The store was throbbing with activity as what seemed like the whole of their intake shopped for clothing essentials. Lily had selected her items and was now standing at the desk with them neatly piled. As the assistant rang up the purchases of the other women, she was trying to not take it personally, that despite standing patiently, she hadn't been served when Helen bounced up, her arms full of her soon to be bought clothing.
“Did you get everything?” she asked.
“Yeah I think so, you?” Lily asked, still trying to attract the shopkeeper’s attention.
“Well what I don't have, I'll just have to live without,” Helen grinned. “How come you've not been served?” she asked. Helen was aware that Lily has been waiting for some time as her eyes would often, subconsciously be drawn to her, almost tracking her movements.
“I've no…” Lily was interrupted as the shopkeeper appeared.
“Can I help you?” he smiled at Helen.
“My friend is in front of me,” Helen gave him a good-natured smile and nodded towards Lily.
The shopkeeper coughed slightly, glancing at Lily before addressing Helen. “We don't serve her sort here,” he stated simply.
Both Helen and Lily's eyes widened, Lily opened her mouth but before she could say anything Helen had dumped her clothing on the desk and was squaring up to the shopkeeper, “You have something against her because she's a woman? Or 'cause she's from Florida?”
She stood with her hands on her hips, her face hardened with fury.
The shopkeeper flushed as he pointed towards a sign behind the counter stating in stark black lettering 'No Mexicans'.
“What's going on?” Adrienne asked, sauntering up to the desk with her pile of items.
“He won't serve me,” Lily said quietly trying to maintain control over her anger at the situation. Adele wandered up with Marjorie and Lucy in tow and the Bay Four women formed a protective circle around their wronged bay mate.
“How much do you make off us Avenger girls?” Helen asked narrowing her eyes. “'Cause I will guarantee that unless you apologize to my friend here and serve her, the WASP won't spend a dime in your store again.”
The impact of her words saw the rest of the women dump their items onto the counter and glare at him.
The man looked at the gathering of angry women across from him; the full rank of the Bay Four six having been quickly reinforced by others in the class yet to pay for their provisions.
Calculating the impact his next action, he plastered a smile on his face, “I'm sorry about the mix up, let me work out how much you owe.” He held out his hands for Lily to pass the clothing across, and then proceeded to tally the items on a bill pad.
Adele stood on her tiptoes and peeked over Lily's shoulder, “That's real nice of you sir, to not charge for those pants.”
The shopkeeper jerked his head up to look at the small face peering at him from behind the dark haired woman.
“As a good will gesture n'all,” she added, giving him a toothy grin.
He scowled begrudgingly as he removed the cost of Lily's slacks from her bill. Lily handed over the money and relevant pages from her ration book, trying not to laugh at the look on the man's face as she did so. She took her items now neatly wrapped in brown paper, tied with string, and leaned across the counter, “For the record, my grandfather was Cuban, not Mexican and my father was born here and fought in the Great War for the country he loves.” She gave him a final look of disgust before turning and leaving.
Still seething from the treatment that she had received, Lily closed her eyes and rested her head on the back of the seat as she waited for the others in Marjorie's white Plymouth Convertible.
“You okay?” Helen tossed her clothing package into the car, swung her legs over the side of the car and dropped onto the back seat beside Lily.
“Just angry. I had hoped that with everything that's going on in the world that things might be different,” she wiped a heated tear from underneath her sunglasses resting on her cheek. “I'm just
so
mad,” she growled angrily.
“Things will change,” Helen rubbed her arm comfortingly. “And until they do, you've got us,” she smiled.
Lily felt her skin tingle where Helen had touched her. She placed her hand over her forearm and frowned slightly, unsure of why her body had reacted that way. The frown disappeared as she caught sight behind Helen's head of the others leaving the shop. “Thank you,” she smiled gratefully.
“I'll see you back at the base,” Helen grinned, before hopping back out of the car. Lily pulled Helen's and her own packages onto her knee to make a space for Addison and Adele for the journey back. She turned at a loud engine roar as Helen pulled up beside the convertible.
“You want to blow off some steam?” the blonde-haired woman shouted over the noise of the engine.
Lily didn't need to be asked twice; before Helen could change her mind Lily had ripped open her package and pulled out a pair of pants. She jumped out of the car and pulled the slacks on to protect her bare legs from the dust, grit, and heat from the motorcycle itself. Pulling her dress over the pants, not caring how ridiculous she looked, she smiled over towards her friends.
“Gimme your scarf Adrienne.”
Adrienne unwound the red scarf from her neck and handed it across to Lily who tied it around her head to stop her hair from whipping in the wind. She threw her leg over the motorcycle and wound her arms around Helen's slender waist.
“Hold on tight,” Helen yelled over her shoulder.
Lily nodded and tightened her hold bringing her body closer to Helen so that her nostrils filled with the smell of leather from her jacket. “See you at the base!” Lily shouted as she lurched backwards as Helen pulled off, dust surrounding their departure.
“Only if she don't kill you on the way,” Adele remarked climbing into the car.
***
“You’re right,” Lily yelled in Helen's ear. “It's as exhilarating as flying.”
She felt Helen's body shake with laughter and in response the blonde opened the throttle further, the bike lunged forward as its speed increased taking all possibility of conversation away. Lily took a deep breath in through her nose, loving the wind battering against her face, her clothes flapping against her skin, the throb of the bike beneath them. She felt alive!
The increase in speed caused Adrienne's scarf to whip from Lily's head, she turned to see the material dance into the distance, feeling her locks lash around in their newfound freedom. Turning back towards the front she pulled herself closer to Helen, she wasn't sure what she was enjoying more the thrill of the motorcycle or the physical contact with Helen, who for some inexplicable reason Lily felt drawn to. She loved the fact that she could feel Helen riding the bike, not just with her hands and feet but her entire body was at one with the machine.
Helen for her part was fighting trying to concentrate on riding and not focus on the arms gripped around her waist and the thighs pressed against her own. She was pleased that Lily had not tried to speak again as feeling her breath on her ear had almost caused her to lose control of the cycle. She tugged on the throttle again while they were on a straight bit of road, picking up the pace determined to make Lily forget about the incident in the shop.
They pulled into the base and Helen killed the engine, neither making a move to get off the bike.
“That was amazing, thank you,” Lily smiled her ears still throbbing with the memory of the now quiet engine.
Helen reluctantly released the handlebars knowing that her movement would break the spell. “You're more than welcome,” she smiled.
Lily released her grip of Helen and pushing her hands into the calfskin seat of the bike she propelled herself off, to stand on shaky legs.
“Adrienne is probably going to kill me for losing her scarf,” Lily mused. “But you know what it was worth it.”
***
They dressed in their beige slacks and white short-sleeved shirts taking pride in putting their uniform together, complete with their beige overseas hat. Adrienne looked down at her brown shoes.
“Still think the red shoes went better,” she remarked. She sighed and picked up one of the white shirts she had bought. “Dammit, I must have picked up the wrong size,” she frowned. “I got midget sized,” she looked thoughtfully across to Adele. “Hey Adele, this is more your size. I'll swap you for three weeks mop duty,” she held the shirt out towards the smaller woman.
Adele narrowed her eyes considering the offer, “Two weeks an’ you've got yoursel’ a deal.”
Adrienne sucked air through her teeth and blew out a deep breath. “Two weeks it is then,” she said grudgingly and tossed the shirt over onto Adele's bed. Adele picked up the shirt and grinned turning to hang it up in her locker.
Marjorie raised her eyebrows slightly at Adrienne who was smiling to herself as she put her hat onto her head. She gave Marjorie a small wink as she wandered over to the mirror to check her reflection.
***
Finally released from duty, they gathered in the recreation room. Relieved to be sitting down to free time after an hour of drill in the hot Texan sun, where they practiced their wheels, marching in formation and learning the marching songs that helped them ignore the heat and the discomfort of the activity. In addition to marching, they'd had a couple more hours of Ground School, which had fried their brains more than the afternoon sun beating down on their heads. They had wearily eaten dinner; Adrienne moaning that the afternoon's activity would no doubt have her, ‘Burnt like a lobster’ and that her feet hurt worse than if she had worn her heels.
The Bay Four girls sat scattered on the floor, books open as they helped each other make sense of what they'd learned during the day. After an hour, Lily packed her things up and arose saying she was going to play her violin while they were there so as not to disturb them.
Helen stretched her back, popping noises coming from her spine, she rolled her head around to release some of the tension acquired from sitting pouring over her notes. Checking the clock, she noted that there was still a quarter of an hour before they needed to be back in their bays for curfew.
“I'm done, I'm going to head back.”
The others murmured their goodbyes barely lifting their eyes from their books.
As she entered the bay, she frowned at the empty room, although unwilling to admit it she had hoped that Lily would have been there. She rummaged through her case until she located a packet of cigarettes and a box of matches, taking the items she headed back out into the darkness of the night, which was still clinging to the oppressive heat from the day. She wandered around the base enjoying the relative peace, the quiet punctuated by sounds from the recreation room where all the current classes could gather. She lifted her head and blew smoke out into the night sky as she walked towards the flight line, inexplicably drawn towards the hangars where some of the planes were kept.
As she neared she could hear the sound of a violin, she walked towards where the haunting melody was playing, halting at the small door to the hangar. Highlighted by the shards of moonlight welcomed through the open aircraft doors stood Lily, her back to Helen as she swayed to music flowing from her fingers, which were dancing up and down the neck of her violin. Her movement accentuated the rise, fall, and flow of the music. Helen stood transfixed not just by the music but more by the sight of Lily.
Lily swept her bow across the strings for a final time; she stood still allowing the memory of the music to leave her body. She opened her eyes and jumped slightly as someone started to clap behind her. She turned lowering her violin and peered into the darkness only able to make out the red tip of a cigarette. She took a breath and relaxed as Helen stepped forward.
“Sorry I didn't mean to startle you,” Helen apologized, throwing her cigarette onto the floor of the hangar before grinding her foot on it.
“It’s okay,” Lily smiled, leaning down to put her violin back in its case.
“That was beautiful.”
Lily laughed, “Thank you, nothing like a bit of Bach to end the day.”
Helen turned looking over to where a P47 'Thunderbolt' pursuit plane sat. “I can't wait to fly,” she said wistfully walking towards the plane. Lily followed and they circled the machine touching it reverently. “What was it? The music I mean,” Helen asked as she trailed her fingertips across one of the propellers.
“Sonata for Violin solo No. 1 in G minor. It's one of my favorites to play,” Lily replied, mirroring Helen's actions. “So were you sneaking off to smoke?”
Laughing, Helen shook her head. “No not sneaking, although I don't make a habit of smoking. I only do it when I'm stressed,” she confessed as she walked around the nose of the plane and climbed up onto the wing.
“You're stressed?” Lily asked surprised, following Helen she accepted her outstretched hand and scrambled onto the wing beside her.
“Aren't you?” Helen smiled sadly. “I'm terrified of not being good enough to graduate. I'm even more terrified of washing out before I even get to go up in one of the training planes, never mind one of these babies.” She smiled patting the wing. She lay down, shivering slightly at the cold metal through her thin shirt. Lily lay down beside her and they both stared up into the dark rafters of the hangar.
“Can I ask you something?” Helen said quietly.
Lily hesitated before warily uttering, “Sure.”
“Why did you say you weren't married?” Helen turned to face Lily a look of confusion on her face, she realized that Lily had stiffened at her question. “I'm sorry, it's none of my business, forget I said anything.”
“No.” Lily exhaled. “How did you know?”
“At your interview you were wearing a wedding ring and I saw your name on some papers and your family name was McAllister not Rivera, Liliana,” she grinned as Lily rolled her eyes at hearing her full name. “Plus you almost said McAllister when you introduced yourself.”
Lily turned, “You seem to be paying close attention to me Miss Richmond.”
“You intrigue me,” Helen answered honestly.