In Times of War

Chapter Two

Chapter Two

When I wake up I reach straight for my alarm and then for my coffee.

   After my coffee and breakfast, I get dressed in a warm blue dress and my long dark green coat. I brush my hair with great difficulty and brush a little powder over my nose and cheeks to cover the freckles sprayed over them. I grab my school bag and rush out the door, calling a goodbye to my mother as I left. She’d be leaving for her shift at the factory soon.

   She didn’t make a whole, terrible lot of money, but it was more than enough to comfortably sustain the two of us. Any money that we didn’t need went directly into the war effort, hoping that it would bring my brother home from the war safely and quickly. She, my dad, and Jimmy, my brother, never let me work during the Depression. They insisted that I was the baby of the family and that I should try to have as normal of a childhood as I could, but one can’t exactly have a normal childhood when her whole family is working and still barely making enough for four people. I was more than old enough to work, but they didn’t let me, even after Daddy was gone.

   Jimmy had only been gone a few weeks, but it still felt like forever. He’d been the first one at the volunteer office in Savannah after Pearl Harbor got hit. He shipped out just a little bit later. Jimmy had to drop out of school when he was sixteen so he could work during the Depression. I only had to finish this last bit of school, and then I could be a nurse. I was twenty and Jimmy was now twenty-eight.

   I’m walking along the sidewalk in the brisk December air when someone bumps into me, but not at a run this time. I have horrible balance so that little bump almost put me on my rear on the sidewalk, but someone caught me before I could hit the ground.

“We really need to stop meetin’ like this.” I say as soon as I recognize the boy who caught me as the one that ran into me last night.

“I’m sorry, again. But I’m lost, again. I’m trying to find Clarion Academy.” He says as he releases my waist. I smile at him.

“Come on, I’m on my way to Clarion, too, I’ll show you the way. Aren’t you a little old to be going to a high school?” I wave him in the direction of the academy.

“Yeah, I’m the new janitor there. Aren’t you a little old to be going there too?”

“Yeah, I just take nursing classes there. The school had an empty classroom so they let the Red Cross set up a class there.”

“Okay, and I never caught your name last night, what is it?” He asks as we start walking.

“Maria. Maria O’Leary. And what’s your name?” I ask him.

“I’m Tony Martin. I moved here last week from the other side of Savannah.” He shudders and rubs his arms like he’s cold. “This is Georgia, is it not? It’s pretty cold this year.”

“Yeah, I’m not exactly a fan of the weather either.” Now that he brought up the chill, I feel a lot colder and wrap my coat closer around me.

“I’d have thought with hair like yours you’d never get cold.” He says indicating up to my thick bright red, untamable curls. I touch my hair and blush, though I’m not sure why.

“It just looks like a fire, it doesn’t feel like one.”

“Well, I’ve never seen a fire as beautiful as that.” He states and I look down at the ground, allowing my hair to hide my blush. When I look up I see Alice rushing towards me, a worried look on her face.

“Alice, what’s wrong?” I ask.

“Alexander’s fightin’ again. Some kid started bad mouthing your dad and…” She trails off, or at least I think she does, I can’t tell because I’m already stalking towards the sound of fighting.