Women In War

4

They could not deny her this time. She would pass every exam with the highest marks and she would perform perfect demonstrations. They could not fail her no matter how hard they may try. Maggie was determined to graduate by the end of the academic year.

"MAGGIE!"

Maggie was so startled by the screaming and the banging on her dorm room door, she quite nearly fell off her bed. Furiously, she stormed to the door and threw it open. She glared at the brunette that fell into the dorm they had once shared. Becky stood up quickly and fixed her shirt back into her powder blue skirt.

"Maggie, oh thank goodness you're up, I really need to talk to you."

"I was asleep," Maggie growled, closing the door again.

"Oh. Oh, dear, I'm so sorry, love."

Maggie sighed and pushed her hair back. "What did you want, Beck?"

"Remember when I said some choices we had to make on our own?"

"Yeah," Maggie said slowly.

"Well, it was all bullshit and I'm sorry I never gave you all the help you need. Please help me."

Maggie frowned as she sat down on her bed, tucking one leg under her. "What happened, Becks?"

"I went back to work yesterday and, um, and Edwards called me to his office. Pegs was in there too. He gave me this envelope, a proposal. He said he'd spoken to Pegs the day we left for New York. She said she spoke to Freddie about it and they decided not to take the offer. I don't know if I should, though. I want to stay here, with you and Pegs but . . . I kind of want to go too."

"Beck."

"Hm?"

"What was in the envelope?"

"Huh? Oh! It's a proposal from the SOE, the Special Operations Exevutive. It's a new war division spearheaded by Churchill. Anyway, it's to be trained in irregular warfare, espionage, sabotage, guerilla tactics--"

"A field agent?" Maggie asked. She knew those tactics -- in theory. Several of her patients these days were field agents sent home after injuries too serious to stay on the field.

"Yes."

"They don't send women into the field, though."

"Resistance networks all over Europe need people who won't draw attention walking down the street. They need women and they're recruiting Pegs and me. Part of me wants to go, but not alone. I want to persuade Peggy to accept, but I can't force her to do something that would jeopardize her happy love story, you know? I don't know what to do, Mags."

Maggie pondered the matter for a moment before getting up and walking to her desk. Becky watched curiously as Maggie lifted her jacket from the back of the chair and dug in one of the pockets. She walked up to Becky and took her hand. Holding Becky's gaze, she pressed the quarter into Becky's palm. "Your brother gave it to me when I needed to make a choice. Give it a flip. And if you choose wrong, maybe the universe will conspire to throw you onto the other track."

Becky smiled. "You're an asshole."

"Puta." Maggie countered, smiling back, "look, this is a great opportunity. I mean, you're American and they still want you. Someone must've praised you quite a bit. But if you don't take the job, theres nothing wrong with that. You're allowed to choose what you want, no matter what anyone else says about it. And no matter who flips their mierda, it's okay to make mistakes."

"Thanks, Maggie. I'll think about it. Will I be seeing you at Peggy's wedding this weekend?"

"Of course. I even have my dress picked out."