well, what do they call it in Iowa? A beau, a steady, a boyfriend?”
She thought he blushed again although it was too dark to tell. “Fella will do.”
Her voice lowered, became more serious. “And you’ll write, won’t you, Luther? You’ll write as often as you can, so I know you’re okay?”
“Sure, but right now I can’t even think of leaving you. I don’t want to leave you…not ever.”
Bonnie threw her arms around his neck. “I don’t want you too, Luther. I don’t want you to leave.”
He linked his hands around her waist, touched her forehead with his and swayed her back and forth. The stood together, the breezes from the bay inching around them with cool fingers. They said nothing, just swayed together in each other’s arms as the night engulfed them. ///////
It was already a quarter past two, but Bonnie had to stop at the post office and the bank before she met Luther. She hurried along B Street, hoping Luther hadn’t gotten impatient enough to leave. As she neared the café, she saw him pacing back and forth, glancing at his watch. She waved and called out to him. Luther pivoted, broke into a mile-wide smile, and ran to meet her.
She threw her arms around him. “I’m sorry I’m late,” she said in a rush as she pulled back to look into his eyes. “Forgive me?”
Luther’s lips curved into a smile. “Nothing to forgive.” He had a small satchel slung over his shoulder. He scoured the inside of it and produced a small box camera. “Look what I borrowed,” he said, beaming. “We can take all the pictures we want!”
She shot him a sly smile. “Aren’t you the clever one?”
“What do you want to do, Bonnie? Go to a movie? Get something to eat?”
She linked her arm through his. “Let’s go to Balboa Park. It’s so beautiful there.”
“Okay—anywhere you want is good by me.”
“It’s not far. We can walk,” she said, starting him down the street.
The Luther who held her arm was not the same boy she’d met the night before. He seemed boiling over with confidence and possessed an effervescence that became contagious. It was as if he’d been freed from some internal prison, aching to feel and taste and touch everything in sight, as if it were all new to him. She knew she’d done that for him, had been the catalyst for his newfound buoyancy.
Here was a young man changed, changed in ways he might never have known had Bonnie looked in another direction. She almost felt sorry for Luther, knowing that he could be just as easily returned to the insecure, lonely boy of the past if she decided to turn away from him.
“I dreamed about you last night,” she said, squeezing his arm.
“You did?” He sounded incredulous.
“I did.” Bonnie glanced up at the cloudless sky as if to recall the dream from the heavens. “We were on an island, just the two of us. It was warm and I could hear the ocean waves lapping at the beach. You brought me a coconut, cracked open, with a straw in it. You were very tan and handsome…”
Luther blushed. “I don’t tan. I’m too fair. All I manage to do is burn. And I’m not handsome, but it’s real nice that you dreamed of me that way.”
Bonnie skimmed the back of her fingers across his cheek. “You are handsome, Luther. You are to me.”
He looked at his feet as they continued to walk and slowly shook his head. “You almost make me believe it.” Luther turned to look at her. “So what else was we doing on the island?”
“That’s all I remember,” she said with a slight laugh. “But it felt wonderful…just like it feels now to be with you.”
He paused and reached into the satchel. “Let me take your picture,” he said, pulling out the rectangular box.
“Here? Why here?”
He scanned the area and then smiled. “Because the sun lights up your hair, kind of like a halo, and you look like an angel.”
Bonnie gave him a disapproving grin and posed beside a streetlamp. She wrapped her arms around the pole and swung out from it as if she might fly about it in a circle. He aimed the camera and pressed the button. Click. He smiled. “I like that. You’ll want to send that one to your parents.”
Bonnie’s smile faded. “I didn’t mention it last night, Luther, but my parents are dead.”
His face fell as if wounded by her remark. “I’m so sorry, Bonnie. I hope I didn’t—”
She moved toward him, reached for his hand, and they started walking again. “It’s all right. My father died last year in an accident. He was working for Consolidated-Vultee building B-24s. He was riveting somewhere high up on the plane and fell from the platform. No one knew exactly how it happened. Maybe he lost his balance, maybe he misstepped. He lived for a couple of days after the fall, but then…anyway, his death broke my mother’s heart.” She let out a long sigh. “She never got over it. They were so much in love. She just got so depressed…I couldn’t get her to leave the house or do anything anymore. It was like she gave up living.”
He looked at her, his eyes misted. She swallowed and moistened her lips. “She died just after I graduated, and I’ve been on my own ever since.”
“On your own…you don’t have any family to help?”
“I do, back in Kansas, but I haven’t seen any of them for years now. Besides, I’m old enough to be on my own. I have a little apartment, and I get by.” She glanced at him and thought maybe he didn’t believe her. “My parents rented the house we lived in, so I sold most of the furniture and my father left a small life insurance policy. It’s been enough for now, and I work part-time at Owl Drug.”
Luther stopped at the corner and took hold of Bonnie’s hands. “I don’t think I like that, Bonnie. You should be taken care of. You should have someone to watch after you, someone who cares—”
She raised a shoulder and let it fall. “It would be nice, but it’ll have to be the way it is for now.”
His face registered a mix of concern and anxiety, but he didn’t say anything. They turned north and neared an entrance to Balboa Park. “Here’s a good spot for a picture,” she said, “right in front of the park. Let’s have someone take it for us.”
Luther surveyed the various pedestrians and approached an older gentleman. “Would you mind taking our picture?” he asked him.
The man obliged and held the camera at the proper height. When the shutter clicked, he smiled and handed the camera back to Luther. “Newlyweds?” he asked.
Luther’s cheeks turned crimson. “No, we’re not…”
“Well, you look happy enough to be,” he commented as he tipped his hat. “Hope the picture turns out all right.”
“Thank you,” Bonnie called after him.
Luther avoided her gaze, his face still pulsing hot with co
lor.
“Have you ever been here before?” she asked, reaching for his hand. He shook his head. “There’s so much to do. There’s a natural history museum, a botanical building, the San Diego Zoo is in the park, and there’s a wonderful organ pavilion that has one of the world’s largest outdoor pipe organs. The Old Globe Theater does plays. The Museum of Art was taken over by the Navy to use as a hospital, and the House of Hospitality is being used as a nurses’ dormitory.”
Luther chuckled and shook his head. “Sounds like there’s a lot to do, all right. What do you want to do first?”
“Oh, I don’t want to do any of that,” she said with a dismissive wave of her hand. “I just want to spend time with you. I thought maybe we could sit in the grass or walk around until we’re tired…maybe you can buy me a hot dog.”
He stopped, but she continued to walk until their arms stretched out between them. She turned back her head. “What?”
He tugged her near, grinning, and kissed her. He was tender this time, kissing her with feeling. His long fingers slid up her back and pulled her closer. When he’d finished, he smiled. “I’ve wanted to do that all day.”
“So have I…”
He kept his arms around her waist, studied her blue eyes. “Bonnie…I think…”
Luther stopped and turned away from her. She touched his shoulder. “What is it? What are you trying to say?”
He shook his head. “It’s too crazy…too impossible.”
Bonnie eased around to face him. She lifted his chin with a finger. “Look at me, Luther.” He worked the muscles in his lean jaw and gradually raised his gaze to hers. “I think I know what you’re trying to say because I feel it, too. And I know it seems crazy and impossible—we’ve only just met. But there’s no need to deny it…not if we both feel it.”
Luther blinked and drew in a deep breath. He let it out in a whoosh. “Marry me, Bonnie.” He blurted it out, acting astounded by his own words. “I love you,” he said, taking her by the shoulders. “I know I’ll never love anyone else.”
Bonnie looked into his pale blue eyes. “I’ll marry you, Luther.”
His eyes widened as if he was surprised by her answer. He grinned and then smiled, and then laughed as he grabbed hold of Bonnie. “You’ve made me so happy!” He kissed her and cupped her face between his lean fingers. “And you know what? You won’t be alone anymore.”
Bonnie brushed her fingers over his cheek. “No, I won’t. I’ll be your wife. I’ll belong to you now.”
“I’m going to talk to my CO and see if I can get leave. As soon as I can, we’ll get married.”
Bonnie glanced at her watch. “Let’s go to the courthouse now. We can apply for the license, and we have to get blood tests.”
“Oh, yeah, blood tests. I forgot about that.” He grinned and took hold of her hand. “Okay, let’s go.”
“Let’s take a cab so we can save time.”
Luther looked as if he could scarcely breathe as he studied her face. “I love you so much…”
“We won’t have long together, Luther, but what time we’ll have will be wonderful. It’ll have to last us.”
He looked pained. “I know, but I’ll come home to you, Bonnie. I know I will. And you said so, too.”
She slid her hand along his cheek. “That’s right…you’ll come home to me.”
They walked back to the street and Luther watched for a cab. He turned to her with a look of excitement. “I’ve got my parents signed up to receive my allotment, but I’ll change that as soon as we’re married. That way, you’ll have my pay while I’m gone. And as soon I start fighting, combat pay is even more. You’ll have fifty dollars a month.”
Bonnie linked her arm through his and rested her head on his shoulder. “Oh, I don’t care about that, Luther. I just want you.”
He pressed his lips to her forehead. “Well, all the same, you’ll get it and then I won’t have to worry about you.” His expression darkened. “I heard some of the fellas talking about an insurance policy I can get—”
Bonnie’s hands tightened around Luther’s arm. “No. I don’t want to collect…not if you have to die.”
He circled her shoulders with his arm. “I know, but just in case…”
Burying her face against his chest she pulled back a sob. “No, don’t even say it. Don’t even think it.”
He stroked her back for reassurance. “Ten thousand dollars is a lot of money, and I’d feel a lot better knowing you was taken care of…just in case.”
Luther motioned for an approaching taxi, and it pulled up to the curb. He gave her a quick kiss and the couple climbed inside.
///////
Bonnie repositioned herself beside Luther. He was already awake when she opened her eyes. “Good morning, darling,” she said, snuggling closer to him. “Have you been awake long?”
“A few minutes,” he replied, bringing his arm from beneath his head to rest across Bonnie’s form. “Are you sure you won’t go to Iowa to live with my folks? It’d be a lot easier on you.”
Bonnie levered up on her elbow and stared at him. “No, I want to stay. I want to be here to meet you the minute you get home. I want to be near the ocean so I can hear it and feel you close to me when I look at it. And you can look out over the ocean from your ship and know that I’m on this shore waiting for you.”
He smiled, closed his eyes, and sighed. “I like the sound of that.”
She laid her head on his chest. “Your mama sounded so nice on the phone yesterday,” Bonnie said. “I think she likes me now.”
He drew back so he could see her face. “Like you? She loves you, and so does Dad. Oh, I know they was a little shocked that we got married last week, but I think they’re used to idea now.”
Bonnie moaned softly and tucked her arm around his waist. “Ican’t believe this is our last day together. It came so fast.”
Luther fell silent. He stroked her hair and closed his eyes. “Before I met you, I was so scared to go into battle. I didn’t see how I’d be able to do it, how I’d have the courage. And then you come along and changed everything. I’m not afraid anymore. I’ll be fighting for you, Bonnie. I’ll be fighting to make it home to you. And every day, I’ll be thinking of you…wanting you…”
She hushed him with her lips, clung to him with all her strength. They had so little time now, so few hours before he would be sailing away from her. “Be as careful as you can, Luther. Don’t do anything foolish.”
“I won’t,” he murmured. “I’m glad you’re going to take a bigger apartment with my allotment money. This is such a tiny room.”
“And you’ll remember to use my post office box for your letters, won’t you? I wouldn’t want one of them to get lost during the move.”
“I’ve got it,” he said. “The same number your allotment checks go to.”
“Oh, let’s not talk about that sort of thing today,” she said with a slight pout.
“I won’t be able to sleep tomorrow night without you by my side.”
Bonnie got out of bed and reached for her robe. “No more about this,” she said sternly. “You’re going to make me cry, and I’ll be crying all day tomorrow as it is.”
Luther crawled across the bed and stood behind her. He pulled her against him, wrapping his arms around her. “Okay, no more talk about sad things. What should we do today?”
Bonnie curled her hands around his forearm. “It’s nearly three o’clock now. I’m starving. We haven’t eaten since yesterday.”
“All right,” he said and kissed her neck. “Let’s get dressed and we’ll go eat. Let’s make it someplace special.”
“I know a great little place for Chinese food. Do you like Chinese?”
He reached for his pants. “Don’t know. I’ve never had it before.”
Bonnie turned to face him. “You’ve never eaten Chinese food?”
He gave her a blank stare. “Nope. I’m from Albert City, Iowa, remember? The closest thing to China we got there is silk
stockings.”
Bonnie laughed. “Silk stockings?”
“Yeah. Don’t they grow silk in China?”
Bonnie angled her head. “They don’t grow silk. It’s spun from silkworm cocoons.”
He screwed up his face as if he didn’t believe her. “Okay, fine. Anyway, I think Chinese food is too close to Jap food. Can we go somewhere else?”
Bonnie didn’t feel like arguing with him. She didn’t want to point out how varied the cuisine was between China and Japan. She shrugged. “Sure. It doesn’t matter.”
Luther’s shoulders fell. He looked remorseful as he took her hands. “Look, we’ll have Chinese. If that’s what you want, then that’s what we’ll have. Okay, angel?”
She kissed his nose. “Okay.”
“And who knows—maybe I’ll like it, even if it is slant-eye food.”
///////
Bonnie stood among hundreds of civilians clinging to their sailors for as long as possible. She held onto Luther in the jostling crowd, her fingers gripped tight around his neck. They were surrounded by sorrowful cries, muffled against the sailors’ tunics as the tearful women buried their faces. There was a collective, throbbing ache felt by every person on the pier, an ache that reached into the pits of their stomachs and reminded them they might never see one another again. There were those who put on a cheerful face, who make a joke, or offered a nervous laugh, ignoring the real possibility that these could be their last few moments together.
“I don’t want to say goodbye,” she said.
Luther sniffed and cupped her face. “No, we won’t say goodbye, angel. This isn’t goodbye.”
The boatswain’s pipe called the men aboard ship. With reluctance, the sailors began to peel away from their loved ones and started for the gangplank.
Luther picked up his sea bag and kissed Bonnie one last time. “I’ll see you later,” he said wi th a smile. He turned from her and merged into the funneling throng of sailors.