Wings (29 page)

Ferrying was never done at night, and this trip would be flown across the country in complete darkness. Both women had an eerie sense that choosing a WASP, instead of a male pilot for this assignment, was a calculated decision. Were the ships unstable? The Army had come to rely on the WASP pilots to willingly take up anything they were assigned. This was sometimes to convince male pilots a plane was safe, and too, they didn’t want to waste their cream.

Or was it that the women were somehow seen as less of a security risk? Liddy and Jenna had to sign a statement that they wouldn’t ever talk about the planes they were about to fly—something they had never been asked to do before. Liddy figured the Army was banking that if they did talk, who would believe them? This was also the first time Liddy had been asked to present her pistol and they even wanted to see that it was loaded. The whole thing was a curious end to their association with the military.

Liddy snugged her gloves between her fingers as she scanned the instrument panel and studied the manual that lay on her lap. She put on the headset.

“And the radio is? Eeny-meeny…” Liddy flipped a switch that blasted a piercing signal into the cockpit and she quickly adjusted the neighboring dial. “You there, Law?”

“I’m here.” Jenna’s voice toned in. “Never seen so many bells and whistles in all my life.”

“What is this screen for do you think?”

“I don’t know. Hope we don’t need it.”

“Us, we don’t need any of it.” Liddy flipped the pages stacked in front of her. “Ready to run the check?”

“Not sure it’ll mean anything, but sure, what the heck,” answered Jenna.

The planes were towed out of the hangar, and the women taxied to the runway. Take-off was smooth and the plane fit so tight, Liddy felt like she was wearing it. And it was fast. How fast? Nothing in the thrown-together manual noted top speed, an indicator the plane had never been tested. The weather was pretty punchy from take-off and boiled over as they neared the coast, so they decided they wouldn’t push it. But they were definitely fast.

The night sky had completely settled in and Jenna’s plane was just a shadow. Liddy spotted darker skies and thicker storm clouds in the distance. Over the radio, she called to Jenna, “See that?”

“Yeah, think we can miss it?”

“If we go too far around we’ll lose too much time. If that aircraft carrier has to wait for us… Listen, I don’t want to give them one reason of justification for booting us out. We’re bringing these babies in on time.”

They bounced like Bingo balls in a tumble cage. Rain washed over the canopies, making a blur of the view, but when lighting split the darkness, Liddy could see Jenna’s plane and it looked like a huge raven in the sky.

“There you are, Law. Glad you’re still with me.”

“Me too. This is like flying in a bubbling pot of stew. We’re gonna have to take it down.”

“Twenty more minutes and we got it.”

“Liddy, this is bad. Let’s take it down till this passes. I saw some lights northeast. This is farm country, let’s find a field. We can make up the time when it passes.”

“Alright, I’ll follow you in.”

By the time they found some level field over the Salinas Valley, the planes were being pushed violently from side to side and the women had to stack themselves to keep from being thrown into one another. Liddy circled while Jenna landed, then she rolled through the mud and joined her in the field where they could see lights glow from the windows of a farmhouse in the distance. The women tried to call in the landing, but the storm was blocking the transmission.

“We’re gonna need to see if these people have a phone,” Liddy called to Jenna over the radio.

“Let’s go. There’s lights on.”

“You go. I’ll stay with the planes.”

“That’s crazy, they’ll be fine.”

“I’m staying.”

“Liddy, don’t be a jackass.”

“I’m staying, Jenna.”

“Okay, I’ll be right back.”

Jenna hopped down and sloshed through the mud toward the house. Liddy saw glimpses of Jenna when the lightning lit up the sky, and then saw her silhouette in the light that spilled from the house when the front door was opened. Jenna stood outside the doorway for quite a while before she gave Liddy the a-okay wave and went inside.

Liddy closed her eyes and listened to the rain slap against the canopy. Then she opened them and watched the water rush down the glass like God was shedding unbridled tears. She joined him and it made her feel all cleaned out. When she was completely drained, she leaned back in the seat and stared into the darkness.

Liddy was startled when she heard Jenna call over the radio, “You there, Hall? I’m back.”

“I’m here. Did they have a phone?” Liddy asked as she oriented herself.

“Yeah, and after I reassured them we weren’t the enemy, they let me use it. Good thing I was able to convince them too. Young Farmer John was ready to go hunting for the home country. He just couldn’t come to grips that a woman would be out flying an airplane and for the Army.”

“Oh, brother, didn’t think of that.”

“There are a lot of people who didn’t know we existed and now we don’t. It’s kinda hard for some to swallow. Mrs. Farmer John is probably still picking her man’s jaw off the floor, what a mess. Funny, she seemed pretty excited, didn’t seem to bother her one bit. I called in. We’re to make radio contact as soon as we can.”

“You could have stayed inside and kept warm.”

“Get some stories ready, Hall, this could be a very long night.”

The women started off with memories from their training days and then moved on to their families. Jenna told Liddy about growing up with Ellis and how they fell in love and then she paused. “Liddy, there’s something I haven’t told you.”

“What?”

“Reid had talked about you to Ellis. The last time he saw Reid, Reid told him about you and him and your letters and he told Ellis—”

“Don’t, Jenna.” It gave her no comfort, just pain. “Please, don’t.”

“I’m sorry, Liddy. I’ve debated if you’d want to know. I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay. Hey, can you watch the storm, I feel like I could sleep for a few.”

“Sure, I got it.”

“Thanks.” Liddy set her head on the side of the canopy and the rain made it vibrate against her skull. She flattened her ear against the glass and pressed in; the sound was pleasantly deafening.

The storm moved east but not in time for Liddy and Jenna to get back in the air and arrive at the delivery point by 2200 hours. But the carrier had to wait long after Liddy and Jenna came in for a Navy squadron that got caught up in the same storm. The WASP had completed their assignment, their last assignment.

Marina picked them up to stay with her until they flew back to New Castle and then home. Home where they would no longer fly for the military, no longer fly as WASPs, and no longer have their Army wings.

Liddy went back to Holly Grove and spent some time with Crik and Muck. She also made the rounds to visit friends. Daniel was still overseas, and Liddy felt for Celia who spent every moment waiting. The poor girl was expecting the worst and Liddy wished Celia would try to harbor some hope, but at the same time, understood the pain of that as well.

Liddy had dinner with Rowby Wills and his wife. She had never seen contentment on the man, but there it was. Rowby stared at his bride and smiled, while she spoke Italian-English a mile a minute.

Trina ‘Tolione’ Wills had become a bright spot in town. She wore the loose cotton frocks that were the everyday dress of Italian farm girls—the neckline hung low on her breasts and her olive skin made it all seem so natural. She rarely wore shoes once the weather warmed up, and her dark, long wavy hair was always down and free. Even though her way and dress wouldn’t have been respectable for a Holly Grove woman, Trina was foreign and everyone grew to love her, so it was overlooked.

Trina had been working as a bed maid in a Rome hospital when she found Rowby curled up licking his wound, and she snatched him up. She matched his beauty, and his ego was nothing that was excessive to her Italian experience. She was also a good match for the Wills clan. Trina’s smarts and wiles brought her and Rowby to the forefront of all the family’s business. It was a very happy ending.

Liddy worked into a routine over in Clayton. She rented a little house and even got a kitten who she named Gosport the II, or Gossy II for short. Liddy cleaned and painted her little cottage and she was surprised how much she enjoyed the domesticity of it all.

She took on some student pilots at the airfield and taught an instrument class for Jerry at his flight school. She also ferried planes for a few Midwest and East Coast manufacturers that she had flown for in the WASP. But never military planes, the government made it clear none of the planes they had contracted for were to be flown by women, even if she hadn’t been a Women Airforce Service Pilot.

Most of the WASP didn’t find flying jobs, there just weren’t that many to go around, and Liddy knew how fortunate she was. The planes she delivered were mostly for private pilots, small airlines and some corporations that had their own fleets. She loved flying the shiny new planes and met some pretty interesting folks doing it.

Liddy used the ferry trips to see the girls when she could, before returning home, usually on a commercial flight. She hadn’t seen Louise for months and not since they had been deactivated. When she pulled up in front of her home, Liddy had the door open before the cab rolled to a stop. Louise, Bonnie and Tommy burst through the front door of the house and met her on the sidewalk.

“I thought you’d never get here.” Louise wrapped Liddy up in a great big hug then stood back and held her by the upper arms. “Let me look at you.” Louise scanned her up and down and then strolled around her while she inspected. “A little thin, but I think we can do something about that.”

Bonnie and Tommy wrapped Liddy around the waist, and she kissed and squeezed them. Tommy took Liddy’s bag from the cab driver and wrestled it up the walk, while Louise and Bonnie each took one of Liddy’s hands and walked her into the house.

A king’s feast was prepared to the sounds of Dinah Shore turning on the record player. After dinner they played Monopoly. Bonnie had added some new moves to the Bet dance and patiently taught the toe crushers. Tommy even joined the jig, which Louise said he never did unless Liddy was visiting.

At the end of the evening, Liddy tucked the children into their twin beds and told them about the day she met their mom. A story they insisted on hearing every time they saw her. She did a high-spirited shuffle across the room to reenact the dance Louise had taken with her zoot suit before Liddy even knew her name, and the children giggled.

When Liddy walked back into the kitchen, Louise was finishing the dishes and Liddy grabbed a towel and dried.

“My Tommy has a huge crush on you, you know.”

“Really? I don’t know about having you for a mother-in-law, but he’s pretty cute.”

“Liddy, you look tired. You okay?”

“That’s what Marina said last time I saw her. You don’t look so hot yourself, pal.”

“We’re a pair I guess, aren’t we?”

After the WASP was disbanded, Louise had found an instructing position with a flying school out of the Denver airport. It kept her close to home, and she was flying, but it wasn’t the Army and the big powerful planes they had flown in the program. Louise’s letters had been filled with Bonnie this and Tommy that but never anything about Louise Parker. She hadn’t gotten over the death of her military career, and Liddy could hear it in every line.

They turned off the lights in the kitchen and kicked off their shoes in the living room. Liddy sat sideways in the armchair with her legs slung over the side, and Louise lay on the sofa with her head propped at the end.

“Man, it’s good to have you here, Lid’.”

“It’s good to be here, Louie.”

“So tell me about your life.”

“Not much to tell. I fly and teach and drive home to Holly Grove when I can.”

“What have you heard from Joy Lynn, I thought she was planning a spring wedding?”

“When I stayed with Marina in New York a few weeks ago, she said it’s been on again off again for months. Seems Joy Lynn and her mama can’t come to an agreement about the details, so Joy Lynn just calls it off every time they hit a stump.”

“Who do you think is gonna win that battle?” Louise lifted her head and raised her eyebrows.

“Mrs. Calbert seems to be a pretty tough cookie, but I’m putting my money on our HP.”

Louise got up and flipped Dinah over and lay back on the sofa. The sister-friends closed their eyes and sang along, “You’d be so nice to come home to. You’d be so nice by the fire. While the breeze on high, sang a lullaby. You’d be all that I could desire.”

Louise rolled to her side and looked at Liddy. “Do you ever feel like you should be doing something about your life, but you don’t know what?”

“I’m just living Louie…” Liddy pushed her fingers through her hair. “… isn’t that enough?”

“I feel like it should be, especially when I look at Bonnie and Tommy and think how blessed I am. But sometimes, I just feel like I should be trying harder to do more.”