Kitty's War

by Barbara Whitaker

  She descended the bus’s stairs, her eyes on her brother, so strong and independent. A real soldier. He’d understood all along. Their time together would be limited.

  She felt so childish. But she wouldn’t be anymore. She’d be strong, too. And she’d enjoy the time they did have.

  The trio toured the Tower of London where Ted entertained them with stories of Henry the Eighth’s wives and the young boys King Richard held prisoner there. Afterward, the three strolled across the Tower Bridge and watched the boats on the Thames. For a quick lunch they ate fish ’n’ chips on the street, then they descended into the underground and rode the subway to Hyde Park.

  From their comments, Kitty realized that both Ted and Milton had been in London before. Milton knew about all the available entertainment while Ted pointed out every bar and dance hall. Ted’s stories usually included some mention of his friends. A hint of sadness skittered across his face every time, quickly followed by a forced smile.

  To Kitty, London was new and exciting. The famous places with their historical references were no longer words in books. They came to life with Ted’s colorful narrative.

  Along the way lots of American military personnel crowded the streets, many viewing the sights, too. No one noticed Ted’s uniform, not even the MPs who patrolled the more crowded areas.

  In Hyde Park they strolled along the main walkway. Kitty suggested they find a quiet spot where they could sit and rest. She longed to talk to her brother about small things, anything and everything, like they had talked when growing up.

  A boisterous bunch of GIs blocked the path just ahead. The group, including some English girls, appeared to have been drinking.

  “Let’s see if we can get around them,” Milton suggested. He surveyed their options and then steered Kitty toward the grass. Their detour almost succeeded until one of the GIs called to Milton.

  “Hey, Greenie. Is that you?”

  “Who’s the pretty girl?” another asked.

  Milton waved. “Hey, fellows.” Then he said quietly to Ted and Kitty, “Those two are from my company. We’ll have to talk to them.”

  Kitty tensed, certain Ted would be found out. She glanced at him. He smiled calmly as if nothing were amiss. She hoped he could pull it off, but she doubted it.

  The two soldiers eased away from the larger group. Milton confidently took charge and introduced them.

  “Joe Thornton, Phil Ciccero, this is my sister, Katherine. And this is Ted Kruger.”

  Kitty smiled nervously. “Just call me Kitty.” She tried to keep her voice friendly and sweet. “Everybody does.”

  Ted reached out and shook their hands. “Nice to meet you.”

  Joe eyed Ted. “I don’t think I’ve seen you around. What company are you in?”

  “He’s been on special assignment, at Division headquarters,” Milton explained.

  “Hobnobbing with the brass, eh?”

  “Yeah, something like that,” Ted replied.

  Kitty watched the two. Joe looked suspicious.

  “I’m pretty good with faces. I don’t remember seeing you in training or around the base.”

  Ted looked the man in the eye and didn’t flinch. “I’ve been working with the intelligence boys. Top secret stuff. Can’t really talk about it.”

  Joe nodded.

  Kitty didn’t know if the soldier believed Ted, but he backed off. When the two GIs returned to the group and moved along, Kitty let out a sigh.

  “You handled that pretty well,” Milton commented.

  “I’ve told my share”—he looked around at Kitty—“to stay out of trouble, of course. Strictly in self-defense.”

  “You wouldn’t have to if you didn’t put yourself in these positions.” Kitty knew she sounded high and mighty, but she didn’t care. He could get into a lot of trouble.

  “This from the girl who’s engaged to her brother.”

  “What?”

  “Okay you two. Enough. Let’s find a place we can sit and relax.”

  They spotted a bench set away from the main walkway that faced a small pond.

  Kitty sat, glad to be off her feet. Milton joined her while Ted walked to the water’s edge as if he were inspecting the property.

  She watched him. His tall, lean silhouette against the idyllic setting somehow brought to mind thoughts of that day and another idyllic setting—a beach and the same mysterious man. A man who fate had brought back into her life in such a strange way.

  He wasn’t the fantasy of a lonely girl. Just an ordinary soldier out to have a good time.

  Her best friend was in love with him, she reminded herself. And that meant she had to keep her distance, at least until Madge was ready to move on.

  She turned her attention to the reason for her trip to London, her brother. “Do you get many letters from home?”

  ****

  Milton smiled. “Mother writes. I think she forces herself to do it. She tells me what everybody is doing, especially Olivia. Sounds like our little sister’s the most popular girl in Kerrville.”

  “Yeah, that’s our little sister.” Kitty couldn’t contain her sarcasm, and she didn’t care. “Mother’s pride and joy. I’m glad someone can make her proud. Lord knows I never could.”

  Her brother chose to ignore her remark and continued.

  “Mom says Uncle Jim is in Detroit building tanks. Rented out his farm and headed north to make some money and pay off the mortgage. Can’t say as I blame him.”

  “Yeah, I know. Aunt Louise and the girls are staying with Grandmother until he can find a place for them to live up there. She’ll probably get a defense job, too.”

  He looked thoughtful. “Got a postcard from Andy. Kid’s growing up fast. Says Pop’s got him working when he’s not in school. Maybe he’ll take to the business more than I did.”

  “You just wanted to get away from home for a while, see the world,” she reassured him. “When you get back, Pop’ll want you right by his side. Just like he always said.”

  “Yeah, I guess so. And by the time I get back maybe I’ll be ready to settle down. I still want to play baseball, though. If I can make the team.” His face grew somber. He leaned forward resting his elbows on his knees and looked at his clasped hands. “This war, it wears you down, makes you think about things.”

  She reached over and placed her hand over his. “Will it ever be over?”

  Ted sat on the grass between the bench and the pond, staring out across the water. “It’ll be over when we beat them. When we pound them into dust.” Bitterness laced his words.

  Kitty’s attention shifted to Ted. His eyes had narrowed, and a muscle in his tense jaw flexed as if he were grinding his teeth. At that moment she saw something in him she’d never seen before. A strange, smoldering anger, hatred even. She looked back at Milton, afraid she would see the same thing in her brother’s eyes. Instead she saw concern, for her.

  “Katherine, you know there is an invasion coming.”

  She nodded. “Sure, everybody knows that.”

  “We don’t know when it’s going to be, but one of these days we’re going to have to invade Europe.”

  “By then we will have bombed them into oblivion,” Ted interjected.

  Milton straightened. “You fly boys can drop all the bombs you want. In the end it’s the infantry that has to go in and take it.”

  “What are you trying to say?” Kitty asked, her insides tightened.

  He drew a deep breath and leaned back so he could look at her when he spoke. “We’ve been here in England training for a while now. They pulled us out of Italy. They won’t tell us anything, but we all know that we’ll be the ones landing in Europe. Don’t know where, don’t know when, but the First Division will lead the way.”

  Kitty could taste the fear as her mouth filled with sour saliva. She swallowed hard. Her stomach clinched. “And you’ll be in danger.” She barely breathed the words.

  Milton nodded, his breath blowing out through his mouth as if relieved
to finally speak the truth. “Yes.” The word was emphatic, a confirmation of her worst fears. “That’s our job, my job.” He glanced over at Ted. “Like he says, we have to beat them. We have no choice.”

  Kitty wanted to cry, but she knew it was the wrong time for tears. She had to be strong for Milton. “With men like you, and you Ted, we can’t lose.”

  Ted stretched out on the grass and put his hands behind his head. “You know. I almost wish I could just leave this uniform on and go with you.”

  “No. You’ve got your own job to do.”

  Ted looked around at Milton. “If they let me. Right now I’m useless.”

  “It’ll work out. You’ve done nothing wrong,” Kitty assured him. She had never been able to imagine him consorting with the enemy, no matter what they said.

  “Yeah, sure. Easy for you to say, Miss Follow-the-Rules. I’ve been busted after being set up before. It’s no fun.”

  Kitty ignored the jibe and thought of the story about the airplane ride that got him kicked out of pilot training. His crack told her there was more to the story and gave her a hint into what that mistake had cost him.

  They all sat in silence for a few minutes. Kitty searched her mind for some cheerful topic. But it was Milton who spoke up first.

  “Mother wrote that Suzanne had moved back home.” Milton had always been concerned about Suzanne’s marriage.

  “Yes. Sam joined the Coast Guard so she and the children moved back to Kerrville.”

  “He didn’t have to enlist. With a family and the work he was doing, he could’ve sat this thing out.”

  She detected something almost resentful in the way Milton spoke of his brother-in-law.

  “Maybe he wanted to help win the war, like me.”

  Milton’s face softened into a smile. “No. He’s nothing like you.” He glanced past her at Ted. “Does he know?” he asked in a whisper.

  Kitty shook her head, a little embarrassed that he would mention her secret. “No. Only you. And Father, of course.”

  He grinned, embarrassing her more.

  “You won’t tell him?” Her hushed words sounded desperate even to her.

  “No. You’re here, and you’ll be twenty-one soon. Why should I spoil it for you?”

  “I don’t think he’d tell, but I can’t take the chance.”

  Milton slipped his arm around her and hugged her. “They won’t send you home,” he whispered in her ear.

  “Big family secrets?” Ted pushed himself up to a sitting position and watched them.

  “Little ones,” Milton admitted, releasing his hold on her.

  “You were listening?” Kitty asked.

  “Couldn’t help it. I’m right here. I can hear everything you say, except for the whispering.” His stare bore into Kitty. Something told her he had heard more than he admitted.

  “That’s okay,” Milton assured him. “It’s just family stuff. I’m sure you’ve heard the same type things in your family.”

  Ted looked away, frowning. “No. I haven’t. I wish I had.”

  Kitty wondered what planet he had come from. She couldn’t imagine a family without secrets and disagreements and all that messy stuff.

  “What do you mean?” Milton asked.

  “I mean that I don’t really have any family. No brothers, no sisters, no aunts, no uncles, no cousins. No one except my mother, who doesn’t fit anyone’s idea of a mother. And my grandparents, who came from Germany.” He got to his feet and brushed off the seat of his pants. “So no, I don’t know about all this family business.” He waved his hand for emphasis. “I wish I did.”

  Kitty pitied him. She couldn’t imagine having no family. Or next to none. Ted must have seen it in her face.

  “I don’t want your pity,” he insisted. “I just think you should be thankful for the family you have. They’re obviously well to do, businesses and all that. And they care about you in their way. I’m sure they worry about you, both of you. They wouldn’t want anything to happen to either of you.”

  Kitty’s mouth hung open. Unable to think of anything to say in reply, she clamped it shut as she watched him walk back and forth on the grass.

  “And they write you, don’t they?” He stopped and looked at both of them. “Every couple of months, I get a letter from my grandfather. It’s mostly in German because he struggles with writing in English. My grandmother reads only German. And if I got a postcard from my mother, I’d probably faint dead away. So just be glad you have someone who’s thinking about you.”

  “You’re right. And I am grateful for them, all of them,” Milton said.

  “Me, too.” Kitty’s throat tightened, and tears threatened again.

  Ted stood there a minute looking from Kitty to Milton and back.

  “I’m sorry,” he blurted out. “I shouldn’t have said that. I don’t know what I was thinking.”

  “It’s okay.”

  “No. Forget it. Forget I said anything.” He ran his hand through his hair. “I don’t ever do that.”

  “Do what?” Kitty asked.

  “Talk about my family.”

  “Maybe you should,” Milton said.

  Milton’s voice conveyed understanding. Kitty was proud to have a brother who could listen and understand another person’s pain. He’d always done that for her.

  She gave Milton a hug, then beckoned Ted to come closer, so she could hug him, too. She was connected to both these men, and she wanted them both to be safe.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Before dinner Ted returned to Milton’s quarters and changed back into his uniform. He’d had enough of masquerading as someone he wasn’t. He had to face reality.

  When he rejoined Milton and Kitty on the street, he lied and told them he had plans for dinner. He politely thanked them for an enjoyable day, then he promptly left, not giving them a chance to ask questions.

  He was running away. He knew it. But he had to get away from them. The enormous gap between who they were and who he was had become so clear, at least to him, that he couldn’t stand being with them any longer.

  He ducked into a subway entrance and boarded the first train he saw. He didn’t care where he went just so it was away from Kitty and Milton.

  But jostling along in his own private world, he couldn’t get Kitty out of his mind. She had come alive in her brother’s company. Smiling, relaxed, happy. She’d even laughed at his jokes. So unlike the serious girl who cast him a disapproving eye in the middle of his entertaining routine.

  Madge told him Kitty was afraid of men, afraid to get involved. But the girl he’d spent the day with had been friendly, congenial, even witty at times. She knew her history and referred to literature with a familiarity and fondness that made him want to search out Shakespeare and Chaucer. He’d read what was required in high school English but found most of it dull and irrelevant. She made them sound interesting, made him want to know more just so he could discuss them with her.

  He shook off such thoughts about Kitty. He needed to stick with his own kind. He should stick with Madge. She was more his type. But when he thought of Madge, she seemed dull and superficial. All flash with no substance.

  Wasn’t that what he liked? Flashy, pretty, well-built dames. Women who made him the envy of all the other men. Women who looked good on his arm, who knew how to dance and make out. Women who knew how to show a guy a good time.

  So why, after spending the day with a wholesome, all-American girl from a good family, did the others seem so boring, so dull, so insincere?

  The train came to a halt, and the conductor announced the end of the line. Ted exited, not knowing where he was.

  Above ground the world appeared surreal, filled with tumbled stone and bricks barely visible in the eerie twilight. An occasional wall stood silhouetted against the sky. Blackened timbers stuck up through the rubble and mangled iron rods projected from crumbled concrete. The short patch of street ahead ended abruptly in a pile of stone. No street signs identified the location.
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  He turned and watched the three people who had emerged from the underground with him hurrying off along a path toward a row of buildings standing precariously amidst the destruction.

  His first instinct was to run after them. Ask them where he was and how to get back, to where? To civilization. To London.

  But this was London. This is what the German bombers had done to the city.

  How many had been killed? How many had been left homeless, with nothing left of their lives?

  Was this what their bombers were doing to German cities? So much destruction had been wrought to satisfy Hitler’s desire to rule the world. How many lives would be lost to stop the monster?

  He thought of Milton and the coming invasion. Would he survive? What would Kitty do if he were killed? Would it destroy her?

  Seeing them together he saw a kind of love he had never experienced. The love between a brother and a sister. He knew enough to know all siblings were not as close as Kitty and Milton. Yet it was the type of bond he had yearned for growing up. He had wanted a brother. Someone to be with, play with, cry with. He’d have settled for a sister. He just wanted someone to share his life, someone who understood, someone to keep him from feeling so alone.

  He drew a deep breath and shoved the old feelings deep inside. He had to deal with now. He wasn’t going to try to walk back. Not the best plan, especially in the dark. So he returned to the subway and descended into the depths of the underground chamber.

  Surely another train would come. No schedule was posted. He just had to wait. So he slumped down onto a bench under the dim light of a single lamp. The shaft of light from the stairway gradually faded into complete darkness.

  He chided himself for not eating. He could have had dinner with Kitty and Milton. He could be sitting right now talking and laughing in some restaurant. It would have been fun. Just watching Kitty with her brother would have been a most pleasant way to pass an evening, even if he could not talk to her himself.

  He imagined watching them, as if through a window. He couldn’t hear their conversation. He could just watch their faces, her face, alive, happy.