In the Company of Women

by Kate Christie

  “I guess they don’t.” CJ patted Spicket as the dog butted her head expectantly against her forearm.

  “She’s taken quite the shine to you,” Nell observed.

  “Animals are easy. They don’t ask much.”

  “No, they don’t.” Nell reached out to stroke the dog’s silky ears. “Unlike people.”

  The pilot’s eyes were narrowed, and CJ wondered if she detected a touch of wistfulness in her voice. Had she, like Reggie, sacrificed a relationship to contribute to the war effort?

  The door to the ready room blew open suddenly, and Master Sergeant Whimple strode inside, slapping his hat against his leg.

  “Goddamned dust,” he exclaimed.

  The gathered Wacs and WASPs paused, all eyes on the crew chief. CJ knew the female pilots had noticed it too: The sarge had cursed in front of them. Finally, he saw them as his crew instead of as a bunch of females.

  “What?” he asked.

  “Goddamned dust,” Reggie echoed, and the rest of Flight C joined in with their own curses and laughter.

  Beside her, Nell grinned, and CJ smiled back. It was good to belong. Rare, perhaps, but that only made it more extraordinary when it happened. In her arms, Spicket yipped, setting off a fresh round of laughter. Even the dog could recognize a breakthrough when she saw one.

  * * *

  That night, CJ was trouncing Toby at a game of pool when the EW club door opened and in walked Brady, brushing dust from her wool jacket. She looked around deliberately, her gaze stopping when it fell on CJ. She smiled slowly, and CJ felt her stomach tingle in the old way.

  “What’s that you say?” Toby asked. “You forfeit? Why, certainly, I accept.”

  “Funny.” CJ handed her stick to Mary, who had called next game. “All yours, buddy.”

  They met in the doorway between the bar and billiards room. Brady paused before her, still smiling, and CJ barely stopped herself from pulling Brady into a tight hug.

  “Hi,” she said softly.

  “Hi,” Brady said, her tone matching.

  “I thought you were going to El Paso again tonight?”

  “I did. But I caught a cab back to the post.”

  “Why?”

  “Because I missed you, and I realized we don’t know how much time we have here, any of us.”

  CJ’s eyebrows lifted slightly. Usually Brady, her sunny Californian, left the worrying to others.

  “Not because the end of the world is upon us or anything,” Brady added. “I mean we could be transferred at any time. Besides, while I’m happy for Gerri and Bob, I’m getting a little tired of hearing about their plans, to be honest.”

  “It’s not fair, is it?”

  “Not fair at all,” Brady agreed. Her gaze dropped to CJ’s lips. “I’d really like to kiss you right now.”

  “While I have no objection to that, unfortunately, Uncle Sam does.”

  “Let me worry about him,” Brady said.

  “Gladly.”

  They waved at their friends, and then they practically skipped out of the EW club. Brady led CJ through the dark winter night, between buildings, along narrow sidewalks, past bored MPs who somehow didn’t seem to notice a couple of giggling Wacs slipping by in the night. This time, CJ knew exactly where they were headed. She had seen the Jeep parking lot during takeoff and landing from the AT-11 earlier in the week, and wouldn’t be needing the stars to find her way back to the WAC compound. In the months since that first night in the Jeep lot beneath the unfamiliar West Texas sky, Bliss had begun to feel like home. What was more, so had Brady.

  They climbed into the back seat of one of the Jeeps and snuggled up together, as close as their winter uniforms would allow. Brady leaned her head on CJ’s shoulder, and CJ rested her cheek against Brady’s hair.

  “Much better,” Brady said, sighing.

  CJ tightened her grip in agreement. They didn’t talk. They didn’t need to. They simply sat close together while the searchlights split the sky overhead and the ack-ack guns sounded in the distance. CJ wondered briefly if Nell or Carol or one of the Kayes was up there flying grids in among the searchlights and exploding shells, and then Brady was turning her face toward hers, and for a while, CJ willingly gave herself over to the woman in her arms. Brady was right. None of them knew how much time they had here. For now, Brady’s kiss, her touch, was enough. For now, being with Brady was all she could imagine she would ever need.

  Chapter Sixteen

  “I can’t decide if seeing her from a distance makes it easier or harder,” CJ said, pausing in sweeping up metal shavings from the hangar floor.

  They did a cursory cleaning at the end of every shift, but Saturday mornings were reserved for once-weekly tasks like scrubbing the cement floor and polishing the Balloon Hangar’s steel trusses.

  Toby elbowed Reggie. “Young love. Aren’t they sweet?”

  Reggie snorted. “A regular Bonnie and Clyde.”

  “Thanks a lot.” CJ flicked the pile of shavings at Reggie’s shoes.

  At the same time, Toby swatted the back of Reggie’s head, knocking her fatigue hat to the floor. “Have some respect. You might someday be in love again yourself, if you’re lucky.”

  Reggie bent to retrieve her cap. When she straightened, she was blushing to the tips of her ears.

  “Hold on,” Toby said. “Are you in love?”

  “No. Yes.” Reggie shook her head. “I don’t know!”

  “You don’t say,” CJ said, exchanging a smile with Toby.

  Together they sat Reggie down on the nearest bench and extracted information from her while other members of their crew flitted around them. Holly, the WASP, had taken Reggie to dinner the night before in El Paso, and they had even shared a kiss before Reggie had to report for GI night duties.

  Toby pushed her hat off her forehead. “You told us you went to the club with Jill.”

  “I didn’t want everyone to know. She’s civilian, so fraternization doesn’t apply, but you know how people talk. The last thing I need is for the major to get wind of it and have one of us transferred.”

  “How did you leave it?” Toby asked.

  “I’m supposed to see her tonight at her quarters. You’ll come with me, won’t you? Both of you? I don’t want to go alone.”

  She sounded panicked. Reggie was a prankster, but even though she had made light of being Dear Janed, CJ knew that her ex-girlfriend’s betrayal had hit her hard.

  “Of course we will,” Toby said, her arm around Reggie’s neck. “It’ll be great, you’ll see. You’re a good egg and so is Holly.”

  “She is, isn’t she?” Reggie asked.

  “Absolutely.” CJ squeezed her shoulder.

  As they set up ladders to reach the upper trusses, CJ wondered if other bases had as much opportunity for gay women to meet and mingle as Bliss offered. She had heard that other posts varied widely in their acceptance of Wacs, depending on the attitude of the Army command. The same was true for Negro units. Bliss had a Negro antiaircraft regiment, and like Wacs, black GIs were segregated from the rest of the base in their own area, with separate officers, living quarters, mess halls and clubs. CJ had glimpsed a handful of the men around base and had noticed that they almost always traveled in groups—like Wacs. Safety was a major concern for black soldiers at the post, according to Brady. Earlier in the year, Fort Bliss had played host to two separate racial disturbances in which black troops were beaten and pelted with rocks by white troops. Ill treatment of black soldiers in the US Army didn’t stop at physical assault. Brady had read a report that soldiers from Negro units received blue ticket discharges at a significantly higher rate than did white soldiers. Hardly surprising in a country operating under Jim Crow.

  CJ still remembered the letter to the editor she had read in Yank that described the treatment a group of black soldiers had experienced while traveling through Texas. When they tried to buy a cup of coffee at a railway station lunchroom, they were refused service and ordered to go around back to the
kitchen. While they stood outside, they observed a group of German POWs be led into the lunchroom, seated at booths among other white customers, fed whatever they wanted from the menu and even given cigarettes. Black soldiers were good enough to die in combat defending American democracy, but that didn’t prevent them from being regarded as racially inferior, even when compared to the European fascists they were tasked with fighting.

  Gay soldiers may have to hide their relationships from military authority, but they were lucky that hiding was even an option. Lying was not ideal, CJ thought as she applied a wire brush to the nearest truss, but she didn’t think she had to fear being assaulted for being gay. Then again, there was a reason WAC trainees were taught to remain clear-headed and to avoid being alone with male soldiers. What would happen if Charlie or some other spurned GI figured out they were together? Would Brady’s physical safety be compromised? Would her own? Or would the GI in question merely turn them in?

  Any resulting investigation into misconduct could extend to Toby, Kate, Reggie, even to others she didn’t know. Maybe she and Brady should be more careful. The current look-the-other-way approach favored by the Fort Bliss command could change any day, especially if the war continued its steady progress toward Allied victory. She remembered Toby’s words: “They need us more than we need them. At least, for now.”

  Cleaning day always dragged, but at last the clock struck noon and the Wacs caught a ride back to the women’s compound. At lunch mess, Brady joined their table a little earlier than usual, clutching her usual cup of coffee.

  “Hi,” CJ said, gazing at her unrestrainedly.

  “Hi.” Brady smiled into her eyes. “How was cleanup day?”

  “A tad more painful than usual.” CJ pulled up her sleeve to display the purpling bruise on her forearm. “Turns out spilling soapy water on a ladder and then climbing said ladder is not advisable.”

  “CJ,” Brady exclaimed, tugging her arm closer. “Did you go to Beaumont?”

  “Nah. It’ll be better in a couple of days.”

  “I made sure she put ice on it.” Sarah was a staunch champion of the curative powers of ice.

  “Thanks, Sarah.” Brady gave CJ’s arm a last squeeze and let go. “What are you doing tonight?”

  “Well,” CJ said, glancing at Reggie, who gave her a look half begging and half threatening, “I think we’re going to meet up with a few of the WASPs at their quarters. I know you have that engagement dinner in town, but you’re welcome to join us.”

  “I was going to say the same thing to you, but it sounds like you already have plans.”

  What would Brady do if CJ announced she wanted to be her date to dinner, after all? But even as she considered changing plans, she realized she didn’t want to. An evening with her buddies at the WASP BOQ sounded far more enjoyable than a fancy meal with people who resented her presence.

  “Too bad,” she said, shrugging. “Your dinner sounds like fun.”

  “Liar. It sounds like drudgery. I’d rather come see how the other half lives. Didn’t you say they’re in bachelor officer quarters?”

  “Yep. They took over an entire building. One night, this ferry pilot came stumbling into Pinkie’s room. He claimed to have no idea that WASPs were billeted anywhere on post, let alone in that building.”

  “Likely story,” Brady said, which was what CJ had thought. “What did Pinkie do?”

  “She offered to get hold of the MPs and have him escorted to his billet. Naturally, he declined.”

  Brady laughed out loud. That was definitely one of CJ’s favorite sounds in the world. She couldn’t imagine ever tiring of it—or of Brady, for that matter.

  As they walked back to the barracks after lunch, Brady looped her arm through CJ’s. “I’ll miss you tonight,” she said, her voice low so the others wouldn’t hear.

  CJ’s stomach fluttered. “I remember the first time you ever said that to me.”

  “You do?”

  “Of course. I was sure I must have misunderstood. How could you possibly be feeling what I was?”

  “But I was. I thought you’d figured it out the night before and that you couldn’t wait to get away from me. When I woke up in that inn all alone…” She shuddered a little.

  CJ pressed Brady’s arm closer to her side. “I know. I’m sorry about that. I was so scared you were going to figure out I had this massive crush on you and never speak to me again. Or worse, turn me in.”

  “You’re kidding.” Brady stared at her. “Why would I do that?”

  “Obviously I know now that you wouldn’t, but you were still a mystery to me then. Toby says someone from your company did actually turn in a couple of girls.”

  “She probably means Lois and Jane. One day they were here, the next they’d been shipped off as replacement soldiers to God knows where.”

  “So they weren’t discharged for being in a banned relationship?”

  “I’m not even sure they were in a relationship. If they were, it didn’t end up on their record.”

  “How can you be sure?”

  “I’m an Admin Wac, remember?”

  “If only I could forget.”

  They walked on side by side through the winter sunshine, arms and legs automatically moving in unison. Shortly before they reached CJ’s barracks, Brady paused and glanced over her shoulder before asking, “Do you worry about being discharged because of us?”

  “A little,” she admitted. “Don’t you?”

  “Not especially. What worries you about it?”

  CJ tilted her head. “My family finding out, I guess. I know it’s not the same for us as it is for the boys. I mean, who’s going to ask us for our military papers after the war? But even so, I don’t think I could lie to my parents.”

  “I could.”

  “Really?”

  She made a sound in her throat. “My parents aren’t like yours, CJ. They’re not interested in helping us find out what we’re good at or what we love, not unless it involves marrying the right person for our social class and settling down to the type of life they expect of us. I can’t be myself with them. They wouldn’t allow it, and frankly, it’s always been easier to go along with what they wanted.”

  CJ remembered the wistfulness in Brady’s tone when she’d talked about becoming a science writer, how she had fussed with her engagement ring. “Nate was the right person for your social class, wasn’t he?”

  “My parents certainly thought so, even after he…” She trailed off, shook her head. “Anyway, I don’t want you to worry. We’ll be okay. I promise.”

  “Do you know something I don’t?”

  “Not something as much as someone. Now come on, didn’t you say Company D has a new puzzle with our name on it?”

  CJ followed her, troubled by what Brady hadn’t said. Even after Nate what? And who at Bliss was supposed to be looking out for them? But Brady was clearly determined to enjoy the rare afternoon together, and they couldn’t talk openly in front of the other Wacs in her barracks. As they lazed away the afternoon in the women warrior-bedecked day room listening to records, their heads bent over a thousand-piece puzzle of Yellowstone National Park, CJ was conscious of time slipping away too quickly. All too soon Brady was rising and stretching and making a regretful farewell, and CJ was left in the cheerful day room feeling like some of the color had drained from the world again.

  The feeling didn’t last long. Soon Reggie was rushing around fretting over her hair and makeup. CJ had never seen anyone debate so thoroughly the color of her lipstick.

  “That one,” she said when asked, pointing to one of several look-alike reds. She glanced at Toby, who pursed her lips, hiding a smile.

  “I can see you, you know,” Reggie said as she backed away to find the iron for one more pass at her “A” uniform.

  She worried all through dinner about spilling food on her jacket. At one point, as Reggie went to refill her water glass—coffee would leave her with coffee breath, of course—CJ shook her head at Toby
and Kate.

  “Boy, am I glad I’m not in her shoes anymore.”

  “So are we,” Toby said, and Kate nodded emphatically.

  “What do you mean?”

  Kate’s eyebrows rose. “Do you know how torturous it was to watch you moon over Brady and not be able to say or do anything?”

  “You probably wanted to tell me to get on with it already.”

  “No,” Toby said, “it wasn’t like that. We knew where you were at, and we knew what it would take to get where you are now. That’s all.”

  “Aww,” CJ said, smiling at Toby and Kate. They were so danged sweet, both separately and together.

  “Aw, what?” Reggie asked as she returned to the table.

  “Aw, don’t you look cute.” Kate laughed as Reggie turned bright pink again.

  The WASP BOQ building was in the center of the post, about half a block from the officers’ mess where the pilots dined and a block from the officers’ club, where the pilots had privileges despite their in-between status. They were also right next door to the barber shop—“in case we need a shave and haircut,” Holly joked as she gave them a tour that evening. Each woman had her own room with a cot, a chair, a closet, a shelf and a tin wastepaper basket, and because they didn’t have to obey military regulations, the WASPs had decorated their personal spaces with non-GI quilts and curtains. The building had its own telephone and a large community bath that the dozen women shared, along with a day room decked out with tables, chairs, rugs, curtains, pillows, ashtrays, a wireless set and even a battered old piano someone’s boyfriend had had delivered. This was where Holly ended the tour, inviting the visiting Wacs to make themselves comfortable.

  Many of the WASPs were out on a Saturday night, but a handful occupied the day room, engaged in assorted forms of entertainment. The Wacs hadn’t been there long before Holly and one of the Kayes pestered Nell to play the piano. She gave in with a good-natured shrug and took a seat on the rickety bench, cracking her fingers dramatically before starting in on a tune CJ thought sounded familiar, possibly from her Girl Scout days. The WASPs in the room broke into what was clearly a favorite song: