For the Duration: The War Years (6 page)

Today at Dancing School we rehearsed our “A Couple of Couples” dance number. The number starts out with Carol and me coming in from the right and Billy and Patty coming in from the left, doing a FOX-TROT box step. We meet in the middle and all sing the song “We're the Couple in the Castle” from the movie
Mr. Bug Goes to Town
. Then we do our tap routine.

Miss Leah actually clapped when we finished. We were so proud. “It's just like Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, only double,” Mrs. Anderson said. But Carol and I want to be Judy and Mickey because they're younger.

Next Billy and I practiced our “Uncle Sam Gets Around” special, and then I practiced singing “What Kind of a Noise Annoys an Oyster” for my King Neptune part.

It was a really good dance class. It's a little sad to think that we only have two more weeks of classes before the recital. Then Dancing School will be over for the summer and won't begin again till fall. Miss Leah always goes to New York City for a few weeks to study and “catch up on all the new techniques and trends,” she says.

Miss Leah's mother, Mrs. Grossman, measured my head for my King Neptune crown and then she gave each of us—and our mothers—our packs of tickets for the recital. Mom took thirty to sell. Mom and Dad know so many people and Mom is sure that lots of them will want to come. Miss Leah's recitals are famous for being really good. The newspaper even writes about it, and this year Miss Leah thinks it will be the best one yet!

Chapter Five

On Sunday afternoon there was a good-bye party for Uncle Charles at Tom and Nana's house in Wallingford. Lots of his friends were there. Everyone was trying not to be sad, especially Uncle Charles's girlfriend, Viva, and his best friend, Mickey Lynch. We had two of my favorite things to eat: celery stuffed with cream cheese and Mount Tom sandwiches. Mount Tom is something Tom makes in the meat grinder in his store. He grinds up hunks of ham and pickles and mixes it with his favorit mayonnaise, Hellman's (Nana's favorite mayonnaise was Cains). Tom decided to call this sandwich spread Mount Tom after the place where his brother, Uncle Jack, has a cabin. Tom invented it for all the Downey family picnics that they had on Mount Tom.

Then, just like every Sunday, Tom and I listened to “The Shadow” and “One Man's Family” on the radio before we left for home. But then I thought,
It won't be like every Sunday anymore without Uncle Charles
.

I'm going to miss him. Uncle Charles is going to a place called Fort Devens in Massachusetts for his “Basic Training,” which is when the soldiers learn how to fight in the war. I want Uncle Charles to stay in our country so he'll be safe. Not like Blackie.

I told Tom, “It won't be as much fun without Uncle Charles around. He always tells me jokes and goes with us to Foote's for ice cream when we come here.”

“Don't you worry, Timothy, me bucko,” Tom said. (Tom called me “Timothy, me bucko” as a nickname.) “I'll make sure you have a good time when you come to visit. Then we'll have a lot of stories to tell your uncle Charles when he comes home. I'm going to miss my boy, too.”

It's hard to think that Tom, my grandfather, is Uncle Charles's FATHER, and not just Mom's.

“We'll just have to make do for the duration,” said Tom.

“What's the duration, Tom?” I asked.

“It's the time that the war will last,” he answered. “Everything is changing so fast, and we have to be brave.”

I know I'm lucky to have such a special grandfather and such a great family.

Chapter Six

I can't find my diary key. Without the key I can't open my diary and write in it. I put it and my skate key under my pillow last night when I had to take a bath. I looked and looked all over, under the bed, under my bedside table, everywhere. My skate key was still under my pillow, but not my diary key. I decided I'd better tell Mom.

“I'm sure it will show up,” she said. “I'll keep my eyes open for it when I'm vacuuming. Now, get ready because you have to leave for school.”

On the way to school, I told Jeannie. She keeps a diary, too. So she understands how important it is for me to find the key.

“Maybe you could write your diary in a notepad,” Jeannie said. “But that might be dangerous. After all, the whole point of a diary is to write down your innermost secrets where no one else can read them. That's why diaries have little locks and keys.”

“Well,” I said, “I hope nothing too important happens until I find the key.” I decided that I probably could remember stuff and then write it in the diary after I find the key and unlock it.

After we went into our classroom, Miss Gardner said, “Class, in a little while we will go down to the auditorium to see the art exhibit. The kindergarten and the first-graders are going first, then it will be our turn. So, open your reading books and we'll have silent reading until it's time to go.”