(no subject)
Was feeling strangely tetchy and ornery. The only therapy I could think of was to write up this little bit of ... something that's been eating away at my brain for a while. It's part of a bigger story I may write in the next ... 20 years or so and is about change and loss and readjusting.
The match hissed and spluttered as it caught flame. With a puff and a crackle the cigarette caught and a content, involuntary sigh was heard as the woman in slacks sucked in her first breath. Her mother wouldn’t allow anyone to smoke in the house. For years her father had brought his occasional cigars out into the yard to enjoy as the sun set. Now it was her turn to stand outside and stare up at the stars as her mother glared disapprovingly from the kitchen window.
Joan grinned when she heard the sound of pans clanking angrily together. Her mother may have casually disapproved of the mess and smell of men smoking but she was passionate in her hatred of women smoking, especially when it was her own daughter who had taken up that vile, filthy habit. Joan had never quite been the kind of lady her mother had hoped she would be.
As her eyes adjusted to the darkness she was able to make out more constellations. There was Pegasus winging his eternal way across the sky. She caught the dim slink of Draco peek out from around the North Star and the brilliant crown of Cassiopeia. The stars were there, forever constant and as bright as they had been when she and her brothers had laid out in the yard listening to their father’s voice as he calmly pointed them out, one by one.
The boys would be home soon, not only her brothers but everyone who had gone away to fight and lived to see it end. The plant had closed early today when news of the Japanese surrender had blasted out over the airwaves. She’d been so encased in the euphoria, the pure relief as she ran out into the chaotic streets that she hadn’t realized what that would mean to her. The whispers were already circling around the plant about the slowdowns and the layoffs and how it was time for all the Rosies to go back home so that Their Boys would have something to come back to.
The breeze blew suddenly chill as she stubbed out her cigarette. She shivered and turned back to the house, the kitchen dark now and the radio turned off. Everything was changing faster then she could keep up.
*****
The bar was loud and crowded and noisy, just the way they liked it. Music blasted out of the radio as masses of soldiers shoved their way through the crowd. Everything seemed to pulse with a strange, euphoric energy.
“Come on, buddy, just one tiny li’l drink. You gotta celebrate fuckin’ V-J Day, it’s your patriotic duty, soldier.”
“Nuh-uh, not a chance.” Ron laughed, vainly trying to fend off the sloshing mug that was trying to upend itself in his lap. Seeing Mac drunk wasn’t all that strange, it was the being sober part that was the new experience. “I’m goin’ home to my mama clean and sober. Believe you me, she’s gonna be disappointed enough in the way I’ve acted over here, there’s no way I’m gonna give her anything else to sigh about.”
“How’s she ever gonna find out what you’ve been up to?” Mac slurred
“Oh, she’ll know. She always knows. Trust me, you’ve never met anyone like my mama.” His buddy stared at him, empty-eyed and drunk. With a jolt Ron realized that he needed that, he needed to get good and drunk, come hell or his mother’s wrath. He grinned wickedly and grabbed the pint out of his buddy’s hand, downing it in one long gulp.
“Hey! Get your own damn booze!”
*****
The transit barracks were quiet and dark. It seemed that even the mice were out celebrating this brave new world. Dave shivered and turned over in his bunk, pulling the rough army issue blanket up under his chin. He stared out the window at the few stars that shown around the surrounding barracks.
He was trying not to think about anything, to blank his mind and try to get some real sleep for the first time in days. It was just so strange, though, learning how to fall asleep without the shadow of barb wire on the walls and the unmistakable sound of German soldiers pacing up and down on the other side of the fence.
Dave closed his eyes tight and slowed his breathing. He could only pray for sleep without dreams.
The match hissed and spluttered as it caught flame. With a puff and a crackle the cigarette caught and a content, involuntary sigh was heard as the woman in slacks sucked in her first breath. Her mother wouldn’t allow anyone to smoke in the house. For years her father had brought his occasional cigars out into the yard to enjoy as the sun set. Now it was her turn to stand outside and stare up at the stars as her mother glared disapprovingly from the kitchen window.
Joan grinned when she heard the sound of pans clanking angrily together. Her mother may have casually disapproved of the mess and smell of men smoking but she was passionate in her hatred of women smoking, especially when it was her own daughter who had taken up that vile, filthy habit. Joan had never quite been the kind of lady her mother had hoped she would be.
As her eyes adjusted to the darkness she was able to make out more constellations. There was Pegasus winging his eternal way across the sky. She caught the dim slink of Draco peek out from around the North Star and the brilliant crown of Cassiopeia. The stars were there, forever constant and as bright as they had been when she and her brothers had laid out in the yard listening to their father’s voice as he calmly pointed them out, one by one.
The boys would be home soon, not only her brothers but everyone who had gone away to fight and lived to see it end. The plant had closed early today when news of the Japanese surrender had blasted out over the airwaves. She’d been so encased in the euphoria, the pure relief as she ran out into the chaotic streets that she hadn’t realized what that would mean to her. The whispers were already circling around the plant about the slowdowns and the layoffs and how it was time for all the Rosies to go back home so that Their Boys would have something to come back to.
The breeze blew suddenly chill as she stubbed out her cigarette. She shivered and turned back to the house, the kitchen dark now and the radio turned off. Everything was changing faster then she could keep up.
*****
The bar was loud and crowded and noisy, just the way they liked it. Music blasted out of the radio as masses of soldiers shoved their way through the crowd. Everything seemed to pulse with a strange, euphoric energy.
“Come on, buddy, just one tiny li’l drink. You gotta celebrate fuckin’ V-J Day, it’s your patriotic duty, soldier.”
“Nuh-uh, not a chance.” Ron laughed, vainly trying to fend off the sloshing mug that was trying to upend itself in his lap. Seeing Mac drunk wasn’t all that strange, it was the being sober part that was the new experience. “I’m goin’ home to my mama clean and sober. Believe you me, she’s gonna be disappointed enough in the way I’ve acted over here, there’s no way I’m gonna give her anything else to sigh about.”
“How’s she ever gonna find out what you’ve been up to?” Mac slurred
“Oh, she’ll know. She always knows. Trust me, you’ve never met anyone like my mama.” His buddy stared at him, empty-eyed and drunk. With a jolt Ron realized that he needed that, he needed to get good and drunk, come hell or his mother’s wrath. He grinned wickedly and grabbed the pint out of his buddy’s hand, downing it in one long gulp.
“Hey! Get your own damn booze!”
*****
The transit barracks were quiet and dark. It seemed that even the mice were out celebrating this brave new world. Dave shivered and turned over in his bunk, pulling the rough army issue blanket up under his chin. He stared out the window at the few stars that shown around the surrounding barracks.
He was trying not to think about anything, to blank his mind and try to get some real sleep for the first time in days. It was just so strange, though, learning how to fall asleep without the shadow of barb wire on the walls and the unmistakable sound of German soldiers pacing up and down on the other side of the fence.
Dave closed his eyes tight and slowed his breathing. He could only pray for sleep without dreams.