Saturday, August 19th, 1939
2:50 p.m.

"You spent the whole movie distracted by Dorothy tossing away that piece of cruller before she sang 'Over the Rainbow'?"

"Toto might've been hungry. Sure made me hungry."

"You don't care that you actually got to see Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland perform? Live."

"Nope."

Carol turned to look at the clock on the wall. "You've spent almost six hours thinking about a crumb of doughnut?"

"Maybe."

"Honestly, Harrie."

"It's not like they sold them in the lobby, and we got up so early this morning to make it into the city." Harrie dunked half her doughnut into her coffee, letting it sit for a moment before it got too soggy and fell in. Harrie had been talking about doughnuts since they finished the day's first screening of The Wizard of Oz. She talked about doughnuts on the train to the World's Fair and again as they wandered the fairgrounds. Once they had seen what visited the Masterpieces of Art building, Carol couldn't take it anymore and dragged Harrie to the Amusement Area where, after looking at a map, she knew she could quench her desire for doughnuts.

"You should have told me you knew this was here before we started walking around. I would have saved us hours of complaining."

"You have the strangest cravings and at the oddest hours," Carol said, taking a bite of of the other half of doughnut. "I need more coffee," she said as she started looking for the waitress.

Harrie pushed her mug forward. "Have mine."

Carol glanced into the mug and saw several doughnut crumbs floating around the edges. "There's bits of doughnut in this."

"So? Makes it taste better."

"Does it?"

"Yes." Harrie took a small sip of coffee, finished her doughnut then wiped her hands on a paper napkin she pulled from the dispenser. "Consider this," she offered, then lowered her voice, "you can put those beautiful lips where mine were just now."

Carol raised an eyebrow and reached for the coffee, now with a more pronounced lipstick mark around the rim. "You're such a sentimentalist."

"I can't help it. I miss waking up next to you in the morning."

"Me too." Carol sighed. She took a sip of the coffee, positioning her lips exactly where the lipstick smudge imprinted onto the edge. "Harriet, I'm not sure if I express this enough... I really like... being with you."

Harrie tucked her hair behind her ear and smiled at her. "Yeah?"

"I do. I like driving places with you or taking the train, making dinner together, tidying up, studying together, hanging out the clothes to dry - "

"What you like is having an all-around equal partner."

"Is that it?"

"Uh huh. You like sharing in the experience, both parties on the same footing. How about with sex? Do you think that's equal between us?"

"Very much so. We can do the exact same thing with one another, different means of getting there sometimes, nonetheless we're working with the same equipment," she laughed. "And I don't feel guilty or ashamed about what we do either."

Taking a deep breath and looking straight into Carol's eyes, Harrie paused and then spoke in a low voice, "I absolutely adore being with you. This has been the nicest summer I've had in ages." She hesitated before continuing, looking around the noisy restaurant to see if anyone could have overheard them or was watching them. "Say, I have an idea. What if you came up to Boston when I head back? My father and Sid are still gone, and it'd just be the two of us."

"I'd love to, but… "

"Oh, yeah. I forgot about your family visiting."

Carol's sister, her husband, and her three boys, all under the age of eight, were coming up from Virginia for ten days now that Carol's grandparents had returned from the Cape. On top of that, there was her father coming out from Seattle for the week. Needless to say, the subsequent days were bound to be full of luncheons, parties, long suppers, and other familial pursuits during this annual family get together. She knew they would be coming back to the World's Fair together with all the children, which no doubt, would be an exhausting day. She had asked Harrie to stay, but she wanted to head back to get her things together for school as well as finish up her graduate school applications as quickly as possible. Harrie was simply being polite because she knew how much Carol was looking forward to spending time with her father.

Carol finished her doughnut and drank the rest of the coffee from the shared mug. "It's certainly going to be an interesting couple of weeks. How is it I have three nephews and I'm not yet twenty?"

Harrie laughed and nudged her leg under the table. "Either your sister is really bad at family planning or the women in your family are just really fertile. I think all of you are incredibly fertile, so I best take more precautions with you. Honestly, it's a miracle we're not expecting yet."

"Stop." Carol said, hiding her face behind her hand as she rubbed the corner of her eye.

"Therefore, probably best I'm not around your sister."

Harrie then paused and to watch Carol's hands as she toyed with the handle of the coffee cup. During the silence between them, she genuinely asked Carol if she wanted children. Their conversations had grown much more candid and personal over the past month; Carol wasn't put off by the question, she wasn't put off by any of the questions that Harrie asked her. In fact, she liked them more than anything. They helped her think through things and develop her own opinions, even though she had a more difficult time coming up with her own questions to ask Harrie. The topic of children though, that wasn't what she had expected to discuss after sharing coffee and doughnuts in a crowded restaurant at the World's Fair.

"I think I do. One? More than that? I don't know, I mean how… I don't know, I'm talking out of my hat - "

"It's okay if you do, you know, want kids. Or want to talk about… that. At all. Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt."

Carol smiled at her and tilted her head to the right. Carol loved her tenderness, wishing she really knew how to talk as freely as Harrie. She knew how to answer Harrie's questions, but she wasn't as confident in asking them as she was. A glimmer of light caught on the amber necklace she wore, causing Carol's eyes to shift downward to the v of her shirt then back up when she saw Harrie had noticed the direction of her gaze. "You're very sweet and understanding, Harriet, you realize that?"

Harrie shrugged, masking her smile from the compliment Carol had given her, and fiddled with the empty coffee cup. She then lifted her head and looked back over her shoulder to see if the waitress was anywhere nearby with the coffee pot.

While Carol grew up lonely, Harrie grew up alone, unaccustomed to having family around. It hadn't always been that way before her mother passed away, she explained while they were reading and doing the crossword in bed like they did every morning. After her mother died, Harrie stayed at school in Boston, and her older brother Sidney went to school back in England. She hardly saw her brother, let alone her father who was constantly away on business or visiting his mother in Yorkshire. From 1928, Harrie was very much on her own aside from a nurse who looked after her until she was fifteen. Boarding school became the nursemaid after that, but by that point, Harrie was already taking care of herself, traveling to and from school, making arrangements for this or that, and minding the house. Some summers, she sailed for England where she would regroup with the rest of the family for a couple precious months, but then return for school. She grew used to it, and even though she was often alone, Carol supposed that was why she was always so good-natured, able to make the most of any situation thrown at her, and Carol loved that.

There was a sudden warmth against Harrie's fingers, and she looked down to see Carol brush her hand across hers to get her attention. "How about after? What if I came up to Boston and we traveled to school straight from there?"

"I would really like that," replied Harrie with a firm nod.


If Masterpieces of Art was Carol's choice when they first got to the fair, then the DuPont Wonder World of Chemistry exhibit was certainly Harrie's. She practically beamed at the prospect of showing Carol science-related exhibits that were about her topics of interest. Harrie liked looking at art with Carol, who always pointed out something fascinating behind each painting, but finding an entire building celebrating the wonder of chemistry was completely inspiring and she was pleased to finally be able to share it with her.

"Are you telling me I will be wearing some kind of synthetic polymer on my legs within the next couple of years?"

"Seems so."

Carol ran her fingers over the fabric, taking in the give and feel of the stockings in the display for the audience to touch. "Doesn't that seem strange?"

"No, we use all kinds of composites, emulsions, and synthetics in everyday items."

"Darling, explain science to me like I explain art to you."

Harrie leaned in and whispered in her ear, "You show me buxom reclining female nudes. Those hardly need an explanation, Carol. Except for those with their mysterious lack of pubic hair."

"Don't be fresh."

When she finished chuckling and making Carol profusely blush, Harrie thought of items she knew she had that would best exemplify her point. "Okay, so your grandfather's domino set, a telephone, a radio… those are made of Bakelite - "

"That reminds me: Did you put the dominoes back that you used as bails?"

"No, just remind me to do that when we get home. Back to what chemicals do for you in everyday life," Harrie said as she jabbed Carol's arm and smiled. "Your pen, that's celluloid… and movies, those are printed on celluloid too. Plus dolls, buttons, pins, little things like that. However it's highly flammable, so don't even think of - "

"Setting my pen ablaze?"

Harrie closed her eyes and shook her head with a snicker, "Yeah, never do that."

Carol looked up at the woman with the unfortunate title of "MIss Chemistry" who was on display for the audience at the end of the exhibit. She was dressed from head to toe in products entirely made from chemicals, from the fabric of her dress to the jewelry around her neck and wrists. Most interestingly for all those standing around, male or female, was the sight of Miss Chemistry's legs donning those stockings made of the nylon fabric everyone had been touching in the other exhibit room. "Is it safe for Miss Chemistry there to be wearing nothing but clothing made of chemical products?" asked Carol.

"I'd really like to think so."

"That's not terribly encouraging, scientist." Turning her attention back to the exhibit brochure, Carol finished reading about the final display. "Should be you up there," she quietly said without looking over to Harrie.

"Me?"

"Yes, you."

"Why?"

"You're the real 'Miss Chemistry' with your chemistry skills and your sexy legs."

"I wouldn't want a bunch of strange men ogling me."

"Yes, but for all of those men, I bet you there'd be at least one lovely girl discreetly ogling you who'd love to roll down your stockings at the end of the day."

"Can that girl be you?"

Carol winked.


"I don't think your grandmother was enthused that I turned the horseshoe pit into a makeshift cricket pitch and pulled up those garden stakes to make a wicket." Harrie said as they walked up the sidewalk toward the driveway. They were home barely in time for dinner at six-thirty with the train running behind, and still needed to wash up before they sat down to eat.

"No, she likes it! Gets my grandfather out of the house, plus he loves playing cricket with you."

"He's swell, such a good sport about things too."

As they turned the corner to walk up the driveway, Carol's stomach flipped when she saw the car parked by the entrance to the house. "Oh, no."

"What's the matter?"

"Not again."


While Carol walked Harge out, Harrie wandered back upstairs to the guest room and looked at her suitcase sitting in the corner of the room. It would be so easy to dart off and take a train home. She looked at the clock on the nightstand and noted it was too late to head back then, unless she wanted to spend the night in Hartford or New Haven, which she really didn't want. She could leave in the morning, she supposed, walking over to her suitcase to pull out a timetable to see when she could head out.

It would be easy to be jealous of Harge with his career, house, car, vacation plans, and probably a bank account to boast about to no end. Harrie had all of that and then some, aside from the career in real estate, nevertheless she would have some kind of career, far better one than Harge could ever have down the road, she knew. Harrie didn't need to be jealous of his accomplishments or the material things he had, except she could be jealous of the fact that Harge could just show up and openly make his intentions clear. What could she do when it was all up to Carol?

Harrie could be equally upset at her for not mentioning that he had stopped by that sweltering afternoon she went out for ice, but in some way, she understood why Carol hadn't said anything. She wasn't in the best of moods that day and maybe Carol was only trying to spare her feelings. Harrie was just as surprised as anything to hear that Harge loved the blueberry-flavored lemonade she made and had told Carol to be sure to pass along his compliments. Of course she cordially thanked him and said that Carol had mentioned how much he liked it, all the while Carol sat at the table fiddling with the napkin in her lap.

Harrie didn't notice Carol come into the room until she took a seat at the opposite end of the bed. She had taken off her shoes and curled her legs underneath her as she got comfortable, crossing her arms and holding herself tightly before dropping her hands into her lap. Harrie could see she was nervous and upset.

"Harge seems like a nice fellow."

"Yes. He's nice." Carol wrung her hands together, then smoothed the front of her dress that fanned over her lap. "He asked if he could visit me at school."

Harrie didn't answer. Her shoulders slumped and she looked over at her suitcase, still wondering if she should get a train home that night, or at least make her way toward home. She was trying her best to not be jealous and to calmly think through what had happened that evening.

"Well?"

"That's none of my business," Harrie softly admitted.

"It is - "

"It's not."

"Could it be?"

"Do you think I don't get it, Carol? Do you think I don't know what it means for me to be... involved with a girl like you?"

Carol was clearly taken aback by her words and slightly turned away from her. "What do you mean 'a girl like me'?"

"A society girl," Harrie said, "and a society girl at that who doesn't think sleeping with another woman is some sort of aberration. You're actually the first girl I've ever met who didn't underlyingly think there was something wrong with her."

"If I'm the 'society girl' that you claim to know so well, why don't you realize things like that, dealing with men like Harge, is something I have to do?"

"Open your eyes, Carol. You're nineteen years old and he's… what? Twenty-five or so? He's finished messing around with girls and wants to settle down because that's what's expected of him. And that's what's expected of you too. That's what everyone downstairs and your whole family wants from you. The difference is he's had a whole bunch of time to do as he pleases and be on his own. But you know what? You're fucking smart and you have much more ahead of you than being someone's footnote."

"There are things I want to do, Harriet, and you know it."

"Like what? You don't talk about what you want."

"I don't know… "

"Try."

Carol was quiet, her eyes watering at being so put on the spot about a topic she had hardly ever started to seriously consider. "I'm the first female in my family to actually go to college. Not just some finishing school, actual college. Why do you think I am busting my ass to do well?"

"Because you don't want to disappoint other people?"

"No, it's so I can do something for myself, and have a really, really good reason why I don't need to or might not want to settle. Until I get my degree and find some sort of rewarding job - doing what I don't know yet - I am going to fucking play along until I have a way out."

"I didn't know, about college and all."

Carol took a deep breath and put her hand on her forehead. "I've never told anyone that before. I think I've barely confessed that to myself."

"You can tell me things, alright?" Carol nodded her head and moved toward Harrie, hooking her arms around her neck. "I'm here to listen, and we can talk through these kinds of things together. I love you."

Carol released an arm from around Harrie's neck and tucked her hair behind her ear. "Your hair is always falling in your face, making it impossible for me to see those dimples when you're smiling." She didn't reply back to her with "I love you," instead Carol gave her idle kiss once she could see her lips again.

With the silence inside the room came the noise from outside of the crickets and frogs, making so much sound it was impossible for either of them to ignore with the open windows. They held onto one another as they listened and took in the cool breezes that drafted in every couple of minutes. "I'm still leaving in the morning," Harrie said.

"I know."

"Will you still come up to Boston when your family leaves?"

"Absolutely."

"Stay with me until bedtime, will ya?"

"Of course." Carol moved closer, once more releasing one of her arms from around Harrie's neck, and slipped her hand beneath her skirt, sliding up her stockinged leg until she reached the skin of her inner thigh. "Besides, I do remember saying something about rolling down Miss Chemistry's stockings at the end of the day… "