“I didn’t lead him into anything, Mr. Chambers,” Canidy said coldly. “Nor he me. We were asked, separately, and we accepted eparately. The fact that we’re friends hasn’t entered into it.” s 4 4Then answer me this: Why are you doing it? Why are you going to go halfway around the world to fight a well-equipped, welltrained enemy in obsolete fighter planes?”
“Two reasons,” Canidy said after a moment. “For one thing, it’s going to get me out of the Navy. With a little bit of luck, in a year I can be out of uniform once and for all, and finally working as an aeronautical engineer, which is what I am, and what I want to do. I’ve got an offer from Boeing.”
“And the other?”
“For the money. Six hundred dollars a month, and rations and quarters, is twice what I am making now. And there’s five hundred dollars for every confirmed kill.”
“At least Brandon Chambers said, “he has reasons.”
“So do I ‘ Ed Bitter said.
Brandon Chambers said nothing else for a minute, and Sarah saw Ed Bitter staring off into the pine forest. After a moment, Dick Canidy got to his feet.
Ed Bitter’s leaving, Sarah Child thought. He’s had a fight with his uncle, and he’s leaving, and he’s going to get killed in the war and I’ll never see him again.
But then Brandon Chambers got to his feet and waved at Ed’s chair.
“Oh, sit down, Eddie,” he boomed. “I promised your mother I’d give it my best shot to talk you out of it, and I have. I also told her that I thought it would be a waste of time.” He looked at Dick Canidy. “I’m sorry I had to put you through this, Dick. I hope you understand.”
“Yes, sir,” Canidy said. “No problem.”
“Robert!” Mr. Chambers called out.
THIS LAST REROES “Yes, sir?”
“Enough of this stuff,” Mr. Chambers said. “Bring us some whiskey.”
The servants set up a supper buffet by the pool, but the bugs came out; so before they could start to eat, Jenny Chambers ordered the whole thing carried back inside the house.
The separation by generation went into effect. The girls and Charley Chambers and his friends were drafted into helping the servants move the dishes and the tables. Ed Bitter and Dick Canidy went into the bar with the “adults.
Charity saw her watching them go in, and whispered in Sarah’s ear: “I like the tall one.”
“All you think about is boys,” Sarah replied cattily.
“And you don’t?” Charity laughed.
Not normally, Sarah thought.
The “adults” took their supper alone, too. Servants went down the buffet and filled plates for them. The “kids” went through a line. But then the meal was over, and everybody went to the playrooma screened-in porch on the right side of the house. More ice was added to the galvanized tub, and more beer.
“What can I get you, Miss Sarah?” Robert asked.
“I get blown up when I drink beer,” she said.
“Fix her a weak Scotch,” Ann Chambers ordered.
Sarah’s drink tasted like medicine, but she sipped on it anyway, so as not to look like a child.
She was more than a little unnerved when a warm hand tapped her bare shoulder (she had changed into a peasant blouse and skirt) and Ed Bitter’s voice said, “Dance, Sarah?”
There was a phonograph playing, but no one was dancing, and Sarah blurted out thin” comfortino, tnith.
“I know,” Ed Bitter said. “I have been dispatched by my aunt because of that. She hopes you and I will inspire people.”
“Us?” she said. “Oh my.” But she had to giggle. She raised her arm so that he could take it.
They danced for a moment, and then he said, “Hey, you’re good!”
She quickly changed the subject. “I understand you’re going to China?”
“Christ, who told you that?”
“Is it supposed to be a secret?” she asked. “I’m sorry.9’ “Nothing to be sorry about,” he said, and he gave her a little hug. That pressed her breasts against his chest; but he sensed that made her uncomfortable, and quickly released her. A moment later, she felt her breasts against his chest again, and she knew that she had moved against him.