In Danger's Path (14 page)

A tramp, more than likely. Maybe even a lady of the evening, who does that sort of thing for money
.

And I have agreed to take him to meet her
.

“Do you know where that is?” Weston asked.

“The other side of Philadelphia,” she said, “past the other end of Broad Street.”

“If that's out of your way, Florence,” he said, “then just drop me where I can catch a cab.”

“My name is Janice,” she corrected him. “And I said I'd take you and I will,” she added firmly.

“Thank you,” he said.

Fifteen minutes later, as they headed up North Broad Street, she asked two questions: “What's in the paper bag?”

“A pineapple.”

“A
pineapple?
”

“
Ananas comosus
,” he clarified. “One eats them. You don't know what a pineapple is?”

Janice fell silent for ninety seconds, then asked about the second thing that had piqued her curiosity. “How did you get out? If you don't mind my asking?”

“I climbed the fence,” he replied matter-of-factly.

“But there's barbed wire on top of the fence,” she replied, “and a walking patrol.”

“I noticed,” he said.

“And how did you plan to get back in?”

“You must be reading my mind,” he said. “I don't suppose you could stick around awhile? What I have to do won't take long, and you could drive me back.”

“
What I have to do won't take long
”?

“On the way we could have dinner,” he added.

Janice did not reply.

Ninety-Eight Stevens Avenue in Jenkintown turned out to be a large, brick colonial house set two hundred feet back from the road on a large, tree-studded lot. A Mercury station wagon was parked on the drive.

Janice parked behind the station wagon.

“Are you going to wait for me, Florence?” Weston asked.

“I told you my name was Janice,” she snapped.

He snapped his fingers, indicating that he now remembered.

“So you did,” he said. “Well,
Janice
, are you going to wait for me, or are you going to just leave me here to face the dangers of suburban Philadelphia all by myself?”

“What are you going to do in there?”

“God only knows what time will bring,” he said solemnly. He stepped out of the car and walked toward the house.

When he was halfway to the door, she got out and followed him.

As he walked up the shallow flight of stairs, the door opened. A tall, good-looking blonde smiled at Weston.
An older woman
, Janice thought.
She must be at least thirty
.

“You have to be Jim,” the woman said.

“And you have to be Caroline,” Weston said. “Have a pineapple, Caroline.” He handed her the brown paper bag. She opened it and smiled. “Picked by the skipper himself,” Weston added.

“And I have never seen a more beautiful pineapple,” she said.

“As splendid an example of
Ananas comosus
as Charley could find,” Weston said. “It must have taken him as much as ten, fifteen seconds to pick this one.”

She laughed.

“Come on in, quickly,” she said. “Our air raid warden takes his duties seriously.”

She looked at Janice curiously and smiled.

They stepped into the foyer, and Caroline closed the door.

“If I knew you were with your girl, I wouldn't have told you to come right out,” Caroline said.

“She's more like my keeper than my girl,” Weston said. “But I'm working on it. Caroline, Janice. Janice, Caroline.”

“Your keeper?”

“She's a nurse in the psychiatric ward of the hospital,” Weston said.

“Charley wrote about that. The letter came this morning,” Caroline said. “That's outrageous!”

“Pay attention, Florence,” Weston said.

“Janice, damn it!” Janice blurted.

“Hello, Janice,” Caroline said. “I'm Caroline McNamara.”

“How do you do? I'm Janice Hardison.”

“It was very nice of you to bring Jim out here,” Caroline said.

“Nothing is too good for us lunatics, right, Janice?”

“Will you shut up?” Janice snapped.

“We've only known each other four hours, and we're having our first lovers' quarrel,” Weston said.

“We are not lovers!”

“I'm working on that,” Weston said. “I'm certainly willing to give it a shot.”

Caroline laughed. “Why do I suspect Jim is your first Marine Aviator?” she asked.

“He's not my first anything,” Janice said.

“They take a little getting used to,” Caroline said. “But once you acquire the taste, you won't be satisfied with anything less.”

“Pay attention to the lady, Janice,” Weston said.

“If you don't shut up…”

“You'll hold your breath until you turn blue?”

Caroline laughed.

And Janice realized she was smiling. “You
are
crazy, you know that?”

Oh, my God! I can't believe I said that! What's the matter with me?

“No, Florence Nightingale, Dr. Kister and I are in agreement that I am not crazy.”

“Who's Dr. Kister?” Caroline asked.

“Navy psychiatrist.”

“Wait until Dr. Kister hears that you went AWOL. Climbed over the fence.”

“You're going to tell him?”

“You went AWOL?” Caroline asked.

“Perhaps,
technically
,” Weston said. “But if it gets down to a court-martial, my defense is going to be that I was simply carrying out a legal order.”

“What legal order?” Janice asked.

“From my last commanding officer, Captain Charles M. Galloway,” Weston said. “‘
The first thing you do when you get to Philadelphia, Weston, is take this pineapple to Caroline
.'”

Caroline chuckled.

“What he did—he didn't have a pass, of course. They never give off-base passes when a patient is in Five-B…” Janice said.

“Five-B is the loony bin, Caroline,” Weston clarified.

“What he did was climb the barbed-wire fence,” Janice went on, wondering why it was important to her to explain herself to Caroline. “I found him brazenly walking up South Broad Street—”

“And you brought him here,” Caroline interrupted. “That was a very nice, a very kind thing for you to do, Janice. Thank you.”

“Yes, it was,” Weston said. “Thank you, Janice.”

Janice was not quite sure if he was making fun of her or not.

“Now the problem is getting him back on the base,” Janice said.

“Is that going to be a problem?” Caroline asked.

“No,” Weston said immediately.

“Yes, it is,” Janice insisted.

“Changing the subject,” Weston said. “At the risk of sounding forward, Mrs. McNamara, Captain Galloway suggested that you might offer me a small libation, presuming I delivered the
Ananas comosus
while it was still suitable for human consumption.”

“Oh, God! Where's my manners? Keeping you standing here in the foyer! Come in the living room, please.”

He called her “Mrs. McNamara.” So where's Mr. McNamara?

Weston misread the look in Janice's eyes. “Not to worry, Janice, I gave Dr. Kister my word that I would go easy on the booze. That was after he told me he scheduled a physical for me in the morning.”

“Good,” she said, a trifle self-righteously.

“To completely put your mind at rest, Janice, I also gave the good doctor my word as an officer and a gentleman—or was it as a Boy Scout? It
was
as a Boy Scout, now that I think about it, which means that I was really serious—that I would not drag you into the bushes.”

“What?” Janice asked incredulously.

“So you can stop looking at me as if you think I have that in mind.”

“That thought would never occur to a Marine officer, right?” Caroline said. “Particularly a Marine fighter pilot?”

“Perish the thought,” Weston said piously.

They were now in a well-furnished living room, standing before a sideboard turned into a bar.

“What would you like, Jim?” Caroline asked.

“I'd like one of each,” Weston said. “But I'll settle for a small scotch.”

“Janice?”

“Nothing, thank you.”

“Oh, come on,” Weston said. “Try to remember you're an officer of the Naval establishment.”

“If she doesn't want anything, don't push her,” Caroline said, coming to her aid.

“I'll have a light scotch, please,” Janice said.

“And afterward, I've got some steaks warming up in the kitchen.”

“Warming up?” Janice asked.

“One of the many things that Charley taught me is that meat tastes much better if you get it to room temperature before you cook it.”

“You have a lovely home, Mrs. McNamara,” Janice said politely.

“My husband, thank God, had the morals of an alley cat,” Caroline said.

“Excuse me?” Janice asked.

“If he had obeyed that promise he made to keep himself only to me until death did us part, I would still be married to him, I would still be supporting him, I wouldn't have gotten this house as part of the divorce settlement, and I wouldn't have met Charley,” Caroline said.

“I'll drink to that,” Weston said.

Janice looked at him and could not keep herself from smiling.

[THREE]

“The first reasonably deserted place I see,” Lieutenant (j.g.) Hardison said to Captain Weston, “I'm going to stop so you can climb in the trunk.”

“You're not serious.”

“I'm perfectly serious,” she said. “You're AWOL, goddamn it!”

“I like it when you talk dirty,” he said.

“That's profane, not obscene.”

“Say something obscene.”

“I will not,” she said, shaking her head.

“Just drop me a couple of blocks away, and I'll go back over the fence.”

“This would be easier.”

“Your trunk is probably greasy, and I will ruin my nearly brand-new uniform.”

“You would probably tear your nearly brand-new uniform going back over the barbed wire,” she said. “And my trunk is spotless!”

“I am putty in your hands,” he said. “Now that I've considered that a dry cleaning job is much cheaper than a new pair of pants, anyway.”

Her trunk was clean, but it was small. Weston had to lie on his back, with his knees pulled up. Janice was just about to close the trunk lid on him when he motioned for her to come close. Then he grabbed her and kissed her on the forehead. “Nighty night, Mommy,” he said.

“You are insane,” she said, and slammed the trunk shut.

When she opened the trunk in the parking lot behind the Female Officers' Quarters, he had trouble climbing out. “God,” he said seriously. “That brought back a lot of memories. The last gate I sneaked through was guarded by Japanese soldiers.”

“Really?”

“Actually no,” he said. “But now that I know you're impressed with heroic efforts, I'll try to invent some more.”

“You're really terrible. I believed you.”

“It was a joke,” he said.

“I don't think I like your sense of humor,” Janice said.

That's not true. He's really a funny guy
.

“What did you think of Caroline?”

“I like her,” she said.

“She liked you. And I like you. That leaves the question, do you like me?”

“I don't think so,” she said.

That's not true, either. I really like him
.

“I suppose that means a goodnight kiss is out of the question?”

“Yes, it does,” she said firmly.

But then she looked into his eyes, and she kissed him.

“Jesus H. Christ!” he said. “That was not what I expected.”