European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - May 11, 1947, Darmstadt, Hesse Whence want there to meet the plane in she knew that army business must have tied him up in she knew it until she met the american with re nailed an american who was a Story by Barbara Banks illustration by play irw1n she stood disconsolately at the door of the customs watch ing the other plane passengers scrambling for their bags and then lifting them on the counter for in if Only John had met the trip had been More difficult than she had anticipated she had minded the Altitude her eardrums still Felt stretched and sore from the pressure of the behind her a woman had been air sick All Crum pling up paper bag after paper the smell filling their end of the she Felt dirty and and when she had sent the Cable Tell ing John that she was at last on her was actually coming abroad As a Berlin pass port All snug in her she had known that he might not be Able to meet her in but still she had she examined the faces of the throng pressing at the Glass doors which barred the customs room from the outside but Johns dark face with the White scar across one cheekbone was not she sighed and went to yank at her suit the Only ones still standing in forlorn isolation on the it would be another week she before she would be in and with she Felt the excite ment of Landing squeezed out of her like water wrung out of a the customs inspector eyed her any nylons to declare she wondered if he expected her to spend the next years of her life in Bare of course she snapped and then watched him while he prowled through her bag finally pulling out the precious particularly sheer and particularly expensive because once John had called her legs the most Beautiful in that same his last evening in the he had also try to get Over to the army will keep me there at least a year or two on occupation i thought i could walk out on this and not give a but youre a an Irish and in afraid i cant get along without get to Germany and Well be married in some chaplains office and set up housekeeping in a Flat without its As Good a Way As any to play she she How he had told her the night youve got Green eyes like a sea fairy and hair like a Black rain and youre Man bait and in on the in All she she remembered being with nun better than she remembered toe weeks that which were empty ones because they were without him these weeks were All blurred into waiting for letters that came fast at first and then that last forgive its not that i dont think of but things Are so confused Over Here All the too much work and nothing Ever too Many parties and kissing the colonels wife too much too Many lecherous and then up and at half conscious the next there Are Many things i should write but now in too another shed had lots of time to memorize that letter because after that he haunt written again Only once a Cable on her birthday greetings to an Irish Short and like thai but at least he haunt Only now it was All she was in she was close to when he saw her hed remember All Over she was sure of that tour Hundred and fifty the mustachioed in Spector was shouting it at and she realized that he had 1een shouting at her for some pay Over at that he bowed and she smiled a tired smile that cracked her and then went Over to the in another half an hour shed be in a hotel lying on one of those pleasantly in Mora looking French a Good Nap before dinner was prob ably All she needed to shake the Gray fog that surrounded she Felt happier by the time she had happier and a whole lot wandering in to the hotel a bar floored room she began mentally to plan her Din a leisurely meal that would absorb at Leas two hours of her too plentiful it was disconcerting to after she had climbed the three stairs to the upper level of the dining room that All the tables were in the Comer a the girl Beautiful in a Way that depended on exaggerated probably a but a Beautiful in the at the Large children and a Black dressed woman and a Little Black suited Obi Clisly a Middle class family out for the evening and deter mined to make the most of in the other an american unmistakably american in any part of the Long legs in thin a tailored gabardine too thin but giving her the look of a Vogue face made up not As Young As she might be but Pale Blue startling in the deep mat Tan of her powder Black wrapped in a smooth Roll up the Back of her head so that it had the neat look of a greek the woman a tentative i smile at and Molly smiled the woman gestured with a re nailed hand to the empty chair at her Molly slipped into it of youre woman of said she Felt a sudden affection for the they had been thinking the same things about each they talked spasmodically after Molly leaving table mentally from time to time for Long dreams about tomorrow the main Seiner if she was Lucky and could get a the next John would be expecting she would Telegraph him As soon As she knew when her train was due in he would meet the woman glanced briefly at her she moved like a thought no wonder women were called the Best them were More feline than John went off some thing to do with my permit to get into i expected him Back Long before she spoke the Way a woman in love As if everyone in the world knew her beloved and was equally eager to talk about Molly was willing to play it her an american too she asked of of thought but she let it she fastening a look of interest firmly to her prepared to slip away from the conversation in a minute to think of her own so Many Johns in the she wondered about All the women i the world in love with men named a Host we ought to form a she thought she listened a Little from time to never thought much of Amer ican spent years in Paris before the War with what i thought were the other you know what i mean know How to talk to a woman full of Little then i met John he was on leave in Paris not Good looking but fascinating dark and Beautiful the Way Only a Man with real Charm is Beautiful he hypnotized me he tried to avoid me at i probably because men essentially distrust my kind of a but it was Kis met we had no alternative Molly could imagine How it had hand across the table two Garets in the love with a capital she wondered Why this woman was airing the most intimate parts of her it was pm she thought it is i said when two people Are in love to the same its much with her John it had never been that Little Mody worshipping big major Leslie and hurting every of in the end it had turned out All youre Man bait and in the woman opened her Black leather extracted a cig Aret from its and lit blowing the smoke precisely from her red that very shrewd of my she said it As if she could hardly believe that such a Young thing had Ever had enough experience at love to know of he was irresistible after so Many French big and the Way a really Good Ameri can Man always if you ran imagine he talks to me As if i were a Bobby he lets put it on the dont keep me wait i love my nobody been anything but polite to me in thought do you think you out loud she he sounds a Little dont you Ever think Darling his love scenes Are perfectly Marvel he says i have Blue eyes like a sea and your hair said Molly in a cold you have such Lovely thank John likes he says its like a Black supplied my How did you Ever know it just seemed to said she was still waiting for her Des but she tried to think of some Way of getting out of it want necessarily her mixed up with this woman twice his there were lots of maybe they both read the same maybe there was a course on How to make love and both were maybe except that it was her that was something Molly didst want to if she wanted she wanted to get away fast there was always the old Bromide about ones aches and 1 in she but i seem to have a the trip was i just landed you no i had no Ujj woman Large Blue eyes were fixed7 sympathetically on youre just Here from the you Haven seen Paris at All you must let John and me show it to since All weve still a few Dazsi Here in Johns leave is up m j a few Hes a major in the j you and he has to Goj Back to Berlin on but for Al few j dont think in be Bete that Long dear heavenly she Watt do please help me to get oat i of Here before John finds me with thai i love ill always i dont care what kind of Hes mixed up with he and lots of queer things pen to people when there i dont but i dont want find me i dont want him know that Ive found out i want pretend that theres never been any cat else but its my Only to go on with John As if nothing Ever Well be married just the Way weve by that time a few leaves i Paris with a woman old enough to i his an j woman who never gave him a wont she dropped her gloves trying gather up the things on in a and she found pawing clumsily under the table her face Felt hot and her were she haunt been lying really did have straightened up finally to lace woman across the if youll excuse of my i do youll feel better in the in sure i will she started to stand minute she be she saw that the Man had raised one of her nailed hands in a gesture of to someone across the stood her Back her Only to whoever was standing behind 1 she could hear approaching foot behind and still she Back As if by not could avoid the next it not be it might still All she turned she eyes to his the on which the scar Over the Bone began to Whiten slowly a White wound against Brown of his they stood at each behind them Molly could strange woman thin thoroughly my is my major John were married just last i ten you said Mouy and then she walked Arway and the
