It’s been a hectic few months, building, repairing planes, also making a few upgrades that some higher ranking officials offered. Every time I worked in those hangars, I’d come home and run outta gas. This is actually the norm for me oddly enough. My dad would call me a ol’ car battery stuck in the dust bowl. Aside from the dusty part, no matter how much sleep I get, how much I rested, I always had a short energy fuse, like an ol’ car battery constantly needed to be recharged every day or so. Yesh dad! Luckily I got better over the years to not drain it as much and build up my endurance, but I am still a dead battery at the end of day. Dagnabit! Sadly, I wasn’t able to write or call Danny in a while. I really do miss him; that last time I saw him, he was a dreamboat…wait…did I just say that out loud? Oh cripes…

Luckily, I wasn’t all work and sleep, I’ve made some new friends to keep me awake. One of the men at the hangars I’ve made fast friends with. His name is Jasiek Chlebek, but everyone calls him Johnny. He is first generation Polish American, joined the military in 1939 after hearing the news of the motherland being invaded. One night, he introduced me to his wife, Evelina Öberg, or Evelyn. The first question that popped in my mind is “how did these two end up together?” He’s Polish, she’s Swedish; he’s tall and muscular while she’s short and lean, he has dark hair and eyes while she has blonde hair and crystal blue eyes. But the story of how they got together makes sense. They met in college in the mid 1930s during a history course and bonded over shared experiences of being first generation Americans to immigrant parents. After graduation, they got married and never had any kids, don’t know why. When Johnny got into the military, Evelyn didn’t stand on the sidelines. She joined the military too! But as a nurse and travels with her husband per military marriage customs. I became close friends with Evelyn and did many things together but going to the beach. Johnny grew up Catholic while Evelyn was Protestant, but from time to time he went to her church and I went with her for Sunday service every week and we would go have some local, native food after service.

Downtown Honolulu 1700

Johnny and Evelyn invited me to see a movie tonight, Unexpected Uncle, which was released last weekend. Honestly, I’m not interested. I even told them that I may leave early, which they’re a-ok with it because they didn’t want be to me the third one out. About 10-20 minutes into the newsreel, I decided to leave. I let the couple know and they acknowledged it and I told Johnny I’ll see him tomorrow. With winter coming close, the sun comes down alot earlier. So by the time I was out of the cinema, it was dusk. “ELLIE”, a voice shouted behind me. I turned to see Danny! He’s the only one who calls me that since childhood when he couldn’t pronounce Ellis correctly at the time.

“Danny! What’s buzzin Hoa,” I greeted.

We had some small talk about how we’ve been up to and honestly, I shouldn’t feel bad about not writing to Danny. He said he’s been logging in more flying and training hours. He was there at the cinema because he bored and when the newsreel became too much, he left and noticed me by my bright strawberry blonde hair. We both noticed a little diner across the street and he invited me to join him to catch up more, in which I kindly accepted.

At the diner, we both ordered the same thing: a cheeseburger and a milkshake. We shared stories, recall memories, especially how we met. Due to my concussion 8 years ago on that dock that led me on the Titanic, memory’s still a little foggy but fortunately Danny is patient and understanding. This is what he told me of how we met:

When his father was declared missing and presumed dead after The Great War, him, his mama Mirabelle, his oldest brother Conor, and twin older brothers Tony and Teddy, moved from New York to Michigan despite his nonno saying that they should stay and he’ll put the twins up to work. When his da died, Conor has to be the man of the house at 15. As a 5-6 year old shy kid, he was picked on continuously. And that’s where I come in! I punched one of the bullies’s nose and told the other bully that if he’s going mess with the little boy, he’s gonna have to go through me: a rough n tough midwestern girl with a strike of a rattlesnake’s bite. He knew then and there that if he stayed with me, he’ll be safe. And luckily, we became best friends since day one.

I’ve met his family. Mirabelle is such a wonderful lady, but when it comes to being a single mother of 4 boys, no girls, working as a nurse, she knows how to throw a mean insult or two at her sons, especially in Italian. Conor is more of a stick in the mud, no fun kind of guy compared to the twins. Tony and Teddy are your stereotypical Italian-American boys, knows how to throw a punch or two and admit that the feel like mobsters at times. They absolutely love me for obvious reasons! Never met his Da, Teddy says he is mild-tempered and has a heart of gold. How he got into the First World War? The draft. He said his Da knew right when he left, he’d never see his young again and remembered that face of sorrow boarding the ship to fight in Europe.

Beach house 2000

After some good food and great conversations, we headed back to my beach house. Boy did Danny’s brown eyes widen when he saw the distance from the house to the beach!

“this is your house,” he asked.

“yeah.”

“and right there…is the beach.”

“yeah”

“how are you sleeping at night?”

He knew of my nightmares and my fears of the ocean. We knew each other so well that it’s like we know each other at the back of our hands.

“Well…I have a radio in my room and I listen to soft music to sleep,” I answered with whine.

Danny smiled as he looked at the ground.

As I went toward my little house, Danny gently grabbed my forearm to stop me and he wanted to ask me something: would I like to go out with him.

“Why,” I asked with curiosity

“Why not, we’ve been best friends forever and we don’t know what tomorrow brings so…”

I accepted. So it’s a date! Friday night, he’s going to pick me up at 1800 on the dot (6:00pm), and dress formally. He didn’t tell me what it is but my guess is a nice dinner out somewhere.

Honestly, I am excited and nervous about this…