"We all want love, we all want honor. nobody wants to pay the asking price"
000 Beach City coastal park - present day
The morning sun was well into its upwards climb into the clear blue sky bringing with it high summer temperatures that were balanced by the cool ocean breeze. Seagulls and sandpipers patrolled the surf-line occasionally snatching unfortunate sand crabs or squabbling over a meal. Up and down the beach families played in the water or relaxed on the sand while further out surfers jockeyed for position on the best waves. In short, a perfect day at the beach.
Connie was envious of all of them.
While others frolicked on the beach, Connie was on beach clean up as part of a class community service project to help clean up the beach. Pausing in her litter patrol she leaned on the pick-up tool to watch the surfers, one of them looked familiar with long white hair.
"Connie, this beach isn't going to clean it self, you can play after class!" called the teacher from further back in the class line. Sighing to herself resignedly she resumed her tasks.
An hour later the group broke for lunch at the picnic tables setup above some strange concrete ruins just behind the beach dunes. The structures were heavily built half circle cylinders that went up only as high as the dunes but were slopped at the back. Rusted iron circles with old bolts around the edges indicated something had been mounted there in decades past.
She would have investigated further but another distraction got her attention, the white-haired surfer from earlier was coming over the crest of the dune. For a moment she couldn't make out details due to the glare of the sun, but once close enough she recognized her immediately.
"Amethyst! Over here, come sit with us." shouted Connie.
Amethyst looked over and waved but made no motion to approach, instead she adjusted her grip on the large surfboard and continued walking towards the beach temple.
"We have extra soda and some chips too!" hollered Connie at the purple Gem's back. "Come hang out with us! You can help with the beach clean up too, I'm sure we can find stuff for you to..um...eat… as we go."
That did it, immediately Amethyst dropped her surfboard then ran over to snatch the offered snacks. With a muffled "thanks" she was crunching the chips greedily while some of the other students exchanged confused glances. By now the teacher, having noticed the commotion, approached to check on the unexpected group member. "Excuse me, um, young lady, but what are you doing here? You're disturbing the students so I must ask you to leave."
"Oh, don't worry Ms Chowdhury, this is Amethyst, she's one of the Gems who lives with Pearl." answered Connie hurriedly. "She's no trouble, I'm the one who invited her over, I wanted to ask her if she knew what those old structures built into the hill are."
Amethyst grinned and waved at the teacher with a lazy "hey" but otherwise remained focused on her snacks. Soon having run out of chips she started chewing on the bag itself.
Ms Chowdhury stared at the purple Gem for a few moments trying to make up her mind about how to proceed next. "Well, I guess if you're a friend of Pearl's then you can't be all that much trouble. Pearl was ancient and is living history, can I assume you are too?"
"Yep, I'm a bit over 500, I was here when these were built." replied Amethyst lazily. "If you got more chips to bribe me with I can tell you about these and what was going on when built."
A little girl, Jewel if Connie remembered her name properly, tossed a bag over to the Gem. "Pearl's talk at class a year ago was interesting, tell us a story please."
Amethyst wasted no time ripping open the bag then dumping its contents in her mouth then tossing the now empty packaging over her shoulder. "Sure, gather round, its story time!"
"Thats littering!" hollered one of the other students.!
Amethyst ignored her, instead snatching another bag of chips then sitting down on the park bench like she was a sage being asked advice. "Now, I know you usually hear this stuff from Pearl but she doesn't have the whole story about what was going on back here while she was on adventure. Those old fortresses used to be part of an old army base where fun-land now stands and the town, wow, the town, was totally different. Things were getting crazy fast."
000 Beach City lighthouse, January 1942
Rose stood alone at the top of the lighthouse above the ancient gem temple. Her eyes squinting against a snow flurry that was presently adding another foot of snow to the landscape. The sun was beginning to set on the horizon behind her turning the falling snow into specs of embers carried on the blowing wind. This days watch had been mercifully quiet owing to the regular snow storms rendering the visibility of predator and prey out on the ocean. For now both rested and took stock of their resources before beginning the battle again. It also meant that Rose and the others were unlikely to be called upon to help rescue sailors from sinking ships that evening.
It was just about two months since the bombings on Pearl harbor, the irony of the facilities name was not lost on her, and Beach City was changing rapidly. Shifting her gaze from the ocean she watched as a distant group of Army Engineers were busy on a small hill further down the beach moving earth to build the newly designated Fort Miles and associated artillery battery infrastructure. Though the sun was setting she could see the bright work lights illuminating the hill, her sharp eyes were just able to discern the men and machines working.
The group had wanted to build on the lighthouse hill but some strong words from the town's Mayor and some old treaties Rose kept in storage soon dispersed them. "It would have made our operations at the warp-pad...difficult... Better to send them to build on the other hill where they don't have a line of sight on the Gem-door or the beach out front." she grumbled to herself. Though she disliked the close proximity of the fortifications she understood the necessity of the construction to defend the opening to Delaware Bay from any prowling enemy shipping.
The loud clunk of the heavy entry door echoed up from within the lighthouse signaled that her watch over the ocean would would soon no longer be solitary. Signing to herself she took one last look out at the ocean, then headed down the access-way to greet the signals keeper. A brief conversation with the elderly resident of the lighthouse station later and she was back outside heading down the slope towards town. Her bare feet crunched softly in the freshly fallen snow providing a steady rhythm she could synchronize her frenzied thoughts too.
Crunch. "Garnet reports the letter to Pearl had the desired effect, but that skirted too close to our rules of non involvement.
Crunch. "But it was Gem business after-all, oh geez now we'll really have to keep track of corrupted Gems.
Crunch. "Pearl was right, the fire is spreading faster now, even Beach City is being drawn into it."
Crunch. "We must stay out of it, we have too, but what else can we do? Secret letters and the occasional food supply delivery to the famished help but its not enough!"
"Rose! Hello! What brings you to my door at this hour?". Startled out of her thoughts Rose looked up to find that she had unintentionally walked all the way to Deedee's house on the far side of town. "Gosh you must be freezing out in that cold, please come in and warm up by the fire. I have some relatives over to visit, my cousin enlisted and we're throwing him a going away party." Rose flinched at this, memories of Pearl's own departure were still fresh in her mind.
Rose smiled sheepishly and began to back away. "No no, that's okay, the cold doesn't bother me and I wouldn't want to impose on a family event like that."
Deedee wasn't giving up so easily for she stepped out, grabbed Rose's hand then began tugging her into the house. Rose could have easily pulled away but somehow found she couldn't resist the pull of the small woman and someone from inside was now shouting for her to come and join them. Defeated, Rose let herself get pulled in and joined the party.
000 Beach City Main Street Theater - February 1942
Flecks of dust danced in the light from the projector booth in the old marquise theater casting a bright image on the theaters screen. The audience sits in silent rapture, only the occasional crunch of popcorn as everyone watches the latest newsreel before the feature film starts. Up on the screen images and motion clips portray in sanitized details of the war being desperately fought for control of the North African deserts. Through it the jovial announcer narrates.
"Its been another defeat as Rommel's Axis forces push the British forces and their allies back, unraveling the previous years hard fought victories. Things are looking grim for the exhausted defenders of Gazala and Bir Hakeim fortify their positions for the next Axis push towards Egypt.
Rose sat in the back row flanked by Deedee Fryman and her current boyfriend Antonio. Deedee had insisted Rose accompany her on the latest Bogart film, Maltese Falcon? Was it? The film had seemed interesting and Antono was growing board of watching Fred Astaire films so she'd agreed to the noir-mystery to appease both. Plus she was curious about Deedee's surprise.
The announcer interrupted her thoughts again as the scene switched to a British camp behind the front. The camera slowly panned across troops with heavily laden jeeps mustering to head out to battle. Rose felt a sharp nudge in her side from Deedee. "Pay attention, look at the group in the back, the group just climbing into their jeeps." Rose carefully watched the indicated group.
"But not all hope is lost, here we see elements of the newly formed SAS group and LRDG preparing for another harassing mission behind enemy lines. These heroic soldiers are the best of the best! The cream of the crop of soldiers!. So successful have they been at harassing the enemy and disrupting their supply lines the German Leader himself has a special order on them." The narrator's voice grew heavy with drama. "No prisoners! Kill on sight"
"There, back row!" whispered Deedee frantically pointing at the top of the screen. The camera view was fuzzy, almost as if it was blurred on purpose, but then it sharpened. Rose's eyes bulged in surprise, her breath catching in her throat. "Pearl?" she whispered not quite believing what she was seeing on the screen before her.
Pearl was seen was sitting on the hood of one of the jeeps checking her equipment while laughing and smiling happily at some unheard joke. But to someone who knew her as Rose knew her there was no mistaking the exhaustion underneath the smile; the slightly shaking hands, the forced grin, hard edges to the otherwise bright eyes. All around her were several young soldiers, a few she recognized from her spying visits when she was checking up on Pearl early in the war. But then she notices the camera pointed at her and waves it away, its operator quickly switched views.
The announcer's voice continued to drone on putting a happier, against all odds spin on the rest of the newsreel but Rose wasn't hearing it. The image of her old friends was etched in her memory like a perfect photograph. "I'll have to check in with her again, soon, even if it hurts."
Finally the war-footage ended and the the feature film of the evening began to play. "You look troubled my love, are you thinking of your friend gone to fight in the war?" asked Antonio just loud enough to be heard over the film opening music. "Don't worry, put it out of your head for now and let us escape from reality for a few hours. We can discuss it later. Okay?"
Rose blew out a breath she didn't realize she was holding and looked down at Antonio's warm hazel eyes looking back at her. "Please love?" he whispered. "Yes, lets enjoy" she replied.
Outwardly she appeared to be enjoying the movie, but nevertheless thoughts of Pearl and what she was currently going through persisted for the rest of the evening. When the movie finally ended late in the evening she sent Antonio, disappointingly, home while she went back to the temple to think. Garnet met her at the Gem-door looking solemn as usual.
"Antonio is going to have a difficult time soon" said Garnet sadly as Rose passed by.
"I know, we'll deal with that when we get there." replied Rose stubbornly.
000 Beach City suburbs, March 24th 1942
The convoy jeeps and half-ton trucks driving through town had become the new normal since the coastal defense forts had been modernized in the previous months. What was unusual was that several of them stopped along the main boulevard and men wearing sharp uniforms stepped out. The men took a moment to compare notes then started going door to door through the small town. At each door they would have a brief conversation while looking at clipboards, sometimes there would be shouting and the door would slam closed, but a soldier would remain to stand watch. Eventually their survey of the town brought them to the neighborhood where most of the locals lived in beach house style cottages or ornate vintage craftsman style homes.
Sargent Grimsley knocked sharply at the door then stood back waiting for it to open. Inside there was a sound of someone talking hurriedly and footsteps. Just when he was about to have the young Pvt assigned as his secretary kick in the door a young woman with blond hair and blue eyes answered it. "Yes, Sir, what can I do for you?" asked Deedee Fryman cautiously.
Sgt Grimsley smiled brightly and removed his hat at the sight of the young woman standing before him. "Is this the residence of one Ms Deedee Freimann?" he asked brightly as if he was about to launch into a sales pitch for something.
Deedee felt a sudden rising of dread, the old spelling of her family's name. Something wasn't right but to lie or evade would raise suspicions. "Yes, she replied, This house has been in our family since Papa moved the family here decades ago. He worked hard in the shipyards north of here to scrape together enough money to be able to afford it."
Sgt Grimsley nodded and made some notes on his chart then fiddled with the edge of his hat thoughtfully. "Well, thats not in keeping with records but its also not an uncommon occurrence for a family recently immigrated from the old lands, trying to fit in and all. Now, to be sure the records are accurate, was the families name formerly spelled and pronounced as "Freimann" before your family immigrated here? Is it the same spelling on the property deed?"
Over Grimsley's shoulder she could see through the windows of the house on the other side of the street, the Asian family within appeared to be hurriedly packing bags. Outside a soldier was standing guard with a rifle slung over his shoulder and the other hand resting on a pistol.
"your answer Ms Fryman?" pressed Sgt Grimsley firmly taking a step forwards into the doorway to survey the home's interior. "Seems a nice place, your family must be well off to afford such furnishings. Especially on a simple yard-workers small salary."
Deedee forced a smile while she desperately tried to push down the rising tide of dread building in her gut. "A lie would be worse than the truth" she thought then gave the best answer she could. "Yes, thats correct, Papa wanted to get away from the old country and a new life here. Leaving behind the old name was his way of rebuilding himself as a true American. I haven't checked in years but I believe its spelled Fryman on the property deed too."
"Excellent, thank you for your cooperation." muttered Sgt Grimsley while he scribbled some more notes on his clipboard. "Please pack your things, you are going on an all expense paid vacation, you have 2 hours to get ready."
Deedee was at a loss for words, her voice caught in her throat struggling to come up with something to say. All that came out was a stuttered "What? What did you say?"
Sgt Grimsly looked up, his smile was cold as ice, "We need to assess if you're a threat to the nation or not, as a recent German immigrant with clear discrepancies in your family's name, property and history, we need to make sure of your loyalties."
"But I own a shop here, I'm part of the community, I'm a CITIZEN FOR STARS SAKE! MY COUSIN VOLUNTARILY SIGNED UP JUST LAST MONTH!" she was shouting now as confusion gave way to anger. She was proud of her heritage but her home was here now.
"Dont worry Ms Freimann, steps will be taken to ensure your property is taken care of, now please pack your things." With that Sgt Grimsly turned to leave but paused to look at a picture hanging on the wall that portrayed an unmistakable face. "I know this woman, Pearl is it?" he said gesturing at the small painting. "How do you know her?"
Deedee hesitated a moment, unsure of how much she could, or should, share. "Your answer please Ms Freimann? She tried to join the army at my office, how do you know her?" prompted Grimsly. He had ceased leaving and was now standing fully inside the entryway.
"Yes, I know her, she used to rent one of my spare rooms. A bit eccentric and passionate about protecting our town. She paid her last rent and departed a couple years ago. The painting was from a class I was taking and she agreed to let me paint her for practice." Deedee was surprised at how well the lie had formed but kept her face neutral to not give the game away.
The answer seemed to satisfy Grimsley. "Very well then, Please get ready, this should only take a few days for the examination center is just outside the city." With that, he turned and left to move onto the next house in the row, she watched him interview them then leave quickly.
~{0}~
Antonio parked his bicycle at the mailbox on Deedee's house's front lawn, quickly he untied the package Rose had asked him to deliver. Rose had said it was some kind of intense spice and Deedee would know what to-do with it in her cooking but exactly what he wasn't sure. The ride over had been an odd one, the usually bustling neighborhood was eerily quiet and a few of the houses didn't have any lights on. Now that he had arrived at his destination and gotten a better look at it he was surprised to see that Deedee's house was among the newly quiet ones.
With little light to see by Antonio pulled a small flashlight from his pocket to light his way through the yards Bric-à-brac statues and past the fish-pond. Reaching the front porch he peeked into the windows, the house was indeed dark with all the windows and doors shut tight. Returning to the front-door he finally spotted the note that had been left with the words "To Rose" on it.
000 Deedee's Soda Shop, April 1942
The soldier stood at the soda fountain counter staring up at the wall menu, his mouth slightly hanging open while his eyes scanned the menu. "uuuuhhh..I'll have a...um.."
"A root-beer float with extra whip-cream and a side of the key-lime pie." answered Garnet for him. Swiftly her fingers rang up the bill on the register then handed him a receipt with the order number. "Antonio, order up, and don't drop the glass cup"
"Um, yeah, thats it, say how did you know I would order that?" asked the soldier taking his receipt and handing over the 25 cents for the drink.
"You've been in here every day this week and order the same thing. Dont need future vision to predict it." replied Garnet dryly. "Go sit by the window, the girl you like will be there today."
The young soldier looked at her with a confused expression but did as instructed.
A loud thunk and crash was heard from the soda machine. "Sorry Garnet, I dropped the glass!" shouted Antonio, hurriedly he swept up the broken pieces then began to make another float.
The ding ding of the bell by the door followed by a familiar board groan announced the arrival of Amethyst to take her turn running the shop. "Uuugggghhh, one soda with extra syrup please. Yawned the purple Gem climbing up to sit on a stool at the counter. "Been a long day on patrol"
The two had been alternating running the shop in Deedee's absence with Antonio putting in double shifts to buss the tables. It was getting well into the first month but with a bit of practice and advice from Antonio they were making a decent amount of money for Deedee to use when she returned, if she returned. It didn't help that the arrival of the Army brought even more customers for the inexperienced group to deal with; but it was worth it to help Deedee.
"Rose isn't back from her meeting with the base Commander about Deedee?" asked Garnet. It was rare that her future vision missed an event but this one was small so she marked it up as lack of focus due to all the events happening at once.
The requested double-shot soda slid into view in-front of Amethyst. "Thanks Antonio!" she shouted. Antonio smiled back then went to buss tables and serve drinks.
"One moment" said Amethyst. Lifting the large mug over her head she opened her mouth wide, then chugged the contents of the mug in one go followed by a very loud burp.
After wiping her mouth with her sleeve she relayed what she'd heard speaking to Rose. "Currently we don't know where she is but a lot of other families are missing too, the Haneda and Akari family houses look like they were looted. Lots of ….bad...graffiti too."
"Yes yes, I know that already, but did Rose have any luck with her contacts?" prompted Garnet, the other info was disturbing but right now it was one problem at a time.
Amethyst sighed then set her mug on the table, her usually happy demeanor dimmed. "No, She's writing letters as fast a she can but so far no one has news or knows where she is."
A loud tapping was heard from the cash-register area. "Hey, you running a business or a chatterbox? We're thirsty over here".
"Go, I'm up for shift and someone needs to take over keeping nosy looky-loos away from the temple." Said Amethyst hopping over the counter then placing a stool near the register to stand on. "Antonio, you still good to keep the shift going?"
"Thank you" muttered Garnet. Passing the pastel 'soda-jerk' apron over she exited the counter area and headed for the door. "Garnet wait up, I almost forgot, Pearl sent another letter. It doesn't say much due to the human military mail-censures but does say that she's in North Africa and hints that she lost some friends but is otherwise doing okay."
Reaching over Garnet took the offered letter from Amethyst with another polite "thank you" then resumed her walk towards the shops main entry door. A young girl distracted by a thick book was just entering the shop not looking where she was going. Garnet as she reached out as she passed and with a gentle brush of the girls blouse sleeve drew her attention to the young soldier by the window.
Startled the girl glanced back at the stranger who had touched her "Don't waste time, you must make the most of the time you'll have" whispered Garnet. The girl looked very confused but decided there was no harm in talking to the young soldier and so went to talk with him.
"Hey, my drink only has regular cream and a single-shot in it! What gives?" shouted another customer from earlier in the shift. He was glaring at his mug as if it had said something nasty about his mother.
"Sorry Sir, we only have supplies for single-shots and half-whip, rationing you know" shouted Amethyst back at him. "Enjoy it while you can because we don't have allot left."
000 Beach City Industrial District - May 1942
Rose was exhausted, it wasn't because of the long walk back to town, that part was actually enjoyable. Rather it was dealing with the bureaucracy of the US Government office of relocation, department of the Secretary of defense, and endless talking heads with nothing useful to say. No matter how hard she pushed, no matter who she talked to or who's name she invoked the answer was always the same. No one wanted to talk about where the town's people were taken or what their current condition was beyond the repeated phrase "they are okay".
It was nearing dusk and the sky was beginning to turn from light blue to darker shades of purple. Walking through the industrial district she drew a few stares from the men lining up to collect the days pay. Slowing her pace she took note of the few looking at her as she passed, all were dirty from toiling in the shipyards with grease stains on their cloats and dust in their hair. One looked as if he was about to say something but she quickened her pace and soon left him behind. Now passing the middle of the district her sharp ears could hear every hammer, every clunk, every shouted order from the yards where men were working day and night to build all manor of ships.
She found the sounds of heavy industry to be oddly soothing. It represented a simpler life, one without worries about politics or secrets or any manner of responsibilities. Just simple work, show up, work with your hands and skills, then go home at the end of the day. She would have stopped to just sit and listen but the loud megaphone enhanced voice broke the mood.
"WAR BONDS! BUY WAR BONDS HERE! KEEP ENOUGH TO LIVE ON AND BUY A BOND THAT A SOLDIER CAN LIVE!" shouted a man standing atop a small stage near one of the pay centers. Above him was a bright banner declaring the same promotion, around the stage were a mix of women and men handing out flyers or conducting bond-sales.
Curious Rose approached the stage to see what she could learn about this latest iteration of the tried and true emergency war funding method. The last time she'd seen something like this was during the last Great War but then it had been much more brief and more posters than shouting.
Of course the announcer noticed her immediately, pointing energetically at her with one hand while raising the megaphone to his voice he continued to shout. "YOU THERE! YOUNG WOMAN, step right up! Step right up! And join me up on stage to do your part! Give these guys a reason to buy bonds!". He was waving her towards the stairs leading up to the stage.
Pushing down her nerves and annoyance at the looks she was getting she accepted the announcer's request by jumping up in one jump. She warmed up the crowd by striking a 'sexy' pose like the calendar girls she'd seen hanging in some of the shop windows then ruffled her hair a bit, that got a couple wolf-whistles but nothing obscene. Grabbing the megaphone she paused a moment to center herself, then began to speak, her voice booming even without the device.
"Buying war-bonds is the least you can do to support your country! But there is more you can do to support your communities!" The crowd cheered loudly for a moment before she could continue. "My friends there is a bigger threat looming within our own neighborhoods, one that is insidious, it pretends to be your friend, to protect you from 'the other'. Our fear and complacency has allowed it to rip our communities apart, to turn neighbor against neighbor."
Pausing for effect she scanned the faces of the men in the crowd. A few in the crowd looked confused, this was not the buy-bonds speech they expected. But enough still seemed interested or at least curious where she was going with her impromptu speech.
"My friends, look within your own neighborhoods, your communities, there are families missing, citizens are being taken by men with guns, houses are being graffiti-ied with hate!. We have become that which we claim to fight against! We are letting evil into our hearts in the name of civic protection and it will destroy our nation just as surely as any enemy if we let it."
"She's talking about those turn-coat Japs!" shouted a man in the back row. Rose stumbled a moment in her speech at the raw hatred that filled the voice, it was all the opening the man needed. "THOSE DAMN **** KILLED MY BROTHER AT PEARL! THEY CAN'T BE TRUSTED, any of them! Who knows what gods they worship or to whose allegiance they swear!"
Rallying herself she tried to shout over the growing murmuring in the crowd. "NO! They were innocent! True they don't look like us but they love this nation! Its not just the Asians, its Italians, German ancestry, anyone who has a discrepancy in their paperwork or trumped up charges!" She was pleading now but the crowd wouldn't listen, they were all letting fear take over.
"GET OFF THE STAGE APOLOGIST!" shouted someone in the middle of the crowd. A tomato hurtled towards her to impact her dress with a soft splat leaving a trail of red all along the white cloth. No sooner had she looked back at the crowd another landed on her hair. Soon other objects began to fly of increasingly dangerous weight
The announcer was now pulling her, hard, towards the stage stairs. "Mamma, thank you, but its probably best you leave before someone gets hurt."
Rose yanked herself free from the man's grasp with ease. "I'll make my own way, goodbye". With that she power-jumped into the sky, easily clearing the building roof to land half a block away from the crowd. Her face felt wet, reaching up she found that she was crying, a sudden wave of weakness washed over her pressing her down to her knees. Her hands pressed to her face in a desperate attempt to hide this corrupt and broken world from her sight as she let the tears flow.
~{0}~
It was late when Rose finally got back to the temple with the moon high up in the sky. Her dress was clean again after a quick refresh and she had regained her composure but she still felt terrible. Garnet met her at the temple door looking stoic and unreadable as ever.
"Rough night" stated Garnet casually, her three eyes hidden from view by her glasses.
"You could say that old friend." replied Rose, there was no mistaking the hard-edge still in her voice. "Just had another frustrating day trying to find out what happened to our missing townsfolk."
Garnet removed her glasses, a rare gesture of honesty from the fusion. "I wish I could tell you more about them, but with so many threads to keep track of all I can say is she's okay"
Sighing in defeat Rose opened the temple-door then entered into her sanctuary. "That will have to-do then wont it."
000 Lighthouse Park - June 1942
Rose stood alone at the top of the cliff above the temple staring out at the expanse of the blue ocean before her. A few months ago the waters were filled mostly with regular commercial traffic from fishing boats hauling the days catch to the occasional cargo or passenger ship. Times were much simpler then, just protect the city and keep an eye out for occasional wayward gem monsters to keep them out of the public news cycle. Frowning she focused her attention on one of the dozens of warships forming up in the Delaware Bay to begin the next convoy escort. Its decks were covered in weapons from small machine-guns all the way up to gigantic ship-killers with torpedo launchers and depth-charge racks to round out its load out. She found it oddly fascinating, a jumbled mess of deadly equipment yet still instilled the same sense of predatory purpose in its role of hunting then killing other ships.
Unbidden Pearl's words echoed in her mind, "We have to-do something, this war isn't like other wars!" The voice high and shrill yet just determined to make a stand for her beliefs.
"But I AM doing something, We're sending aid packages, we're helping rescue sailors from the sea, I'm trying to hold our community together! I even sent that letter about the desert-glass. That has to count for something right? I can keep us out of it but still make some difference!" Rose's inner voice argued back. But she knew the argument was hollow in the face of how much Pearl had, and still would, sacrifice to make a difference.
"How much difference is it really? You can't even find our friend and soon even YOUR friend will sacrifice more than you have already." Rose shivered, though it had just been her imagination arguing with itself it was clearly arguing back in Pearl's voice.
Frustrated with herself she turned away from the massing armada to head back down the hill towards town. These moments of solitude on the hill were useful to give her time to think without interruptions while still doing something useful. Deep down however, she knew it was just a convenient excuse to hide from her own problems and feeling of failure for a short time.
Reaching the town she headed towards the soda shop to check on Amethyst and Antonio who were covering the current lunch crowd. Garnet had requested time to take care of some personal matters but assured Rose it didnt have to do with Pearl or the war. At least thats what she claimed but who could really say with the fusion who seemed to enjoy the air of mystery around her. Annoying was putting it mildly but she would have to trust Garnet just the same.
Nearing the small shop she slowed her pace at the sight of a crowd gathering outside the shop. There were reporters with cameras from the local paper photographing something hidden by a sizable crowd consisting of people from the town and soldiers from the nearby fort. "Oh No, Amethyst, what did you do!" She whispered to herself then broke into a fast run bringing her to the edge of the crowd. Her tall form afforded her an unimpeded view of the events unfolding..
What she saw next stopped her cold in her tracks, she had to rub her eyes a few times to make sure she wasn't hallucinating but still she didn't believe who was standing there.
"Deedee?" whispered Rose as if just mentioning the name would break the illusion, "Deedee is that really you?" she said much louder this time, loud enough that the young woman heard her.
"ROSE! YES ITS ME ROSE!" shouted Deedee pushing her way through the crowd. Reaching the huge woman she wrapped her arms (or tried to) around Rose in a desperate hug. "I'm back, they took me away, I thought I would be deported, I was so afraid…. but then I heard you were asking about me, trying to find me." Both women were crying in happiness now that the long period of not knowing each others fate was finally ended.
After a few minutes the hug broke and the two stared awkwardly at each other for a moment.
"So, um, apparently my return is a bigger deal than I thought it would be, I didn't expect the news media to care about little old me." said Deedee doing her best to ignore the news reporters standing off to the side scribbling notes. "I just finished interviews actually."
Rose grinned her signature grin. "That was me actually, when you went missing I started contacting everyone I could think of, especially the local news groups. I figured if, no when, you returned we needed to make sure that your story got told so others would know what happened". She paused as if remembering something. "But I don't know who alerted them, I didn't know you were coming back today, stars I thought you were still off somewhere."
Deedee smiled in understanding. "Well, I certainly have a story to tell about where I've been. We can solve the mystery of the foreshadowing later. Lets head inside."
Once inside the quiet of the shop Deedee took a moment to greet Amethyst and Antonio before taking her leave to inspect her shop. When she got to the office a soft 'yipee!' was heard.
Amethyst smiled at that, "We made good money while she was out, she probably found the big stack of cash we hid under her desk, we didn't know the code to the safe."
"About that, Garnet said to send along her congratulations, she'd told us this morning when her shift ended that we should call the reporters, didn't say why." said Antonio coming around from the supply room. He was frowning a bit at the clipboard clutched in his hands. "But I'm afraid that I've got some bad news that Deedee should hear."
~{0}~
"We're out of supplies!" gasped Deedee staring at the inventory sheet having read it a third time in as many minutes. "What happened! We should have had enough to last for months!"
Antonio scratched the back of his neck sheepishly. "Well, we didn't know how to order more supplies beyond the basics, rationing kicked in so we had an excuse to cut-back on serving size to stretch it out but… with the new Army base nearby the customer traffic increased dramatically and so did consumption." answered Amethyst sadly.
Deedee sat heavily down on one of the bar-stools with a frustrated huff. "Great, so I'm flush with cash but have no product to sell to continue the business." The group fell into silence then with nothing left to say about the predicament Deedee's shop was now stuck in.
"Okay, so what do we have available? There must be something that isn't heavily rationed that we can sell. Come on, think people, think." grumbled Rose. She had worked hard to try and get Deedee back, her team had worked to keep the shop running and the house maintained. But apparently it would all be for naught if the business failed anyway due to supply issues.
"I'm sorry Rose, Ms Fryman, but all we got are potatoes from the local farms, thats it." offered Antonio sadly.
"Fryman" whispered Deedee quietly, a spark, a thought, a possible salvation. "FRYMAN! Thats it!. My name is Fryman, maybe Pappa's bad paperwork can provide a solution to this!" Deedee was nearly shouting with excitement. "I've got it, we just need to change up the kitchen a bit, buy some equipment and change the business!"
"What are you on about? What's the answer?" asked a stunned Rose. Just a second ago they were pondering the closing of the store and now there was hope? "What would you sell?"
"Fries!" Shouted Deedee excitedly practically bouncing up and down while listing off the beginnings of her plan. "I have enough cash now to re-tool the kitchen and the local potatoes are cheap. A couple deep fryers, some cross-cutting vices and a new sign out front and we're in business again."
"Thats perfect! I can share some of my Mama's recipes to help get things started. Potato Chips aren't the only thing you can make with a deep fryer Ms Fryman." offered Antonio.
"Yes, that would indeed help allot. Okay, let's get this moving, I've got some phone calls to make so will be back in the office….." Deedee continued to speak but Rose wasn't really listening to her anymore. Instead she was thinking about Pearl's quest to help keep the world from turning to darkness, how she could help without actually joining the war. "I think I've found what I can do to help, more than care-packages or sea rescues, I can keep these people together, fight and find those who are missing, to help keep the home-front standing."
000 Beach Temple - late June 1942
Amethyst sat on the top of one of the outstretched temples stone arms watching a group of 'tourist soldiers' down below posing for pictures outside. There were more of them lately poking around the beach now that the weather was warmer, often army or coast guard, sometimes the occasional uniform she didn't recognize. It had gotten to a point that some kind of surveillance had to be setup outside the temple so they would know if it was clear to come and go through the door. Finally Rose had made some kind of arrangement with the town's mayor that the soldiers could visit during set times of day but, like this group was doing, it was often ignored.
Sighing to herself she stood up then made her way down the temple's arm to shoo away the interlopers. After the encounter with the spies a few years ago she was no longer allowed to shape-shift in public and instead would have to just confront them with boring words instead of a fun chase as an animal shape. Reaching the group she shouted and waved to get their attention.
"Boys! Boys! No pictures! This isn't the visiting hours. You need to leave." shouted Amethyst doing her best to sound annoyed and angry. Which was easy at the moment.
To her surprise the men didn't give the usual 'just fooling response' but instead formed up behind who she suspected was their leader and approached her. "Hello young lady, I'm Sargent Grimsley of the US Army, I'm here on official business so we're exempt from the mayor's mandated hours."
Amethyst scoffed at this unimpressed. "Yeah yeah, what kind of official business?" she asked, her voice dripping with sarcasm. These humans were starting to annoy her much more than the others, something about the arrogance in the man's voice or how he presented himself.
Grimsley seemed to ignore the sarcasm and continued his speech. "We're looking for a man named Antonio Navarro, we know he lives in the area and it was suggested we might find him here by the mayor. Is someone going by the name Rose around?"
"Why are you looking for Antonio? What's got the Army trying to find him?" Now she was curious. Antonio was known for being a bit of a show-off peacock or romantic, not someone who would do something to get himself in enough trouble to warrant an army visit.
Grimsley frowned, no longer putting on a smiling or friendly demeanor. "Is he hiding here? Where is Rose, we need to speak with her. If you are found to be withholding information you would be charged with aiding and abetting a deserter. Now tell us what you know!"
"Hey, you don't threaten me and you don't make demands on this ground!" shouted Amethyst in defiance. "Leave now or I will make you leave." her hands balled up into fists while energy began to flow to her limbs, it would be a quick and clean fight to evict this scum from their home.
"AMETHYST THATS ENOUGH! GO INTO TOWN!" Rose's voice silenced whatever either side was about to say next. She was walking down the beach towards them but clearly her sensitive ears were able to pick-up the escalating volume of the heated confrontation. Amethyst and Grimsley paused their argument long enough to let Rose get close enough to join the 'conversation' as it were, the whole while glaring at each other.
When Rose finally arrived Amethyst gasped quietly at the look on Roses's face, her eyes were red from crying, her cheeks were wet with tears and she was still softly hiccuping with sorrow. It was enough to keep both groups from immediately restarting their argument.
"You are looking for Antonio aren't you?" she asked the now composed Sgt Grimsley. He nodded and handed over a folder containing a picture of the man in question along with some very official looking documents. Rose noisy wiped her nose with a sniff then began to read them.
"You are correct, Mr. Navarro did not report to the recruiting office as directed in his draft notification and his grace period has expired. There is an open warrant out for him on charges of desertion in a time of war." declared the soldier in his most official voice he could summon.
Rose nodded sadly then withdrew an envelope from her dress pocket to hand over to the Sgt. "He's gone. He wasn't home when I went to visit him this morning; just this note he left with his landlord addressed to me." Her voice cracked followed by a fresh round of sobs, lowering herself to the sand she buried her face in her hands. "I thought so much of him, thought he was brave, loving, all the things a woman wants but in the end he just ran off when things got hard."
At a loss for words Grimsley just stood there staring at the large woman loudly sobbing before them on the sandy beach. Kneeling down so he was eye level with Rose he spoke with an uncharacteristically gentle tone in his voice "Um, thank you for your testimony, any idea where he went? Desertion is a serious offense but if he turns himself in willingly I can make sure he gets a reduced charge and stationed in a non-combat role. We need all the help we can get."
Rose waved him off while trying to compose herself enough to give a clear answer. "No, I don't know where he went, he arrived in town a few years ago on a cargo ship from Spain then rented a room in town. I met him not long after he arrived and he spoke little of his home or family."
Grimsley's frown returned, his voice resuming is prior hard edge "Why did he stay then? Why stay in a town he had no connections to, where did he work, where did he spend his free time?"
Rose cried even harder now. "The only thing keeping him here was me…. but I wasn't enough! Now if you'll excuse us, you've overstayed your welcome and * sob * I have no more information to give you."
Shaking his head in frustration Grimsley pocked the 'farewell note' then handed Rose a contact card. "I expect you to call us soon if you happen to remember something useful." With that he signaled for his companions to form up behind him then the trio marched back towards town.
When they were gone Amethyst playfully slugged Rose on the shoulder grinning from ear to ear. "WhooWeee! That was quite the show, I think you really got to him for a bit there. Very convincing that he skipped town. Is he actually hiding in the temple or something? The shop?"
Rose didn't reply, still crying she stood up, brushed herself off, then headed for the temple-door. Amethyst trotted along next to her, her sense of worry increasing rapidly that this was no joke.
Reaching the gem door Rose spoke at last, her voice still full of grief but now there was an unmistakable rising of anger behind it. "No joke, he ran, he took the cowards choice and ran. I thought he had integrity, that he was capable of being more than just a ….. Lover. But now I see him for what he was, someone who runs from their troubles." The gem-door swished open, Rose stepped into the pink cloud filled room beyond. "I'd like to be alone now." Then the door closed in-front of Amethyst leaving her alone with her thoughts.
000 Alexandria Egypt - July 1942
Pearl sat on the wooden bench placed next to the elevated sheet of scrap metal covered in maps was currently serving as the platoons dining and planning table. A cool evening breeze rustled the thin fabric of the old parachute that was setup with camp pole supports to give some shade from the burning daytime sun. All around the camp soldiers were busying going about the necessities of maintaining a military camp in the desert. Some were endlessly cleaning sand and grit out of sensitive equipment, others were on kitchen duty peeling potatoes, still more were finding rest where they could before the next call to duty.
Pearl paid them no attention, this was currently the third time she had read the latest letter from home. The letter was brief due to wartime mail filters but it covered the basics from Deedee's temporary disappearance and the surprising turn of events regarding Antonio. "Huh, so Rose's boy toy ran off. Can't say I'm surprised, human men just can't be relied on" she mumbled to herself with some hint of satisfaction. She'd never met the man but she could guess what he was probably like from Rose's other letters and Pearl's own knowledge of her tastes.
"Yeep!" Pearl yelped in surprise when a sharp elbow was jammed into her side right at her ticklish spot. "Does that unreliability apply to me too love?" teased James who was seated next to her. "Reads like there was some excitement back home."
Pearl rubbed her side and scowled at him but it was clear she wasn't really mad. Folding the letter up to put into her pocket she playfully jabbed him back. "You shouldn't be reading other people's mail and, for the record, I think you are a fine example to the contrary."
WHACK! The sound of a baton smacking hard into the mettle table halted all conversation around the table. At once the platoon and Pearl's squad snapped to attention.
Capt Jack Moffitt stood at the head of the table glowering at the two soldiers. "Be glad I don't change my mind about you two out of respect to your former squad leader. But dont mistake that leniency for approval to be so public, keep it down low or I separate you.
James and Pearl exchanged worried looks "Yes sir!" they replied in unison.
With the need to lay down authority passed Jack reverted back to his more normal disposition, reserved but willing to socialize and enjoy the company of his platoon. "Okay now, everyone gather round, we got some planning to-do. Rommel's forces are massing for an attack, if we don't hold the line and push them back then the road to the Suez and all Egypt is open.
Pearl and James exchanged the briefest of smiles then turned their full attention to Jack. Across the table Frank rolled his eyes then pulled his notepad form his pack to begin taking notes. It had been a long, hard, frustrating few months but with the American's now joining the war, perhaps things would ease up a bit and the war would become that little bit shorter.
000 End chapter
Author's Notes
Hello Folks!
Taking a break from covering Pearl's adventures in North Africa to check in with Rose and the rest of beach-city now that America has officially entered the war.
Some big news! Youtube Personality Deadpoolzilla posted a video giving the story a glowing review to a very large audience. I had to watch it a dozen times to make sure I wasn't imagining things and it was real. That the story is so well received and enjoyed by the community is fuel and motivation to make sure the story is fully told. Its a wonderful, but humbling, moment on this story-telling journey. Just google search for "Pearl in WW2 deadpoolzilla" to see it.
Lastly, after much debate, I think I'm not going to cover much of the Pacific theater until near the end of the story. There is just so much content to cover and I need to draw the line somewhere to help keep the story on-track and engaging to the reader.
As always, I hope you are enjoying the story and please leave a review, favorite, and follow to let me know how the story is going and fuel the writing machine.
Sincerely...
Pinhead
History Notes
Executive Order 9066 - This one is too long to explain in these notes, please look up online. While the majority of those affected were of Asian descent it did sweep up Italian, German, and other groups albeit with less impact and most were released much sooner.
Liberty Ship - Thousands of these general cargo ships were built to ship goods and arms across the Atlantic or anywhere else it was needed. The main advantage of these were that these were dirt-cheap and simple to build as far as large cargo-ships can be had. Slow and easy prey the U-boats simply could not sink enough of them to fully halt the convoys.
Rationing - Done not only to redirect resources to the war-effort but also a direct, tangible, reminder to the general population that the nation was in a state of total-war. The result was less driving (gas, rubber tires) keeping old cars longer (manufacturing), shopping trends (metals, sugars, etc) and more. Its a bit why during the 1950s when the war ended that the nation went kind of nuts with a consumer economy that had been on-hold during the war.
The Draft - There was such a thing as 'conciencense objector' which basically means that someone cannot participate in the war due to their religion or beliefs. Most of those who applied for this were rejected, others were given non-combat or home-front support roles. Rose would fall into this category in that she refuses to join the war but still wants to contribute something.
Draft-Dodger - Those who refuse to even sign-up for non-combat duty or serve the nation at all.
NewsReel - Short audio-video episodes of news-footage from important events or distant locations played in movie theaters. It was the youtube-news of its time giving movie-goers a brief sound and video view of everything from royal weddings to war-news. The only other ways to get news was through news-paper, the radio (if your house had one), or the very new television technology (if you were very rich and were near a tv-broadcast station).
Convoys and black-out - Early in the war German u-boats would simply wait offshore surfaced at night and wait for ships to pass in front of brightly lit city or coastal lights. The targeted merchant ship would be easy to track as its bulk passed between the lights of shore and the submarine hunting it. Eventually blackout conditions reduced merchant ship losses near the coast but only after some number of ships were lost and a policy change.