she picked out the quick tune on the instrument. The dance floor started to arrange itself as Adele's voice rang out as she shouted out dance calls.
“How bout we dance and enjoy the rest of the night?” Helen said quietly taking Lily's hand and leading her out to where their fellow cadets were hooting and hollering and they tried to master the dance steps being called out.
Lily gave her a quick smile, “I'd love that.”
Chapter Six
September 1943
Dearest Maria,
It's been six weeks now since I arrived at Avenger Field, you probably wouldn't recognize your dear old sister anymore; we do a couple hours of exercise a day. I'm fitter than I've ever been and more tired than I ever thought possible. We had good news yesterday our whole bay passed our first Army checks. There's only two bays that still have all their occupants in them and thankfully we're one of them.
We got paid…sort of! Two thirds of it went straight back to Uncle Sam for our accommodation and food. Good job I'm not doing this for the money! We also got our dog tags, feels like we're in the Army proper now. We've heard that they're still pondering over whether to accept us as a branch of the Army Air Corps, watch this space I guess.
Did I tell you that Adele (she of Tennessee) plays the fiddle like a dream? She never mentioned it and then we had an impromptu dance in one of the hangars as we were all base bound and she played my violin like it's never been played before. She's currently teaching me to play; it's as technically difficult as classical but really liberating at the same time.
The temperature is starting to cool here now which is a relief, especially in the afternoon when we're exercising or doing drill.
Lily paused; resting her head on her hand. She sat at one of the desks in the bay, her back to the beds, desperately trying to block out the rhythmic thumping that was pounding to her right and concentrate on finishing her letter. She thumped her pen down onto the desk and swiveled round in the chair.
“Helen, will you knock it off!” she yelled.
Helen plucked the small rubber ball from the air as it rebounded off the wall and brought it down to her chest, she tipped her head back on her pillow so she could see Lily albeit upside down.
“Sorry,” she replied, dropping her chin back down and inspecting the small ball, rubbing her thumb across a small rough patch on the rubber.
Adrienne lay on her bed reading a letter from her husband, one hand absently toying with the gold ring that now hung beside her dog tags. She looked up at Adele, who was lying on her bed opposite studying, and raised a single eyebrow.
It had been over two weeks since the dance and in that time there had been a subtle shift in the dynamics in the bay. Lily and Helen seemed to be keeping their distance from each other, as much as they could with their living arrangements. There had been no blow out and nothing obvious but, as the women practically lived on top of each other almost twenty-four hours a day, subtle shifts were cataclysmic.
Turning back to her letter Lily looked at what she'd written so far, she closed her eyes and swallowed, she hadn't meant to snap at Helen but ever since their dance she struggled to be around the blonde. She refused to acknowledge that she had almost kissed Helen. However, despite her steadfast refusal to admit to it, in quiet moments she found herself replaying the incident, wondering whether she was more disappointed in what didn’t happen than what did.
The ease of their friendship had given way to an awkwardness that neither was willing to address and instead had resulted in her finding fault with Helen for the smallest of things. Helen for her part was studiously avoiding making eye contact with Lily and would only speak to her when spoken to.
“You gonna come?” Adele asked closing her book and looking over towards Helen.
Helen turned her head still turning the small ball over in her hand,
“How bout we dance and enjoy the rest of the night?” Helen said quietly taking Lily's hand and leading her out to where their fellow cadets were hooting and hollering and they tried to master the dance steps being called out.
Lily gave her a quick smile, “I'd love that.”
Chapter Six
September 1943
Dearest Maria,
It's been six weeks now since I arrived at Avenger Field, you probably wouldn't recognize your dear old sister anymore; we do a couple hours of exercise a day. I'm fitter than I've ever been and more tired than I ever thought possible. We had good news yesterday our whole bay passed our first Army checks. There's only two bays that still have all their occupants in them and thankfully we're one of them.
We got paid…sort of! Two thirds of it went straight back to Uncle Sam for our accommodation and food. Good job I'm not doing this for the money! We also got our dog tags, feels like we're in the Army proper now. We've heard that they're still pondering over whether to accept us as a branch of the Army Air Corps, watch this space I guess.
Did I tell you that Adele (she of Tennessee) plays the fiddle like a dream? She never mentioned it and then we had an impromptu dance in one of the hangars as we were all base bound and she played my violin like it's never been played before. She's currently teaching me to play; it's as technically difficult as classical but really liberating at the same time.
The temperature is starting to cool here now which is a relief, especially in the afternoon when we're exercising or doing drill.
Lily paused; resting her head on her hand. She sat at one of the desks in the bay, her back to the beds, desperately trying to block out the rhythmic thumping that was pounding to her right and concentrate on finishing her letter. She thumped her pen down onto the desk and swiveled round in the chair.
“Helen, will you knock it off!” she yelled.
Helen plucked the small rubber ball from the air as it rebounded off the wall and brought it down to her chest, she tipped her head back on her pillow so she could see Lily albeit upside down.
“Sorry,” she replied, dropping her chin back down and inspecting the small ball, rubbing her thumb across a small rough patch on the rubber.
Adrienne lay on her bed reading a letter from her husband, one hand absently toying with the gold ring that now hung beside her dog tags. She looked up at Adele, who was lying on her bed opposite studying, and raised a single eyebrow.
It had been over two weeks since the dance and in that time there had been a subtle shift in the dynamics in the bay. Lily and Helen seemed to be keeping their distance from each other, as much as they could with their living arrangements. There had been no blow out and nothing obvious but, as the women practically lived on top of each other almost twenty-four hours a day, subtle shifts were cataclysmic.
Turning back to her letter Lily looked at what she'd written so far, she closed her eyes and swallowed, she hadn't meant to snap at Helen but ever since their dance she struggled to be around the blonde. She refused to acknowledge that she had almost kissed Helen. However, despite her steadfast refusal to admit to it, in quiet moments she found herself replaying the incident, wondering whether she was more disappointed in what didn’t happen than what did.
The ease of their friendship had given way to an awkwardness that neither was willing to address and instead had resulted in her finding fault with Helen for the smallest of things. Helen for her part was studiously avoiding making eye contact with Lily and would only speak to her when spoken to.
“You gonna come?” Adele asked closing her book and looking over towards Helen.
Helen turned her head still turning the small ball over in her hand,
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