Curves and Mistletoe Read Free

Edythe took another long drag on her cigarette then
snuffed it out, putting the remnants back in her metal
casing.
    “Gotta save all we have. Never know when they
will start rationing these too.” She closed the casing with a snap
and nodded at Ava. Edythe turned to walk away from her, her heels
clicking against the pavement of the walkway.
    Ava didn’t expect Edythe to acknowledge her
again but the bombshell turned suddenly and looked at Ava, “Some of
the girls are going out tonight. To the dance hall. Wanna join us?
It should be a real good time.”
    She was asking her to hang out with the girls,
she had not expected that. She was not the typical shape for the
group of girls Edythe was talking about, thin and beautiful. Ava
was plump and curvy. She was beautiful and she knew it, but she was
nothing like that class of woman. She never expected Edythe to
ask.
    “Uh, sure. Why not?” Keep it cool.
    Edythe gave a satisfied smile and walked
off.
    A slow smile crept up Ava’s lips until she
could hardly stand it. In town a week and already she was being
invited to things. Perhaps her mother was right. She would have new
opportunities.
    ***
     
    “You ready?” Gladys asked as they took their
place on the line. Gladys was her bucker today. The burly woman
worked opposite Ava, taking her rivets and smoothing them out. It
was harder work and Gladys’s large size explained why she was doing
the job. Riveting wasn’t as bad as people made it seem, you just
had to have a good eye.
    “As ready as I could possibly be, Gladys.” She
tried to force a smile but it was hot work, the shield that she
held over her was all she had to protect her. She had asked for
goggles, but there was a shortage and women in the munitions
factories needed them more. So she was told by the shift
matron.
    She took her gun and pressed it to
the metal plate, riveting and working, her bucker sawing and
smoothing off the underside of the rivets. It was hot work, the
lack of ventilation and the heavy machinery causing sweat to spring
up out of her pores and drip through her overalls. Her turban
caught a good deal of the sweat from her forehead. But not enough
and at times the sting of it in her eyes was fierce. God dammit. Why can’t they turn on a
fan?
    When they were finished with one they hit the
button and sent it down the line, only to receive yet another
panel. The work didn’t stack up, for she was a competent riveter
and Gladys a good bucker. But by the end of the shift she was tired
and it took all she had to work panel after panel.
    Ava looked up to see a group of soldiers
walking through the plant, the shift matron talking to each of
them. They had a clipboard in their hands, writing notes and
checking things off. She had seen a couple of these groups come
through the factory in the short week and a half she had been
employed. The Cartney Corporation liked to keep its clients
involved in the process of bomber creation.
    They were, after all, the ones who flew the
things into harm’s way and dropped the bombs other women were
making them in other factories.
    A particular soldier caught her eye, his dark
hair and olive skin something she couldn’t help but stare at. When
his darker than brown eyes met hers she almost dropped her riveter.
He tipped his hat and cocked a smile, looking right back at the
shift matron. It took her breath away and she almost lost her
concentration.
    “Dunn, pay attention. We don’t got all day.
Shift’s almost over.” Gladys brought her attention back to the work
at hand.
    She went back to work, but his face stayed
there. Burned into her brain.
    “You going to the social tonight?” Ava ventured
as she worked through the last half hour of her shift. She needed
something to keep her focused. At attention.
    “Down at the dance hall?” Gladys asked her
eyebrow raised.
    “Legion is sponsoring.” Gosh, why is she looking at me like I grew a
third eye?
    “Yeah, I’m going. You going?” Gladys was