Read Battle Cry for Free Online

unwise to meddle.”
    “It’s just—with a war on—if he goes away.”
    “He’s only seventeen years old. They aren’t taking babies.”
    Sybil Walker sighed and returned to her mending. The doorbell rang, Marvin buttoned the top of his trousers, looped the suspenders over his shoulders and advanced to the door.
    “Hello, Danny.”
    “Good evening, Mr. Walker, hello, Mrs. Walker.” Kathy had already come to the living room with the sound of the bell. “I know it’s a school night, sir, but something rather important came up and I wondered if I could talk to Kathy for a few minutes.”
    “Don’t stand there, come on in.”
    “Hello, Danny.”
    “Hello, Kathy. Come on out on the porch…I want to tell you something.”
    “Rambling wreck from Georgia Tech, eh Danny?”
    “Now don’t keep her too long,” Mrs. Walker ordered.
    “No, ma’am,” he answered, closing the door.
    “Fine boy,” Marvin said. “Fine boy.”
    Kathy buttoned her coat and followed him across the porch to the glider. For a time he sat studying the perfect cubes made by the long row of porches down the block. Each in the same design and as they grew farther away they looked like one box inside another. Each with the porch light in the same place. All void of life. He shoved his feet and set the glider into motion. It creaked as it swayed. Kathy tucked her legs beneath her to keep them warm.
    “What is it, Danny?” Her breath caused a little cloud of steam.
    “I—don’t know where to start.”
    He turned and looked into her face. She was beautiful. Her brow over her blue eyes was furrowed in a frown. “You’re going away, aren’t you?”
    He nodded.
    “You’ve enlisted in the Marine Corps.” Her voice trailed off to inaudibility.
    “How did you know?”
    She turned from him. “I suppose I’ve known ever since Pearl Harbor. I knew it would be the Marines…I remember how you looked at them at the Fireman-Marine Game…. I suppose I knew when the news about Wake Island came over…I suppose I knew for sure on New Year’s Eve. You kissed me…like…like you were going away for a long, long time. I knew it would only be a matter of days until you told me.”
    The swing stopped.
    “When are you leaving?”
    “In a few days.”
    “What about college and…everyone.”
    “Everyone and everything is just going to have to wait.”
    “What about us?”
    He did not answer.
    “Danny, do you have to go?”
    “Yes, I have to.”
    “Why?”
    “Don’t ask me why. I’ve asked myself why, a hundred times. Just that something inside me is eating. Can’t you understand?”
    “You’re going because you’re Danny. I guess you’d be someone else if you didn’t.”
    “Kitten.”
    “Yes?”
    “I…I want you to give me back my class ring.”
    Her face turned ashen. She pulled her coat about her.
    “I’m not trying to make a grandstand play. College is one thing…this is different. I don’t know how long I’ll be gone. Maybe two or three years. There’s a rumor that I’ll be sent to the West Coast.”
    “But…but…I thought we were going steady?”
    “I don’t want to drag you into this mess, Kathy. Maybe it was just kid stuff. I just can’t go with us making any plans or promises. Something might happen and we might change our minds and we’d be awfully hurt then.”
    “I won’t change my mind,” she whispered.
    “After all, kitten, we’re just a couple of kids—and there really isn’t anything set between us.”
    He took up the gentle rock of the glider and blew into his cold hands. There was silence for several moments, broken only by a neighbor tramping wearily up the stone steps to his door.
    “Well, say something, Kathy.”
    Her lips trembled. “I knew this was going to happen, I knew it.” She arose and walked to the rail and bit her lip to hold off the tears. But they came, nevertheless.
    “Aw, for Christ sake, don’t cry. Please, you know I can’t stand it.” His hands took her shoulders