The Lieutenant's Nurse

by Sara Ackerman

  “Billy sent me, ma’am, my name is Dan Underwood.” Dan looked at the slice on her cheek but was polite enough not to ask.

  She let out a big sigh. “Please, call me Eva. Where is Billy?”

  “Something came up at work, he said to tell you he will pick you up for dinner this evening in Waikiki.”

  Half disappointed, half relieved, she welcomed a little more time to pull herself together. Clark’s Ivory soap smell was still stuck in her nose. The kiss imprinted on her heart. Here she had been aching to see Billy for the past seven months and now everything had been turned upside down.

  She spun around, trying to catch sight of Clark as Dan led her off. All she saw was a tangle of people covered in flower lei and shirtless lads mingling through the crowd.

  “So how was the trip?” he asked.

  “Just lovely,” Eva said.

  “Imagine you’re happy to be on solid ground again.”

  She smiled. “I fared quite well actually.”

  Eva wanted nothing more than to turn and run back to the ship. Just a few more days on the Lurline was all she needed.

  It seemed like the whole island had taken off of work to witness the ship’s arrival. Either that, or no one worked on a Wednesday afternoon. They passed an open market with hanging roosters and pigs, then drove toward a tower with an enormous pineapple atop of it.

  “What on earth is that?” she asked.

  “A water tower for Dole cannery. Sharp, isn’t it?”

  Under such glaring blue skies, with flowers spilling off every bush, she wondered how anyone ever got anything done here. It would be like living in a perpetual postcard.

  The nurses’ quarters were several blocks away from Tripler General. The buildings here all had more windows than a Southern plantation house. Tripler was no different. It looked like a place you would sit on the big veranda and sip tea while watching a game of croquet. Palm trees lined the street.

  The house matron, a silver-haired woman named Myrtle Milton, showed her to her room. “You’re going to love it here,” she said as she huffed and puffed up the dusty stairs. “The quarters are nothing fancy, but you won’t be indoors much. Either you’ll be working or out exploring the island.”

  “Do you know who I’ll be rooming with?” Eva asked.

  “This is Grace’s room.”

  “Grace?”

  “Grace Lane. She’s a doll.”

  A voice behind them said, “Are you my new roommate?”

  Eva turned to see a nurse dressed in a crisp white uniform walking down the hallway toward them, cute as a pixie with short blond hair and a wide smile.

  “I’m Evelyn—call me Eva.”

  There she went again, forgetting her own name.

  “Welcome, Eva. And look at your cheek! What happened to you?”

  Eva steadied herself against the wall. “Say, I’m feeling a little peaked from the heat, would you mind grabbing me a glass of water?” she said to Myrtle.

  The events of the past months and the buildup of coming to Hawaii and meeting Clark and falling for him and now, finally being here, it was all too much.

  “Come inside and sit,” Grace ordered.

  Myrtle returned and handed her a glass of water, then left the two to get acquainted.

  The room was barely twelve paces across, but it smelled like sun and tangy vanilla blossoms, if there were such a thing. A screen door opened to a tiny porch with an overhanging tree and twittering birds.

  Grace pointed to one of the twin beds. “This is yours. Have a rest.”

  Eva all but fell onto the mattress.

  “A rough crossing?” Grace asked.

  “For some. I managed to dodge the seasickness only to barely survive a deadly match of tennis.”

  The sweetest smile crossed Grace’s face. “I am hopeless at tennis, too. I think you and I are going to get along just fine. Where have you traveled from?”

  “A small town in Michigan. No place anyone has ever heard of.”

  Grace sat down on her own bed. “I’m from Seattle, and I can hardly tell you where Michigan even is,” Grace said, cheerfully. “Say, are you married?”

  “I thought we couldn’t be married,” Eva said.

  “Oh, we can’t be, but I know a few gals who secretly are. Not me, though. I’m single and looking.”

  Eva laughed. “I’m sure there is no shortage of men here.”

  “Yes and no. Most of them visit the brothels in their time off. I want quality.”

  “Quality is good. Hold out for that.”

  “How about you? Do you have someone special?”

  “I do have someone. He’s actually stationed here and I haven’t seen him in half a year.”

  Grace looked confused. “Well, why isn’t he here right now?”

  “I guess he had to work.”

  “You’d have thought he could get out of it on a day like today.”

  One would have hoped.

  * * *

  After unpacking and getting acquainted—they were both bookworms, both at the top of their classes and both small enough that they could share clothes—Grace led Eva to the hospital. “You’ll be starting tomorrow, but may as well see the place so you know where to go in the morning. I will say this, you really lucked out in getting sent here. We do work, honestly we do, but it’s also a bit like being on vacation. Even the doctors. They spend more time playing golf than they do seeing patients.”

  That could change sooner than you think, Eva wanted to say. Going on as though everything was normal was going to prove challenging. Hopefully Clark would get the information into the correct hands and measures would be taken. But so far, no one around here seemed the least bit concerned.

  “Anyone I need to watch out for?” Eva asked.

  “Everyone is pretty easygoing. But you may want to steer clear of Dr. Newcastle.”

  “Why is that?”

  Grace reached up and picked a pink flower from a tree and handed it to Eva. “He thinks he owns the place.”

  Eva sighed. “There’s always one.”

  THE DUNGEON

  Clark and Wilson went directly to Naval Intelligence. They arrived in the administration building above the Dungeon with their shirts plastered to their backs despite the breeze. They had cabbed it with a speeding Chinese man who, instead of braking, screamed for people to get out of his way. Lieutenant Commander Lawson was out, but his second in command, a man by the name of Lieutenant Irving, invited them into his office. Clark had never met Irving, but he’d seen him around.

  “Sir, we have urgent information to get to Lieutenant Commander Lawson,” Clark said.

  “He’s off at He’eia. I can probably help you,” Irving said.

  Clark knew that his boss, Ford, regularly met with Lawson, but Ford had never mentioned Irving being included.

  “It’s sensitive.”

  Irving folded his arms and leaned back in his chair. “Lawson won’t be back until tomorrow. Can it wait that long?”

  “No.”

  “I have top clearance. Fire away.”

  Clark slid the report in front of him. “We just came in on the Lurline. Hank Wilson here is the radio officer aboard. A few nights ago, he picked up Japanese coded signals, and those signals continued for the past two nights. They were repeat-backs to ships.”

  Irving hadn’t made the connection. “And?”

  “And the ships are northwest of Hawaii, moving east,” Clark said.

  Just speaking the words out loud made his skin crawl.

  Irving frowned. “You’re mistaken.” It wasn’t a question.

  “Sir, at first we thought the same thing. I couldn’t tell you what the Japs were saying, but I do know they’re out there. Our DF is top-notch,” Wilson added.

  “Hank has been doing this fo
r thirty years, sir. And I know my way around a ship’s radio room,” Clark said.

  He sized up Irving, who was about the same age as him, a little shorter and half as thick. It was hard to pinpoint, but there was something about the guy he didn’t like. Maybe it was his smug expression, or his air of superiority. Weren’t they all on the same team?

  “So, you think there’s a Japanese fleet sailing our way and we wouldn’t know about it by now?” Irving said, lighting up a cigarette and looking at them as though they were incompetent.

  Clark began to wish he’d waited for Lawson. “Read the report.”

  After a few minutes of reading, Irving shut the folder. “This is a bold claim, for which I’m sure there is a reasonable explanation—probably fishing vessels—but you can be sure Lieutenant Commander Lawson will see this as soon as he returns. In the meantime, not a word of this to anyone. This is how dangerous rumors get started.”

  Ford would want to know.

  “Not even Ford,” Irving said coolly, as if reading his mind.

  Clark acknowledged with a tip of his head.

  “I mean it. National security.”

  Down in the Dungeon, when he walked into the wall of smoke, Clark felt like he’d returned home. He was the only one of the twenty-eight who didn’t smoke, but felt like the blend of cigarettes, pipe smoke and Cuban cigars added credence to the mystique of the place. No one aboveground knew what they did, though speculation ran rampant.

  Ford wasn’t at his desk, but Huckleberry, aka Lieutenant Tom Finn, looked up from his makeshift plot table and gave him a nod.

  “Look who the cat dragged in,” he said.

  “Hello to you, too,” Clark said.

  Tex, Ford’s right-hand man, was on the phone, gesticulating with his massive hands, and Hal Dunn stared intently at a sheet of paper spit out by the IBM, probably looking for patterns that no one else could see. Nothing had changed—except for Dunn’s beard. He now looked like a bona fide lumberjack. The guys in Washington would not be pleased. Which was exactly why he did it. A sign on his desk said YOU DON’T HAVE TO BE CRAZY TO WORK HERE, BUT IT HELPS!

  Clark walked to the north wall, where Captain Alvin Lassen was seated, reading a string of Japanese lines. Lassen used green eyeshades to block out the fluorescent lights, and if he noticed Clark, it didn’t show.

  Clark cleared his throat. “Hey, Captain, would you mind getting me up to speed?”

  Lassen looked up as if just noticing Clark. “Welcome back, Spencer. You really want to know?”

  He doubted much could be worse than what he and Wilson had discovered on the Lurline, though nothing in the newspaper he had read on the way over signified anything big. “Absolutely.”

  Clark had been briefed on the latest before leaving San Diego. But a lot could happen in five days.

  “First off, on December 1, the Japs changed their call signs,” Lassen said.

  “Again? But they just changed them.”

  Lassen nodded. “Every damn one of them. Which you know means they’re up to no good.”

  Too true. Wilson’s report would be shared soon enough, but Clark was itching to say something. “How about diplomatic talks?”

  “Done, over, up in smoke. Admiral Stark went so far as sending out a war warning memo, and just this morning Ford was told by Lawson that Tokyo has instructed all of its consulates to burn the codes.”

  “Jesus.”

  “Thing are heating up.”

  Wait until he heard about the report. “Where is Ford?” Clark asked, still undecided if he would tell his boss anything yet.

  “Checking on the guys at He’eia. They’ve been around the clock listening for the Winds message, but so far nothing.”

  “The Winds message?”

  Lassen took off the shades. “You really are out of it. The Brits intercepted a message that in case of an emergency, a warning will be added in the middle of some Japanese news broadcast saying ‘east wind, rain.’ That means war with us. ‘North wind, cloudy’ would mean war with Russia and ‘west wind, clear,’ Britain.”

  “Have any of the stations picked it up yet?” Clark asked.

  “No, but based on everything else, I think we’re looking at days, not weeks before they attack someplace. Probably the Philippines, but Tex and Mike are convinced those missing carriers are headed our way. In fact, Kimmel was flipping out in his meeting with Lawson that we can’t be sure of where they are.”

  “Any more on their movements? Have the guys at He’eia heard anything else unusual?” Clark asked.

  “There’s been a complete absence of calls, from the three carriers back in Japan home waters, which is unusual. Radio traffic is at a real low ebb.”

  Clark had heard enough. Here he was, with the knowledge neatly packed away in his brain, but he had to keep his lips sealed. Maybe he should talk to Irving again and find out who had clearance on this.

  He uncrossed his legs and stood up, thinking about Eva and where she might be right now. Probably reunited with her guy and strolling down Waikiki Beach, arm in arm. He tried to convince himself he was better off without her, but his heart refused to listen. Maybe he should track her down and try to talk some sense into her. What happened between the two of them had not been meant to happen, but he knew it hadn’t been one-sided. The way she had closed her eyes and fallen into the kiss. And how she’d clung to him for dear life this morning. She was in as deep as he was.

  “I’ll be at my desk catching up,” he said to the boys.

  Being back at work with an important mission would do him good.

  NIGHT AT THE PINK PALACE

  Eva walked back and forth on the grass in front of her barracks. She was a bundle of nerves. What if being with Clark had erased all her feelings for Billy? The truth of the matter was a big portion of her love affair with Billy had been through letters, and a week here and a week there. She had fallen for him even harder once he had up and left. Living for his letters and colorful descriptions of life in the islands and where he would take her once she arrived. An easy dream to conjure. Now it was time to see how real it all was.

  Grace had pinned a yellow plumeria in Eva’s hair and now she felt hot with self-consciousness. Who was she trying to fool? She was—and would always be—a fair-skinned girl from the Midwest. On the verge of hyperventilating, she took a deep breath and ordered herself to relax.

  A few minutes later, a shiny gray Plymouth rumbled up to the curb and slammed to a halt. She could feel her heartbeat in her ears. Billy hopped out and ran around to her side. He was not as tall as she remembered.

  “My sweet Evelyn, welcome to Honolulu!” he said with an ear-to-ear smile as he carefully placed a white flower lei over her neck and hugged her close.

  “Eva,” she said softly in his ear.

  It would have to be second nature, so the sooner the better.

  “Eva,” he said, drawing out the e.

  He felt less substantial than Clark. More bones and less muscle. Did she smell cigarettes on his skin? And yet there was a soothing familiarity in his presence. This was Billy. Her Billy. The Billy who knew her life, her father, Ruby. Her secrets, too.

  “Did you get into a brawl on the ship?” he said with a grin when he pulled back.

  Her hand went to her cheekbone. “A minor accident. A stray tennis ball.”

  “I hope the guilty party was made to pay,” he said.

  She forced a smile. “He did.”

  Clark was the last thing she wanted to talk about now. But had she honestly thought he would fade away?

  “Seriously, though, you look rail thin. This has all been hard on you, hasn’t it?”

  Achingly, agonizingly hard. She nodded.

  “We’ll fatten you up in no time, I promise. I’m glad you’re here, Eva.”

  “Me, too,” she said.

 
Billy deserved a chance, she would give him that. Plus, it wasn’t as though she could go crawling back to Clark after what she had done. She turned away and concentrated on what was outside the window. They drove past Chinatown’s neon lights and a heavy stone building, which he informed her was Iolani Palace, then along the coastline toward Diamond Head. The sun was about to set and rosy clouds dotted the sky. They held hands the whole way, and his palm was damp with perspiration. She kept catching him staring her way.

  “What?” she finally asked.

  He winked. “You’re even prettier than I remember.”

  She touched the flower to make sure it was still there. “Oh, come on.”

  In Eva’s household, looks had never mattered. It was your brain and your heart that made you who you were. And, anyway, Ruby was the real looker in the family. Taller, more curvy and a smile full of straight, white teeth.

  As they passed through Waikiki, sailors in their liberty whites spilled out of storefronts and saloons. Eva was too busy taking it all in to say much, plus the engine was almost too loud to speak over, which was really a blessing. How could there be so much to talk about and yet she couldn’t think of one thing to say?

  “There are so, so many of them,” she mustered.

  “Close to twenty thousand on the island. Ready to defend.”

  She sure hoped so.

  Billy parked outside of a grand pink building six stories tall. The Royal Hawaiian Hotel in real life! It sat right along the beach, skirted by grassy lawns and coconut trees. An American flag waved lazily on its top dome.

  “Here we are. The Pink Palace. They always have a nice party on Boat Day,” he said.

  She froze. If they ran into Clark, she would climb under a table and hide. “Does everyone from the Lurline come?”

  “Half the island comes,” he said, leading her down a sandy path toward the shoreline.

  She had no choice but to follow along, slipping off her sandals. The sand between her toes was warm and grainy and her feet sank with every step. But it was the ocean she couldn’t take her eyes off. One hundred shades of blue. White foamy rollers.