3.
~ America. Summer of 1940 ~
~ "Roosevelt will not bring us into the war." Lydia was telling the family as the cook brought out a well prepared dinner for them.
Arthur shifted in his seat uncomfortably. He and his father had read about Hitler's advancements across Europe in the papers and they both felt the U.S. Would soon have no choice but to enter the war.
"You can't know that, Mother." Beth said instead. His older sister was the only one in the family who had the courage to stand up to their mother.
"Yes I do." Lydia snapped.
She sat at the opposite end of her rich, oak dinning table. Her four children, three sons and one daughter, at each side and her husband across from her. Adam might have been the husband and father, the man of the house, but Lydia rained supreme in all things.
"America is just now getting back on it's feet after the disastrous state Hoover left things. Roosevelt will not waste our resources and send us into debt over Europe's war. A thing that has nothing to do with us." Lydia told them.
"Perhaps we should call Hitler and inform him that, because you said so, he need to goose step himself back to Germany." Beth bit back.
Lydia looked scathingly at her daughter. No one annoyed Lydia mother more then her daughter. The men of the house were pleased that they never had to engage their wife and mother in battle. Beth was always happy to lead the charge.
"How are you liking Hawaii, David?" Adam asked his oldest son. Hoping to stop the talk of war.
"Fine, Dad." David said with a bright smile.
Arthur looked at his oldest brother. David was tanned and carefree in his crisp, white uniform. He was an officer in the Navy and stationed at Pearl Harbor. He always sending home postcards of what he said was the most beautiful place on earth.
"All we do is surf and play this game called volleyball." He said passing his other brother, Jacob, the dinner rolls.
"Surf?" Lydia asked with a scowl. "Is that what you do with the native girls?" She asked worriedly.
"No, mother." Beth said. "David tries to balance on an ironing board while the waves hit him. Then he tries not to drown."
"I don't want you drowning." Lydia said to her oldest, and most prized son.
Arthur had to smother a laugh. When David came home, looking far too impressive with his Navy uniform, he had gotten him in a head lock and messed up his hair.
"Aloha, little brother." He said before releasing him. His oldest brother had gotten stronger from the service and tended to pick on Arthur like he was still a child, despite the fact that Arthur was grown and in college.
Added to the fact his other brother, Jacob, was a pilot in the Army. But there was talk of something called the Army Air force taking control. Like David, Jacob looked dashing and reckless with the confidence of youth. Arthur had never been as handsome as David, as confident as Jacob or as witty as Beth.
In many ways, he still felt like a child among grown ups. He wasn't expected to do anything but what he was told.
"If the war does come, I'll join the Army." Arthur announced suddenly. The entire table fell silent at what he said. The family never paid much attention to Arthur except to ask how school was.
"You most certainly will not." Lydia gasped. Her hand fluttering to her chest.
"I might join as soon as I'm done with school. But the way things are shaping up, this war will catch up with us." He told the table.
Beth looked at her brother worriedly. Adam said nothing but sat a little straighter at his dinner table.
"You will join your father's law firm after school." Lydia scolded. "War is no place for a boy like you."
"I'm not a boy, Mother." Arthur said. A slight edge to his voice. "400 thousand soldiers just evacuated out of France because of Hitler's advancement. How long can we stand by? We stood by and did nothing as he took Paris. Will we stand by and do nothing when he takes London? When he comes marching into New York, it will be too late." Arthur said boldly. Not knowing where he found such courage.
"He will not come to America." Lydia said wanting to end the argument.
Beth sat up and took her's and Arthur's empty water glasses. She put one to her ear and one to her mouth.
"Hallo? Is this Hitler? It is? I just wanted to let you know that Lydia says you will not be able to come to America. That's right. I'm sorry to. We were really looking forward to seeing you. Well, you know how she is, if she says you won't come then you won't come. Might as well leave Paris to. Because she said so, that's why." Beth said as if having a real conversation.
Her brothers and father all hiding little smiles behind their napkins.
"Stop it Beth!" Lydia said sharply.
"Oh, Hitler, Darling, I have to go. Give my best to the family before you have them lined up and shot." She said before putting the water glasses down.
"There is no more discussion on this matter. My son is not joining the Army. Not as an officer, not ever. It was bad enough that my oldest defied me and joined the Navy. I know full well what sailors do and that is why no respectable girl will have him."
"Respectable girls will have him, Mother. They just don't stay respectable for very long when their with him." Beth said.
Her oldest brother laughed.
"Beth." Adam said trying not to smile.
Lydia took a deep breath.
"It also doesn't help that my second born recklessly tries flies around in a plane even though I have told him it's impossible to fly. Arthur, you are the one who will stay in the home and keep the family business. You will finish law school, and join your father in his practice. You will marry that nice girl Linda, and you will have a family of your own." Lydia said coldly.
"I'm not going to marry Linda." Arthur said.
The table was deathly silent and, for the second time that evening, all eyes were on the baby of the family.
"What?" Lydia gasped in disbelief.
"I'm not going to marry Linda." Arthur repeated a little louder.
Lydia looked like she didn't understand.
"He said he's not going to marry Linda!" Beth shouted in her mother's direction. Assuming that Lydia had lost her hearing.
"All of you go upstairs." Lydia said keeping her hard eyes on Arthur.
They didn't have to be told twice. The grown children beat a hasty retreat up the servants stairs and waited in the landing. Their parents never figuring out that they could still hear everything from there.
"Explain yourself." Lydia said to Arthur in a soft, deadly tone.
"You asked for the ring. You asked for your grandmother's ring to give to the girl." Adam said looking worriedly at his son.
Arthur fished in his breast pocket and placed a tiny ring box on the table next to his father.
"I never gave it to her." Arthur said softly.
"Why not?" Lydia almost shouted. "Linda is a fine girl from a good family. You go back to her and propose like you told us you would!"
"I don't love her." Arthur stammered.
"Why not?" Lydia shouted.
"Because she's a horrible person, Mother!" Arthur shouted back. "She's always talking about how much money I'll make and what our wedding will be like. She's the most selfish girl I've ever met and she could never make me happy."
"So this is it. This is how you disgrace your family?" Lydia said sitting up straighter.
"Now, Dear." Adam said raising a hand. The boy shouldn't marry a girl he doesn't love.
"I'm not a boy." Arthur growled.
"Not a boy. A man is it?" Lydia said looking angry. "If I find out from Linda's mother that you have deflowered that girl, you will marry her."
"I will not." Arthur said in a stony voice as he met his mother's gaze unflinchingly.
'Standing up to the Nazis might feel something like this.' He thought.