So, here is another story in honor of the anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor. Sorry it is so short, and I think it will be the 8th before it goes up. Oh well, close enough.
She had a greater impact on his life then any other female that he could remember. She had shown him what it was to love another in every way. She brought him back to life after Rafe died. She gave him something to hold onto while training after Pearl. She carried on his legacy, long after he had passed, and passed it on to Danny Jr., to carry on from there. Yet no matter how much he loved her, in any way, she would always be third in his heart. And somewhere, deep inside, they both knew it.
Before Danny met Rafe, his only escape had been through books. The words carried him to faraway lands, where his father could not reach him. And it had been enough. He did not know there could be more to the world, so he survived however he could. Then he met Rafe McCawley. Everything had changed. He had learned of acceptance, love, brotherhood. Understandings that would shape him has a man and pilot. When he was a boy, Rafe held the place closest to Danny's heart. But when Rafe left to fight a war Danny felt was not theirs, Rafe lost that place. At first Rafe thought that Evelyn had replaced him, but as they trained together he realized that it was, in fact, flying that had claimed Danny's heart. That was why he had the poem carved on Danny's memorial, because even if Danny had meant it for Evelyn, in his heart it was for the sky.
I soared above the song birds
Before he had ever left the ground in a plane Danny had traveled to far worlds in his imagination, taken there by the grand adventures he read whenever his father was too drunk to notice. He had loved reading them, but he had never fully understood what the heroes were fighting for. All he knew of battle was what his father had become because of it.
And never heard them sing
He dreamed of leaving Tennessee, but he was afraid of what he would find. Until he met Rafe. Rafe was so sure that it would be a wonderful world, and Danny found himself drug along for the ride. But then he had learned how to fly. At first it had been fun, but that was all. Then the world opened up.
I lived my life in winter
He wasn't sure when he fell for Evelyn. She had shown him that he could live, even after Rafe was dead. But after Rafe returned he saw it in their eyes. She wanted to choose Rafe, but for some unknown reason, she chose Danny. After that one shared glance, Danny found himself back in the winter he had known after Rafe had gone down. But this time there was no one to thaw him back out. This time they were all frozen inside.
And then you brought the spring.
It wasn't until he lost sight of land after leaving Japan that Danny caught sight of something he had lost. Freedom. Not the kind he was fighting for, the kind that was advertised on recruitment posters all over the country, but the kind that had allowed a Tennessee farm boy to become a pilot. That had allowed a skinny little kid to realize more then he had ever dreamed. That had allowed a heartbroken officer to rise above. And that now helped the same man to see beyond what was, to see what could be. He never hesitated when he saw the gun aimed for Rafe. He had already let go. He was ready to fly.
I soared above the song birds
And never heard them sing
I lived my life in winter
And then you brought the spring.
Randall Wallace, Pearl Harbor page 308
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