Walking Beside You (World War II Romance)

Alan Richmond

Alan Richmond

“Alice, are you sure you want to do this? With…with no regret-” I was sitting in front of the mirror; Stephanie was standing behind me, holding a banquet of my hair on one hand and a pair of scissors on the other hand. Agnes, Claudia and Rebecca stood in a circle surrounding me in the middle.

 “Yes, yes with no regret.” I looked at my reflection once again, took a deep breath and farewell my wavy long blonde hair so did my girlishness. Tears from the eyes of Agnes and Rebecca couldn’t stop rolling down their beautiful faces when the scissors closed, hair fell onto the ground.

 “Come on, girls!” My eyes watered when they cried. I had known Stephanie, Agnes, Claudia and Rebecca since childhood. Like other girls in Canada, we played dolls and Wendy House together. When reaching our teens, we dressed up, went shopping, gossiping and making cakes at each other houses together. Though we did not come from the same family, we were close as sisters. It was hard to say Goodbye.

 “Alice, please, stays please.” Claudia couldn’t hold back anymore, wiped away tears by the back of her palm.

 “Girls, I promise I will come back, no, I MUST come back soon.” By the time Stephanie finished, I looked like a slender version of my elder brother with short frosted hair.

 I pulled off my dress and folded it neatly on my bed. I tied up my breasts with a roll of bandage, put on a white shirt along with a pair of black trousers and finally slipped my feet into a pair of newly brushed shoes like he used to be. When it was time to go, I grabbed my bag and walked to the door and my sisters followed from behind.

 “Rebecca, I love your strawberry cake, I swear yesterday was not the last bite in my life, okay?” I rested my palms on Rebecca’s cheeks, tried to comfort her as my brother did to his girlfriend a year ago. Nevertheless, it didn’t work at all. Now, even Stephanie, the toughest girl among them started bursting into tears. We embraced each other one last time and now I really needed to go.

 Passing through the gate, I turned around to have a final glance of the house I grew up, memories of me and my brother playing hide-and-seek kept flashing back. When waking down the familiar red bricks path, my father showed up as my expectation.

 “Like I said before, you can take part in the war also by working at the weapon factory. You don’t really need to go to the battlefield, daughter. Please, stay please.” I had never heard the word “please” coming from my father’s mouth. He was not happy with my idea of applying for the military with a forge ID and passing the examinations with a hat or head cloth I didn’t remember exactly covering my long hair. To be honest, it took me by surprise that I was selected as a marine finally.

 “I am sorry, dad. I am as stubborn as Samuel.” I said calmly. I ran down the slope without looking back. I knew I hurt his feeling so much and so deep but I had to go. It was not a war of displaying heroism or whatever but a war of saving the freedom and dignity of human beings.

 When I reach the pier, it was crowded with a lot of people; most of them were young men the same age as mine along with their family members who came to farewell.

 “I am going to war NOT on vocation, mum!” A young man with brown curly hair displayed a little bit annoyance when a woman, believed to be his mother tried to put two more jackets into his already over-packed luggage box.

 “Allow me.” I came to the guy with my bag with opened zip, “I still have some space in my bag, and I believe you go on marine as well.” I knew it is odd, but it was a good start to make new friends as I didn’t recognized any familiar faces so far.

 “Ya…yes, sure. Thanks.” He held out his hand, “I am Twinson McCray. Nice to meet you”

 “Ali-Alan Richmond.” I shook his hand firmly, “Nice to meet you too.” Thanks god, I didn’t slip of the tongue.

 “Twinson, I think you’d better-” Mrs. McCray came back with two more bags of potato chips.

 “Mum!” Twinson looked as if he was going to explode.

 “Allow her, Twinson.” I put the chips inside my bag and we headed to the ship on board. Turning around, there came Jonathan Clarence Harker. I wanted to cry out his name with joy but I pressed my lips tight at once.

 “Remember Alice, you are no longer Alice Richmond, you are now Alan Richmond. From now on you are a guy, act like a guy, speak like a guy and think like a guy.” I reminded myself inwardly.

 “Alan! Alan!”

 “I am sorry, I have just spotted a friend of mine, sorry. I didn’t want to be impolite.” I didn’t realize Twinson had called my name for several times when I was searching for the trace of Jonathan.

 “That’s okay, don’t be too formal, Al.” Twinson wore a bright smile, “Can I call you that?”

 “Yes, of course.” I grinned back while still looking for Jonathan. When the ship whistled, it slowly departed from the coast. People waved at their love ones with their watery eyes. Unlike the other guys who leaned forward to the window and waved back to the crowds, I stayed at my seat, turned my head away. I knew I will cry like an infant if I spotted someone I knew again among the people.

 Apart from myself, there was only one guy sitting, he was Jonathan. As I remembered, he was still the blue-eyed handsome boy but now grew taller and more muscular. Childishness was now replaced by masculinity. He had the same short reddish-brown hair with the back shaved clear. It looked cool when a line was deliberately shaved across the back of his head. When our eyes met, I looked away quickly.