Silver Wings Page 3

  She saw a group of women standing on the corner by the hotel and wandered close to them. Surreptitiously she took in what she assumed were her classmates. She counted around twenty women all dressed in their best clothes, their hair perfectly pinned, their makeup carefully applied. It was as if they were auditioning for a beauty pageant rather than joining the WASP, Lily mused then inwardly laughed as she thought about the care and attention she had given to her own appearance that morning. She hung back from joining the chatter, preferring instead to observe, when she noticed a tall red-haired woman turn and put her hand up to her eyes to shield her vision.

  “What the hell?” the woman exclaimed.

  The rest of the gathering turned to where she was looking and watched as what looked suspiciously like a cattle truck pulled up outside the hotel.

  The door opened and out jumped a woman dressed in beige pants and a white shirt; rolled up sleeves revealed deep tanned forearms. Stepping towards the group, she removed the aviator sunglasses she was wearing and looked around the women standing nervously outside the hotel. Twirling her glasses in her hand, she gave them a reassuring smile.

  “Good morning class 44-1. I'm Emily Foster your Establishment Officer. Let's get you to your new home.”

  She walked round to the rear of the truck and waited for the women to follow. She smirked as they struggled in their heels to get themselves and their belongings into what was a converted cattle truck and shook her head knowingly; their grooming regime and fashion tastes would change dramatically over the next couple of days.

  “All in and comfortable?” Foster asked, before slipping her sunglasses back on and slamming shut the tailgate of the truck without waiting for a reply.

  The nervous chatter that had been building outside the hotel momentarily stopped as the women started to comprehend what they had signed up to. Sitting in their dresses and suits on the hard wooden bench that lined the interior of the dusty truck, they bumped around on the uneven road surface trying not to breathe the potentially intoxicating exhaust fumes.

  ***

  Helen stretched languidly across the bed, popping joints and extending muscles tired from the days spent travelling east from California to Texas on her motorcycle, as well as the unexpected end to her evening.

  It had been late when she arrived in Sweetwater and she had only stepped into the local USO as the Blue Bonnet Hotel, where she had a room for the night, had stopped serving food. The last thing she expected was to see a familiar face in the sea of uniformed men and women. However, it had been a pleasant surprise after a long few days when Peggy had approached her fresh from the dance floor, a wide grin on her face and her blonde bangs plastered to her forehead with perspiration.

  “Hell’s Bells! Aren’t you a sight for sore eyes?” Peggy had said, pulling her into a tight embrace. “Have you joined the WASP?” she asked, holding Helen at arm’s length and inspecting her.

  “I have indeed; I didn’t know you’d joined up,” Helen replied while wracking her brain to think when she had seen Peggy last. Theirs was more a casual acquaintance than deep friendship, often seeing each other at the clubs in LA; she hadn’t even realized that Peggy had her pilot’s license. Had Helen known that they had more in common than their mutual preference for women she may have made more of an effort to get to know her better. “I’m not sure I even knew you flew,” Helen added as an afterthought.

  “I’m a woman of mystery,” Peggy replied waggling her eyebrows. “Got my license in college but hadn’t flown much since,” she admitted with a rueful grin. “But hey, I’m flying plenty now. I’m two months in and loving it all. Well, apart from the early mornings and PT. You want to grab a drink and catch up?” she pulled Helen towards an empty table and motioned for the waitress.

  After receiving their drinks, Peggy observed Helen over the top of her glass. “I heard what happened with your father, I’m sorry…”

  Helen interrupted her with a wave of her hand, “So how has your training been so far?”

  Peggy let her off the hook and allowed the change the subject, “It’s been good but I hope that you’re ready for a vow of chastity here ‘cause it’s slim pickings.”

  They caught up on the gossip about mutual friends and danced together, taking advantage of the fact that no one batted an eyelid at the two women lindy hopping together. It was only when they took a break in their dancing that Helen noticed Peggy looking down at her lasciviously; her blue eyes were practically undressing Helen where she stood. Looking around quickly to make sure that no one else saw the look, Helen whispered towards her friend, “What are you doing?”

  “It’s been two months Hell’s Bells! I’m ready to climb the walls. I am surrounded, literally surrounded, by women but I can’t touch. Please!” Peggy whined, her full lips pulled into a sumptuous pout.

  Seeing the look of hesitancy on Helen’s face Peggy tried another angle, “Think of it as doing your duty for your country. I’m not asking you to marry me. I just need you to scratch an itch.” She leaned in towards Helen and breathed sensuously in her ear, “I promise that I will worship every inch of that gorgeous body of yours and return it to you when I’m done, almost unscathed.” She leaned in closer and whispered breathily, “Well almost unscathed.”

  Feeling an itch of her own and with Peggy’s celibacy warning ringing in her ears, Helen grabbed Peggy’s hand and pulled her from the USO towards the hotel.

  ***

  Helen rolled across the now empty bed, smiling as she thought about the previous night. She had been grateful that the old woman who had checked her into her room, although paranoid about men being brought back, did not flinch as the two giggling women had returned and had taken the stairs two at a time in their haste to get to Helen’s room.

  Exhaling a deep, satisfied, sigh Helen lifted her head to check the time. Her eyes widened in horror as she realized that, thanks to Peggy’s visit, she had forgotten to set her alarm to get up and she was in danger of being late for her arrival time at the WASP training base. Leaping from the bed before running around her room throwing things into her bag, she stopped suddenly when she caught sight of herself in the mirror. Her lips were swollen and her hair was sticking up in a thousand different directions thanks to Peggy running her hands through it. She rolled her eyes and forgetting her packing for the moment, switched her attention to disguising the fact that she had spent the evening being ravished by a tall enthusiastic blonde-haired woman.

  “Well, this is going to be interesting,” she said to her reflection, unable to stop the large grin on her face, her dimples appearing deep into her cheeks, and her blue eyes sparkling with merriment.

  ***

  Lily, thanks to her hesitancy, had been the last to enter the truck so had managed to snag the prime position beside the tailgate, which meant that although already caked in dust, she had managed to get some fresh air in between belches of black smoke from the exhaust. She looked back into the gloomy interior of the truck and quickly scanned the faces of those women not standing to hang their heads out of the small glassless windows in an attempt to stave off the oppressive heat within the truck. She felt a pang of disappointment at not seeing the blonde-haired woman who had followed her into the interview room. She was wondering how she had been accepted and someone like that confident woman had not succeeded when her thoughts were disturbed by the roar of an engine loud enough that it managed to drown out the dull throb of the truck’s engine. She turned with the other women to look out the open back of the truck.

  Gaining on them, in a thunderous roar, was a red motorcycle. As it blazed past them, Lily just managed to get a glimpse of blonde curls dancing in the wind.

  “Oh my giddy aunt, woooooweeee!” a small brunette woman shouted as the motorcycle overtook them. “Did you see that?” she asked in a honeyed southern accent as she brought her head back into the truck and looked around the other woman. “She was going like a bat out of hell with a rattlesnake up her ass!”

  Ther
e was an explosion of laughter at the brunette's colorful description.

  As the truck finally turned off the road, all the women stood up to look out of the windows. The sense of excitement started to return as they caught sight of airplanes stretched out almost as far as the eye could see; the silver metal catching the morning sun blinded them momentarily. For a brief moment, Lily considered hanging out of the back of the truck to take in the sight, but opted for a more decorous position and turned to the small window for a better view of the planes. She gripped the metal frame of the window, resting her chin on her knuckles as she gasped at the rows of shining planes. The red-haired woman, who had caught Lily's attention outside the hotel, was standing next to her. She nudged Lily and smiled.

  “Aren't they beautiful?” she remarked as the truck continued into the base.

  Lily smiled in response and took a deep breath, the smell around the base instantly transporting her back to Miami.

  “Can you smell it?” she asked as she turned to the redhead their eyes sparkled with exhilaration.

  “The smell of the planes?” the woman asked a broad grin on her face. “Yeah, I can smell it.”

  She nudged Lily's shoulder with her own and both turned their attention back to the sight of the planes. They could hear the sound of engines above them. Every woman hunched down to better her view before looking towards the sky in the hope of seeing the source of the glorious noise. The truck pulled up and Lily stood at the rear. Holding onto the edge as she hung her upper body out, her free hand shielded her eyes as she searched the sky for planes.

  Foster rounded the truck and laughed seeing the new cadets' eagerness as they scanned the sky. Prodding each other in excitement and babbling animatedly their arms pointed enthusiastically out of the truck at sights around the base.

  She loosened off the catch and opened the tailgate allowing it to fall down with a bang that stopped any chatter or movement. The cadets froze looking towards where the blonde woman stood visible though only from the hips up.

  “Okay. Everybody out and line-up,” she barked.

  Lily crouched down and put her hand behind her to steady herself before jumping down, the dust puffed up around her feet as she landed ruining her keenly polished patent leather shoes. She turned and collected her belongings. Placing them beside the wheel of the truck, she made sure her violin was stowed safely before turning and holding a hand up to help the next woman down. The red-haired woman smiled gratefully putting her hand in Lily's as she slipped down from the truck landing as gracefully as her high heels would allow. Lily remained helping others down before collecting her suitcase and violin and falling into line.

  Foster held a clipboard at her side as she surveyed the rag tag line of women in front of her, “Welcome to Avenger Field. For the next twenty three weeks this is your world, your time will be spent either in ground school, in the air on the exercise field or in bed and believe me you're gonna want your beds,” she smiled at the few nervous laughs. “You will be allocated six to a bay, reveille is at zero six hundred hours, curfew is twenty one hundred, and Taps will sound at twenty two hundred hours. Although you are civilians, we train like the military.”

  Foster caught sight in her peripheral vision of a blonde woman in slacks and a soft brown leather jacket joining the end of the line-up.

  “You will be on time!” she said pointedly. “We march everywhere. Your bunks will be inspected at weekends. You will be provided with clothing for flying. Hanging in your bay lockers are your zoot suits, you will wear these for training, they come in three sizes big, bigger and way too big. You'll have to make do. When not in your zoot suits, well, we don't have a uniform as yet, but our informal dress is what you see me wearing. You can buy this down at the general store in Sweetwater, we will take you there tomorrow to get you kitted out.” She brought the clipboard up and rested it on her hip, “Let's get you into your bays and we will continue with your orientation, you will have one hour to sort yourself out then you will report in your zoots for a medical with the nurse and a tour of the base. When I call your name, step forward.”

  She pushed her sunglasses onto the top of her head and squinted at the white paper on the clipboard, “Barthelmess, Bisset, Brickford, Call, Carter and Clark…you're in Bay One Section Ttwo.”

  The six women stepped forward looking at each other and shared nervous smiles.

  “Stand over there,” Foster pointed and the women gathered together.

  “Daly, Edmunds, Eggleston, Fisher, Gee and Hill. Bay Two Section Two. Stand there.”

  The women repeated the actions of their classmates and stood where told.

  “Jenkins, Jones, Keene, Littleton, Mackie and Marnoch. Bay Three Section Two. Over there.”

  Foster didn't even bother to look up this time but continued with her roll call.

  “Richards, Richmond, Rivera, Rosecroft, Simpson and Stott, Bay Four Section Two.”

  Lily joined the small group eyeing up each other nervously; to her right was the tall red-haired woman she had been sitting next to on the truck and two blonde women that had not been with them on the ride from the hotel. She turned her head and peeked to her left where the small brunette woman who had yelled on the truck stood grinning and beyond her were the blonde curls that had shot passed them earlier at an alarming speed; curls that were shorter than when she had first seen them after her interview.

  They followed Foster as she walked them towards the barracks, pointing out the relevant bays as they walked. The numbers dropped as each bay unit peeled off to their new abode until finally it was only Lily and her bay mates left, “Home sweet home girls!”

  Foster grinned as she held out her arm towards the small hut.

  Chapter Three

  The six women entered the whitewashed barracks and stood surveying their surroundings, sound in the knowledge that their exact movements were no doubt being mirrored elsewhere in the other bays. They looked at the six Army issue cots, each with a tall locker beside them and a chair plus three desks lined up against the wall. Helen wandered into the bay opening a door at the rear. “There's one john, a bath and a shower in here,” she called over her shoulder.

  “Is that it?” the tall redhead frowned. “The mirror isn't even full length!” she remarked looking at the small mirror on the wall.

  “I have a feeling that we're not gonna care about the mirror,” the small brunette remarked as she held up one of the zoot suits. The garment drowned her tiny frame and her ironic remark received a loud laugh from each woman in response.

  Lily put her suitcase and violin down.

  “Should we introduce ourselves?” one of the women asked, pausing before going on to do exactly that. “My name is Marjorie Richards, Portland Oregon,” she announced placing her suitcase down onto one of the beds to claim it.

  “Lucy Simpson, I'm Marjorie's sister so I'm also from Portland,” Lucy smiled nervously.

  “Adrienne Rosecroft,” the tall redhead smiled as she sat down onto one of the beds and bounced once to check the comfort. “Boston.”

  “Adele Stott,” said the small brunette, hanging the zoot suit back up. “Tennessee.”

  Helen grinned, “Helen Richmond, latterly of California.” She raised her eyebrows looking towards Lily waiting for the woman she had seen on the day of her interview to introduce herself.

  “Lily Mc..Rivera,” Lily corrected herself. “Lily Rivera, Florida originally, New York recently.”

  “So now we know who we are, we should get ourselves dressed in these rather fetching overalls and get ready to fly,” Adrienne smiled as she stood up and took the zoot suit out of the locker beside her.

  Lily turned and placed her bags onto the cot behind her, she gave Helen a small smile as the blonde did the same onto the bed beside her. Lily let a long breath leave her body as she unpacked her case into what storage space she had. She was here, she was a WASP, and soon she would fly.

  ***

  Helen pulled on her zoot suit, she smiled a
s she watched from the corner of her eye as the other women undressed and got ready, each trying to protect their modesty as they dressed. Had she been a betting woman she'd lay money on the fact that in a couple of days time they would probably be wandering around naked and not give two hoots who saw what. She sat on her cot, pushed up her sleeves over her elbows and leaned down to roll the legs of the overalls, which were currently covering her feet, up to a suitable length.

  “What the hell do we wear on our feet?”

  Helen raised her head towards Adrienne who was standing in her overalls, looking down at her bare feet waggling her toes, the nails of which were painted a bright shade of red.

  Lily looked up as she pulled the zip on her suit up and reached around to grab the belt to pull it in at the waist in an attempt to make the men’s overalls more sympathetic to her womanly curves. “Wear whatever you're comfortable walking in I guess,” she responded, straining her neck, as she twisted unable to snag one-half of the belt.

  Helen stood up and knelt on Lily's cot, “Here, let me.”

  She reached around Lily's waist and grabbed the illusive piece of cloth pulling it back and handing it to Lily.

  “Thanks.”

  Lily gave her a quick smile as she tied the belt into a tight knot. Helen looked up from her position on Lily's bed finding herself drawn again towards those dark eyes that she'd first seen on the day of her interview and that had calmed her last minute jitters.

  “You're welcome,” she smiled, dimples appeared deep into her cheeks, and she edged her way backwards off Lily's bed before reaching down to smooth the two crevices in the blankets that her knees had created.

  Standing up straight, she shook her arms to allow the fabric to drop back down over her hands.

  “Could you?” she asked hopefully towards Lily, holding her arms up, her hands completely obscured by the fabric flailing loosely over them.

  Lily laughed at the woman waving her arms, the material flapping around her head. She stepped around her bed to stand in front of Helen, took one arm down, and started to roll the material up until she could see the blonde woman's hands. She repeated the action with Helen's other arm. This time, however, she completed the task slowly, not wanting to end the contact.