Battle Cry - Leon Uris [44]
“Come on, Elaine.”
“Step right up. Ah there, there’s a Marine. Come on sport…win the little lady a prize. Three balls for a thin dime….”
“Hold my blouse.” He winked. “They don’t call me Rifle Arm Forrester for nothing.” He went into an elongated wind-up and tossed the softball at the pyramid of iron bottles. He missed the works by a foot. “Hum, first time that’s ever happened.” She tilted her head back and laughed. One bottle fell, grudgingly, in three tries.
“It’s rigged,” he whispered, “magnets.”
“Hold this,” Elaine said, handing him back his blouse and two cones.
“That’s right, step right up little lady and show him how.” She did and jumped from the ground screaming, “A winner!”
“Yes sir, everybody wins. You there, sailor…win a prize….”
Elaine tucked the plaster doll under her arm and walked off still laughing. “I played on a girl’s team ten years ago. They don’t call me Rifle Arm Gursky—Yarborough for nothing.”
“Very funny, very funny.”
“I want a hot dog.”
“I’m broke.”
“This is on me.”
“Oh, look over there.”
“What?”
“A ferris wheel. No…no, on second thought it is rather high.”
“Come on,” Danny said.
They whirled up and then looked down. On the crazy city. She grasped the guard tightly and slipped over close to him. “Don’t crawl all over me,” he said, “I’m just as scared as you are.”
“I haven’t had so much fun in years.”
“What did you say?”
“I said…it sure takes the breath out of you.”
The wheel stopped suddenly. They were high above the crowd. Their seat swayed back and forth. She gasped and he placed his arm about her. It seemed as though he could reach out and touch a star…it was quiet and the world far away. A crazy day, and ending in the clouds. His other arm went about her and she lifted her face. The wheel came to earth. He kissed her and they spun in a giddy circle. Her fingers dug into his arm. She drew back. He kissed her again. The flashing lights…the muffled sounds of people below…rising and then falling, sent them dizzy. Then the wheel stopped suddenly.
They walked silently from the white way. The maze of sound and light was deaf to them. She turned, her face very pale.
“I…I always wanted to kiss a girl on a ferris wheel.”
“Good night, Danny.”
“I’m not sorry and neither are you.”
She was afraid…of herself.
“I saw on the bulletin board at the canteen—a hayride next Friday. I have liberty—I’ll bet you look swell in slacks.”
“I don’t want to see you again, Danny.”
“Come on, I’ll take you back to the canteen.”
“No, no….”
“I’ll see you Friday, then.”
She spun around and raced into darkness. Danny withdrew his last dime from his pocket. He flipped it in the air and walked away from the carnival, whistling.
Elaine Yarborough filled a pair of slacks nicely. The wife of Vernon Yarborough made it a point to keep her figure attractive.
She paced the line of hay-filled trucks as laughing men and girls piled aboard, and a sound of starting motors filled the air. She checked her watch, then sighed despondently.
“Hi, Elaine.” She started and spun about. He was standing behind her. “I almost didn’t make it.” They looked at each other long and hard. He took her hand and led her to the last truck. Her hand was trembling. In a quick effortless motion, he took her in his aims and gently lifted her into the truck and hopped aboard. They settled back in the straw, she nestled in his arms.
The beach at La Jolla: a campfire, songs, tangy tasting hot dogs. The surf pounding the shore and a blanket of stars overhead. They walked along the water line. She was lost in his green blouse, which she wore to keep out the chill. And during the evening, hardly a word passed between them.
Afterward, her car stopped before her apartment in the neat court of the motel full of officers’ wives. Danny eased it into its port and followed