Chapter 9
Simple Things

April 17, 1942

Money was tight, so Danny went out looking for a job. Rafe's family were all away at a housewarming party for the neighbors. Evelyn was all alone, besides the child inside her. After a few moments of enjoying the radio's company, Evelyn walked briskly back to her bedroom, Rafe's old room, right across the hall from Danny's. Sometimes, as she lay in bed just between asleep and awake, she could see images of Rafe sitting at the desk that still sat just the below the window, working on his homework. The window gave a perfect view of the barn, and she just knew that he would watch his dad dust crops from that very spot. She slept in the same bed Rafe had, and could only imagine if he was there, laying beside her, the way she had always wanted it to be. Some of Rafe's things had been left. Overalls, a button-up shirt, and a hat still resting in the closet, waiting for their owner to return home. Pictures were still hung on the wall. Pictures of his family before he left for the army, and pictures of him and Danny growing up. She could look into the eyes of those photographs and see them, grown up, wondering if they ever thought their lives would end up like this. If they ever thought their relationship would be tested because of a girl. Some silly, stupid girl, who just doesn't know how to say no.

She entered Rafe's room, and stepped, absent-mindedly to the chest of drawers, pulled open the top to reveal her journal. The one Rafe had given her on their second date. Evelyn had used it to write about their blossoming relationship, and, when they thought he died, to place her deepest feelings. When she started dating Danny, she had placed a rubber band between the two relationships. The relationship with Rafe had ended three months after he died, when she met Danny at the movies. She opened to the where her and Rafe's relationship had ended. The crane he had made was still there, along with a rose he had given her, and all of his letters sent from England. She had read all of the letters that he had sent his family, not half as many as he had sent her. It surprised her to find out that Rafe hadn't told them anything about their relationship. She knew he wanted to surprise them. Every now and then Evelyn couldn't help touching that crane that Rafe had made for her, the one that had taken "six hours to fold". He had loved her so much, and every time she thought about it, she knew she had broken his heart. She unfolded a letter, and began to read,

Dear Evelyn,

It's a lot different than I thought it would be here. It's cold. So cold it goes down deep into your bones. When I'm up in the air, all I think about is you. It helps me get through it. I shot down a Nazi yesterday, and, as I watched him tumble through the air and hit the ocean, I couldn't help but think he had a girl waiting for him, a girl like you, waiting for him to come back.

It's not easy making friends.

"Evelyn!" She heard Danny calling from the other end of the house. Evelyn frantically put away her things, and shoved them in the drawer, just as Danny walked into her bedroom. "What are you doing?"

"Nothing, really. Did you find a job?" Evelyn asked, purposefully changing the subject.

"No, I didn't really look. Well, I guess I looked, but then I ran into an old friend of mine, Shane, he works for the Shelby Gazette now, and wants to interview me about what happened at Pearl Harbor."

"That's great, Danny." Evelyn tried to seem happy.

"Yeah, but that's not the best part. He told me that some of our old school mates our having a picnic tomorrow that should last into the evening, and they invited us. So how about it?" Danny smiled lovingly into Evelyn's eyes, overjoyed.

"Why not?" Evelyn shrugged. It couldn't be all bad.

Rafe had drug Devon away from her work on the B-25, to the deck. "What do you want?"

"I just wanted to show you something." He took her to the very end of the flattop, and had her lay down. "Look at those stars. The only other place you can see them this good is Pearl Harbor."

"Well we are on the ocean. Really, Rafe, what do you want?" Devon was impatient as ever. They were taking off the next night, and she wanted to make sure everything was right with the plane.

"Okay. The truth is, we might die tomorrow, and I just wanted to make sure everything's clear with us." Rafe replied, quicker than he meant it to be.

"You mean you might die tomorrow, and you just wanted to make sure you could score before you did." She smiled at him.

Rafe laughed, he had never known a woman to act so manly. Of course, after living with 87 men for six weeks, why wouldn't she? As his laughter died off, the silence engulfed them, and, as they inched closer and closer to each other, both of their heart's pounding, a loud speaker interrupted them, "Emergency meeting on the Observation Deck! All pilots report to the Observation Deck!" It was Colonel Doolittle, and he was to tell them that he would be going too.

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