Chapter 67
From the Journal of Honey Sutton Aug. 16, 1938
Now we know what Kenneth Baird was up to on his visit to New Bedford that made him so smug. Who would have thought that he would hijack Clifford Valentine to be principal of Northbridge High School? Max guesses that he thinks that he is hurting New Bedford by depriving it of a vice principal who is nearly as conservative as he is.
The School Board is furious, but there is nothing anyone on it can do. At least there is a substantial silver lining. Jim Flett has been offered the job of vice principal and has accepted. He will even be allowed to continue hosting his two science shows on CRNB every Sunday afternoon since they are educational programming.
Vanaver Mainwaring to Grace Mainwaring Aug. 20, 1938
The battalion is enjoying a relaxing vacation here in the Pandols. We have a spectacular view and plenty of sunshine. Sometimes, though, I am tempted to complain to the management about the lice, the fleas, the heat, and our unpleasant neighbors on the other side of the valley who keep trying to kill us. This is no way to run a summer resort.
Harry and Oscar send greetings. … I miss my brandy, my cigars, and my jazz records, but I miss you more than any of them. I am always happy to write you something from my heart in Spanish. A language that beautiful was made for more than barking orders. La estrella de la tarde que brilla arriba tan brillantemente desaparecerá con la mañana. Mi amor por ti nunca se desvanecerá.
From the Journal of Maisie McGinty Aug. 22, 1938
Pritchard waved me to a stop earlier this evening when I was riding my bike home from the afternoon shift at the telephone exchange. He wanted to ask me a question and was pretty nervous about it. After a few umms and wells, he finally got to the point. "It isn't something I'd ask just anyone, but I've gotten to know you pretty well this past year and, well, you're a special person. …"
A thought struck me like a two by four to the side of the head. Was he going to ask me to the End of Summer Dance? I wasn't falling for him or anything. I would have been fine with just staying friends, but I couldn't help thinking that maybe it wouldn't be such a bad idea. Pritchard ummed and welled some more, but finally worked up the nerve to speak again. The words came out in a rush. "Do you think that Stephanie Greeley likes me? I think she's swell. Do you think she'd say yes if I asked her to the End of Summer Dance?"
I don't know what was more painful, that Pritchard didn't even consider asking me or that he has no luck with girls. Stephanie has tremendous respect for his mind which I have to admit was made for science. Unfortunately, she pines after Frank Sawyer whose muscles were made for sports. The poor dope refuses to believe how lucky she is that he doesn't even know that she exists.
I didn't tell Pritchard about Stephanie's feelings for Frank Sawyer. If he wants to chase after a girl, he doesn't have a chance with, that's his lookout. I just told him that Stephanie liked him and agreed that it couldn't hurt for him to ask her to the End of Summer Dance. He flashed me a quick grin. "Thanks, Maisie. You're a pal."
Of course, I am. I'm everybody's pal and nobody's sweetheart. At least I have my volunteer work at the hospital and my study of medicine with Dr. Barlow, not to mention school coming up, to keep me from climbing the walls. What do girls who don't care about anything but finding the right boy do when something like this happens to them?
Grace Mainwaring to Sally Henry Aug. 22, 1938
I suppose that you have read in the papers that Franco has rejected the Nonintervention Committee plan for the evacuation of foreign volunteers as it stands. His conditions for acceptance are impossible. They will prolong the war and keep my husband and his comrades fighting. Franco remains determined to extract the last possible measure of fear and torment from the Spanish people and their defenders.
I'm sure that you can understand why, instead of opening the letter Lionel Marshall sent me, I tore it up and threw the pieces in the wastebasket. Perhaps I should have read it. Lionel is Van's brother after all. Still, what could someone who profiteers off the misery of the fascists' Jewish victims have to say that I would want to hear.
Better to save my concern for Johann and Ida Schmitz who are nearly frantic for word about Harry since the battalion went back into battle. They are also worried about their nephew Gottfried. There has been no word of him since he was captured. Stories of beatings, starvation, and torture in Franco's prisoner-of-war camps continue to find their way out of Spain. I don't even want to think about what might happen to Gottfried if he and his fellow Thaelmann Battalion prisoners are returned to Germany and the hands of the Nazis.
From the Journal of Maisie McGinty Aug. 24, 1938
I couldn't believe it when Pritchard told me that Stephanie Greely had agreed to go to the End of Summer Dance with him. I know that I shouldn't have said what I said next, but he caught me off guard. I spoke without thinking. "Frank Sawyer didn't ask her?"
Pritchard looked at me sourly. "Has Hub written asking you to the End of Summer Dance?"
I admit it. I deserved that. I apologized. Pritchard told me to forget it. He knows how Stephanie feels about Frank Sawyer. "It's just that seeing her explain elliptical orbits and how they relate to gravity is true beauty."
He actually sighed as though he were thinking of a glamorous movie star.
From the Journal of Honey Sutton Aug. 26, 1938
I wish that Hub weren't so eager to set off for university. He only just got back from Alawanda and hasn't seen me, Max, his brothers or his sister all summer. You would think he would want to spend a little more time with us. Max assures me that he is glad to see us, but he's young and excited about the future ahead of him.
When you're that age, it isn't easy to stand still, even for a moment. I suppose that it's only with experience that we learn the value of slowing down and savoring the good things in life. There was a time when I thought that anyone with that point of view was an old stick-in-the-mud. When did Max and I start to be so middle aged?
From the Journal of Maisie McGinty Aug. 27, 1938
Seeing Hub tall, tanned, and handsome from a summer as a lumberjack, I think that maybe Pritchard did me a favor by not asking me to the End of Summer Dance. The torch I thought was dying down to ashes flared up and is burning as brightly as ever. I was only fooling myself if I thought his being away from New Bedford would make any difference. It didn't help that when he paid a visit to Mrs. Bailey's parlor almost the first thing we talked about was Laura Bridgeman.
Grace told us what Althea Bridgeman had told Toppy about her daughter. Laura is as excited to be going to university in Toronto as Hub. She has been sketching and painting all summer. I admit she has talent, but Hub didn't have to rave about it so much when Grace brought up the subject.
I tried to hide my joy when Grace said that Mr. Bridgeman still didn't want Laura spending time with Hub even if they were both going to be in the same city. Hub made me even happier when he admitted that Mr. Bridgeman had nothing to worry about even if he weren't studying to become a priest. Even a year ago, he would have felt that maybe something could happen between him and Laura if only they could spend time together. Now, he's happy that she will be around, but all he feels for her is friendship.
Grace Mainwaring to Vanaver Mainwaring Aug. 27, 1938
… Watching people fall for the wrong people and suffer for it is fun if you happen to be nibbling on a box of popcorn while seated in a middle row at the Regent. Seeing it happen in real life to someone you care about is painful. Hub didn't mean Maisie any harm. He only asked her to dance to cheer her up when he heard that she wasn't going to the End of Summer Dance either.
They did have fun cutting a rug to "King Porter Stomp," even though Mother's parlor was a little cramped for jitterbugging. The trouble started when Hub asked Maisie to choose the next record. Her selection was Billie Holliday's new song, "When a Woman Loves a Man," the most heart wrenching torch song ever composed performed by the finest torch singer alive.
"Tell her she's a fool/She'll say yes, I know/But I love him so/And that's how it goes/When a woman loves a man."
I don't know how Hub could have failed to read the unconcealed yearning in Maisie's eyes as they danced, but he did somehow. He even missed the hurt that replaced it when she thanked him for the dance and he replied, "what are friends for?"
I love my nephew, but at that moment I could have brained him with a fire iron for being so oblivious.
In two weeks: A season of diminishment. Mike fright and money troubles. Grace's solutions. Grace's fears.