So Far From Home

New People, New Places

When I woke this morning, I believe I felt the first true twinge of happiness I’ve experienced this entire trip. If the weather held-and it was looking as if it would-we would be disembarking by early afternoon.

The ship was always quiet in the early morning hours, and today was no exception. Rousing myself from my bunk, I dressed quickly but meticulously and made my way to the deck. Cool, fresh morning air greeted me as pinkish sunlight lent a peaceful feeling to the moment.

I walked over to the railing, pausing to catch myself as the low heel of my shoe caught on one of the uneven seams of the deck. Tucking a strand of hair not held by a bobby pin behind my ear, I folded my arms onto the rail and leaned over to watch the water. I was too far up from the surface to make out anything underwater, but to see the ocean as still and smooth as glass was enough of a treat in itself. Looking out to the horizon, there was still no sight of the land I knew we were steaming closer and closer to.

The sharp clanging of the ship’s bells shook me out of my reverie and broke the blanket of calmness that had descended over me. Pushing away from my resting spot, I stretched my arms out in front of me and stood a bit straighter as I moved to head back inside and cajole Laura into joining the land of the living as she was most undoubtedly still fast asleep.

My suspicions proved accurate and, after eliciting a promise from her that she would be presentable shortly, I stepped outside our room once more and made my way through the narrow halls.

Turning a corner rather quickly, I collided with a young, red-headed Lieutenant who blushed when he realized he had run into a woman.

“I apologize, ma’am, I did not see you there,” he said in a voice softer than what I had expected.

“That’s quite alright, I should have been watching where I was tearing off to,” came my reply, equally soft.

With a smile, he stepped aside to allow me to pass. Taking a step or two forward, I stopped suddenly once more.

“I hate to bother you, sir, but have you heard when we may be docking today? I’ve been unable to get a clear answer, despite my best efforts.”

“The last I heard, we should arrive no later than early afternoon, but that was of yesterday. It could have changed since then. Sorry I can’t be of more assistance.”

“Thank you very much, you’ve been most helpful. Now there’s no need for me to keep hunting for an answer,” I said, turning around and heading back the way I had come.

The redhead smiled once more and fell into step beside me, pausing only once or twice to allow others room to pass in the narrow corridor.

“I don’t believe I’ve seen you during our time onboard,” he began, turning his head toward me slightly. “I’m Lieutenant Dick Winters,” he said almost shyly as he offered me his hand.

“Pleased to meet you,” I replied taking the offered hand. “I’m Lieutenant Mae North.”

“Pleased to meet you as well.”

I smiled for no reason and felt my face heat up. What was going on with me? So, he had told me his name, that was no cause for girlish reactions. I was supposed to professional, darn it.

“It was very nice meeting you, Lieutenant Winters, but I’m afraid I must leave you now. I promised my friend I would return to her shortly and I’ve already been gone a good deal of time.”

“Have a good day, Lieutenant North,” the young man said with a slight nod of his head before disappearing around one of the seemingly endless corners possessed by this ship.

I continued walking without really seeing and found myself tugging the door to my room open before I knew it. Stepping inside, I was greeted with the sight of Laura sitting on her bunk impeccably dressed and struggling with hair pins and a hand mirror as she tried valiantly to tame her unruly hair.

“You don’t know how much I envy you,” Laura mumbled around a mouthful of bobby pins. “Your hair looks perfect no matter how little time you spend on it,” she said with a quick jerk of her chin toward me.

Smiling, I crossed to her side and took the hairbrush from her hand, smoothing and twisting the golden locks before securing them to her head.

“How did you do that?” she asked, flabbergasted.

“It’s simple, really. You have such fine hair you just have to twist it a bit to get a little thickness going.”

“You have to show me how later, alright? I never bothered with my hair before I joined up, so I’m a hopeless case as far as that goes.”

“You’re not hopeless, just a was my smiling reply. “Anyway, you think it’s easy to tame this?” I asked pointing to my thick mass of brown hair held precariously in place by as many bobby pins as possible.

“But at least yours looks good when you do it,” she said, laying the mirror, pins and brush to the side as she dug for her small travel bag.

“I don’t know about you, but I’m starving. It must be almost time for breakfast, so let’s get going,” she prodded, zipping the small case and placing it in her larger bag.

“I’m not so hungry so much as I could use a cup of coffee,” was my reply. Already, my mouth was watering in anticipation of the strong, bitter liquid I knew would be waiting for me in the makeshift dining hall.

“You and your coffee,” Laura said with a mock frown before smiling. We’d known each other for barely over a week and already she took great delight in teasing me over my very real penchant for coffee.

“Okay, okay,” I said impatiently as we made our way through the throngs of people milling around in the area outside the dining hall. We squeezed our way inside and fell into the back of the slow moving line, each holding a tray and silverware in our hands. Eventually, we inched our way through the sea of people and found two seats together at a table in the corner of the room.

“Who’s that?,” Laura asked suddenly.

I looked up from my first blissful swallow of coffee and scanned the crowd until I found who her eyes were resting on. She was staring at Lieutenant Winters. And he was staring at me. Unbidden, I found myself blushing for the second time that morning. Forcing myself to raise my head once more, I gave the Lieutenant a small smile which he returned. I couldn’t help notice his face seemed a bit pink too, even from this distance.

“Just someone I met this morning,” was all I could come up with, knowing full well Laura’s curiosity would be far from satisfied with that response.

“Really?” she asked, one eyebrow inching closer to her hairline. “So why are you blushing?”

“I’m not blushing,” I countered, staring down into my coffee cup and dumping and few spoonfuls of sugar in even though I normally drink it black. I just needed something for my hands to do, just needed an excuse to keep looking down at the table.

“Of course not,” Laura murmured, the amusement evident in her tone. “Of course not.”

I took a sip of sickly sweet coffee and glanced back up, pleased in some indefinable way to find the very handsome Lieutenant watching me out of the corner of his eye.


~samile~