Wings Read Free Page A

accept her on her terms, so she drew a line of friendship. This however, didn't keep Rowby on the right side of the line, but she was consistent.
    Liddy’s tactic had always been to dole out huge kindness to Rowby, hoping for the day when he would be distracted elsewhere. This had happened many times, but nothing had stuck. She did care what happened to him and felt bad for his challenges. Many people with a steady sense of themselves feel deeply for those who don’t have this sense, and Liddy felt for Rowby. She knew how essential it was to her own survival. It was a matter of course for Liddy to depend on what she knew she could count on in herself and stick close to it.
    As she pulled away from the field and drove down the dirt road to the town of Holly Grove, Missouri, she tapped a beat on the steering wheel and sang out to the tune in her head, “Comin’ in on a wing and a prayer, comin’ in on a wing and a prayer. Though there’s one motor gone, we can still carry on, comin’ in on a wing and a prayer.” Daniel flew over her as he circled around to land and Liddy thought to herself, Every day should begin in the air.

Chapter Two
    A loud stillness falls on a town during wartime. Is it the absence of the hell-raising and of cars that drive too fast down Main Street on Friday nights? Is it the quiet left in the dearth of fluttering girls who have no one to flutter for? Or is it the echo of empty and aching hearts, the hearts of sweeties and mamas and daddies in a land that has sent its young men to battle on foreign soil? Young men have a vigor that only they can live and draw from others. When they’re gone, there’s a pause in living that waits for their return.
    The Second World War had all but stripped most small towns of their young men. Some were kept from the effort because of flat feet, weak vision or less than perfect hearing. A few were excused by their lineage. Most that were excused would slink about the streets or stay close to home, hiding from the grip of guilt that stalked them for not being with their friends and brothers. But for some, it just wasn’t their time yet. They hadn’t been called up and wrestled with waiting for the call or enlisting.
    The town of Holly Grove was papered with posters calling for the support of their soldier boys and encouraging the purchase of Defense Savings Stamps. Posters called for the use of properly issued ration coupons— HELP US SMASH THE BLACK MARKET. Meat, sugar, coffee, shoes, gasoline and rubber were just some of the things that were dealt out sparingly, all to keep the supply available for the war effort…except for gasoline. It was plentiful. But rubber was not. Japan had been the main supplier of rubber to the United States and those ties were no longer. If people drove they wore out their tires, and a car without gas couldn’t burn much rubber. Since a plane wasn’t seen as a major rubber consumer, pilots were able to get extra gas coupons by showing documents for special needs, and Crik kept the planes in the air. Even with that, the gasoline rationing kept the paying customers closer to home, so Crik cut back on shows as the war dragged on.
    Liddy drove through her hometown and felt the lingering, silent fret of people who didn’t know what lay ahead. Blue Star Flags were displayed proudly at both home and business, but following the visit of a black sedan, a blue star would be patched over with a gold one. Fear and anger were camouflaged with pride and patriotism. A façade of resolute determination was erected that no one would confess to or let falter. The War was a fume that permeated every moment and the senses were heightened and then numbed to it.
    Liddy parked in front of Tully’s Market where Raymond Tully sat in a rocker on the sidewalk. The old man rocked and scanned the sky through binoculars. It had been over two years since Pearl Harbor had been attacked, but an uneasiness still lived in every man, woman and child that some