Cynthia Cartier - Wings

Jenna reached in her pocket and opened her fist. Shiny silver wings sparkled in her palm.

“So, is it true, are you a Hollywood stunt flyer?”

“No, haven’t you heard? I’m a Women’s Airforce Service Pilot.”

Each graduation was followed by a few days of restlessness. The trainees yearned for their own day of recognition and their release from the confines of Cochran’s Convent. But the distraction was soon replaced by the reality of their journey. As Liddy’s class moved through each phase of training, more trainees washed-out and were killed on the base and WASPs were killed out on their commands. The most recent had been a senior trainee and one of the civilian instructors, who went down five miles north of the primary field. A rancher saw the flames when the plane was still in the air. It was determined that a fuel line broke into the carburetor and lit up the engine like a blow torch. They didn’t have a chance.

The glamour had long ago faded but the commitment had only deepened. The women came to accept the risks of flying for the military. There were a few of the girls that let it weaken them and would eventually washout or leave on their own—most, however, learned to adapt to the Army way. Defeat was not an option. Future generations of women would benefit from or pay for what they did, and they knew it.

With all the ups and downs, Liddy was thankful to finally receive a letter from home. Celia wrote with updates from Holly Grove and she asked twice what Liddy had heard from Daniel. Daniel wrote Celia often, but the heart-broken girl wanted every last bit of information she could get. Celia wrote of the men who had been drafted, enlisted, come home or died. More Holly Grove boys had been killed including both of the Wilson brothers, which deepened Celia’s anxiety. She wrote about everything she knew of each death and Liddy didn’t understand why she would spend so much time thinking about it, but Celia did think about it, a lot.

It was from this letter that Liddy learned Rowby had returned home, just two months after he finished his basic. He was with his infantry pushing the German lines when he took a bullet in the flesh of his upper arm. It was an injury that wouldn’t have kept most soldiers from being sent back up, but his mama had had enough worrying and made his daddy call some friends in Washington. Rowby was honorably discharged.

He wasn’t alone when he came home to Holly Grove. He had a ring on his finger and a Roman goddess on his arm, who was to be his final distraction. A double sense of relief came to Liddy and she couldn’t wait to meet her.

Standing at the door of their last eight hours of primary training, the class again posted for instruction from Major Trent. Liddy had done a pretty good job of hardening her heart against her feelings for Major Reid Trent until she found out he wasn’t the other half of Jenna’s engagement, and all the wonderings started again. But Trent wouldn’t even look at her since the night she was so cold to him, and then he saw her and her friends traipsing in after curfew, which brought a whole new pain.

“Trainees, when you finish your acrobatics instruction and have logged your hours, you will take an Army check. If you pass, you will move on to Basic Trainers. After lunch today, read the flight boards then check in with your instructor. You’re dismissed.”

Lewis Gant had gone overseas and Liddy’s flight group was to be shuffled to other instructors to finish their primary training. Basic training would follow and again, they would be assigned to a new instructor and they were feeling a bit like orphans.

At the flight boards Trent saw a group of instructors involved in a heated conversation and walked to the boards to check out the reason. “What’s the hold-up, gentlemen?”

“We haven’t finished the board yet.”

“I can see that. Well, finish it.”

“We’re still filling out the roster, and there’s one trainee left and…”

“And what?” said Trent impatiently.

They all looked at each other like mutes.

“Who is it?”

“Well, sir, we have to find spots for Gant’s trainees and we still have Hall, sir.”

Trent turned away from the men to hide a full grin and listened as the instructors continued to argue in whispers behind his back.

Everyone was bubbling or fretting over acrobatics and what they were in for or up for after lunch, except Bet. Lewis Gant had developed a slow and easy approach with Bet and she had come to trust him in the pit. Liddy hadn’t seen her pick at her food since before solos and she knew the little redhead was missing the grumpy little man.

“I don’t mind some looping and spinning, I just don’t want to go into a stall,” Marina scrunched her forehead into furrows.

“They’re gonna make you stall on purpose anyway. You’ve got to learn how to pull out of one,” Liddy coached.

“Besides it’s a great feeling,” added Joy Lynn.

“Like a leaf wafting in the wind,” said Liddy.

“No thank you,” said Marina.

As they got up to clear their trays, Louise sauntered over and looked at Liddy with a grin. “What?” Liddy asked Louise.

“Oh, nothing, the boards are finished. Bet you’re with Kyle Dixon, Carla is with Cheryl Williams and I got Strom.”

Liddy looked over at Bet who was wringing her hands. “Hey, don’t worry, Dixon is gonna be pitted right behind you. He’s not gonna let anything happen to his pretty boy self.”

“Liddy don’t.” Bet grimaced and shook her head.

“What? You know a mirror is part of his check list. He can’t take his eyes off that pretty face of his.”

“Liddy, that’s enough,” said Louise.

“What’s with you guys. You know it’s true.”

Louise widened her eyes and looked over Liddy’s shoulder, and Liddy turned around and saw Kyle Dixon standing right behind her.

“Thanks, Hall, maybe we could discuss my ‘pretty boy self’ over a cup of coffee.”

“Sorry, regulations, strictly forbidden,” said Liddy, showing her lack of interest.

“You ready, Bailey? I’ll be at the line in ten.”

Bet took a little luck from the cap of each of her sister-friends’ heads and dragged herself out the door behind Joy Lynn and Marina.

Liddy got up from the table and asked Louise, “Hey, who’d I get?”

“Trent,” said Louise with a huge smile.

“Trent?”

“As in Major,” Louise clarified and practically knocked Liddy through the wall with the swing of her hip.

Bet had just got to the point that she could relax and enjoy the straight flying and now her world was going to be turned upside down—literally. She and Instructor Dixon were cruising and he called out to Bet, “Over, Bailey!”

Bet held firmly to the stick with her right hand and the old shake returned to her body.

“Roll it, Bailey! I’m growing old back here,” said the instructor and actually growled with frustration.

Bet closed her eyes and tilted the stick right. The plane rolled 360 degrees and a little more.

“That’s enough now, bring her up,” Dixon called out.

Bet opened her eyes and gave the stick a little tap to the left and the horizon leveled.

Bet bopped back to the waiting area and circled her arms around Liddy’s waist. “Now I know what you’re talking about, hot-ziggety. Think your Crik will give me a job when the war’s over?”

Louise convinced Liddy she wasn’t teasing her. Still, Liddy read the boards herself. Even then, it might have been a mistake or a joke, assuming a sense of humor was allowed in the Army. She showed up at the line for her scheduled flight time and was as nonchalant as she could be. It wasn’t a mistake or a joke. Major Reid Trent walked across the mat, suited-up in flight gear, and he looked playful.

“You ready, Hall?”

Liddy nodded and smiled. Neither of them said a word as they walked to the plane or when they did the ground inspection. She took the forward pit and got situated. “It’s a pretty good day to die,” she said to herself.

“What’s that?” Trent asked.

Liddy hadn’t checked the radio, it was switched on. “Nothing, just running my check.”

The silence returned as Liddy took them up, and then Trent’s voice came over the radio, “Okay, Hall, let’s get away from this airway and see if we can teach each other a few things. You first.”

Liddy mashed down and picked out some sky above the Nolan Valley. She double rolled, dove into an outside loop and then stretched it to the heavens, came back down, dove again and looped inside.

“Very smooth, Hall,” Trent praised. “Now it’s my turn.”

The Major climbed straight up and then pushed the nose down and spiraled toward the earth. He pulled out and up and let the air roll over the nose and the plane floated into a stall. It drifted, and every inch of Liddy felt weightless and free.

Over the radio, she heard a soft humming that was low and sweet. She smiled when it became louder and quicker as Trent pulled out, leveled and pushed back up. When she controlled the stick it was quiet again, but the Major hummed a tune every time he took over.

The exchange continued until the fuel gauge was tanking out, and they headed back to Avenger. On the ride to the base, Liddy hummed, Comin’ in on a Wing and Prayer, into the radio and Major Trent joined in. They took turns wagging the wings to the rhythm. By the time they landed and jumped to the mat, the line was empty since most everyone was in mess.

“I’ll sign you off, Hall. Just need to log your hours now.” He shook his head as he slipped his chute from his shoulders and slung it onto the wing. “You can sure fly. Your file says you only had thirty-five hours logged when you applied. What’s the story?”

“Maybe I’m just a fast learner.”

“I’m sure you are.”

Liddy’s face reddened. Her blush again seemed to please him, and he leaned on the wing and studied her.

“I have a strong feeling there’s a good story behind that scar on your cheek too.”

Liddy lowered her eyes and touched the scar with the tips of her fingers. People were shy about asking about it, so they rarely did and she would forget it was even there. When they did ask, she’d avoid answering or she’d say jokingly, “Never wrestle with a cranky tiger.” Till this moment, the scar had never mattered. It was how she got it that she didn’t want to talk about. That was something she thought would only paint her as a liar or a fool.

Liddy looked back up at the Major and saw concern in his face, and she realized he thought he had offended her. He had noticed the scar the moment he looked down at her in the aisle of the train, and had wondered about it ever since. He typically wouldn’t have asked a woman such a question, but to him Liddy was not typical and he was lost in that when it came out.

She tilted her head to catch his eye and flashed her crooked smile. “I don’t think you’d believe me if I told you. And if you did believe me, you’d probably kick me out on the spot.”

“Fair enough,” he said as he grinned and grabbed his chute. Together they walked in from the flight line, making that comfortable small talk that Liddy had remembered, line by line. At the dining hall, they parted and she walked into the building, while Major Trent walked back to the administration building. Louise had been watching the door and perked up when she saw Liddy enter. The women snuck off after supper, and Liddy recounted the flight, including every last detail.

The trainees were in their bays suffering through a Texas heat wave and had stripped down to their bras and panties. Two electric fans spun on either end of their bay and they were sprawled out to catch the breeze. Each of them took turns reading a letter that Calli had written to all of them and then they shared their mail that came from graduated WASPs.

“Listen to this,” said Louise. “Higgins and Lang are instructing male cadets and Hadie Gale is towing targets and running strafe missions—”

“Strafe missions?” Marina questioned.

“They dive at the troops…” Louise folded the pages she was reading to use them to reenact the mission, “… that are at training campouts, and the men track the planes with their guns to simulate combat conditions, shooting live ammo at targets they’re towing.”

“Targets in the air?” Bet scrunched up her nose.

“Long muslin tubes. And the pilots dump boxes of tin foil balls out of the cockpit to mess up the radar,” Louise explained.