Battle Cry - Leon Uris [83]
“He loved you very much, Gib. I can see why.” Danny walked through the door.
“Good luck, Marine,” she said after him.
A feeling of warmth passed through his body. She was wonderful, like Nort was. She was him and he was her. Then, the warmth passed to a cold chill as he walked down the steps. He had left her alone. She was alone in that room. She would never hear Nort’s soft voice speak again. Never again would she anticipate the footsteps and the voices of the students. Dark nights…dark cold nights she must lie awake, fearing sleep, and mornings she must awaken and reach for him. He was gone. Nort was dead, under the ground on an island six thousand miles away. He was never coming back….
The lobby door shut and Danny paced quickly away from the place. He wanted to get on a plane and fly back to San Diego. He must not see Kathy…no, it wasn’t going to happen to her. A terrifying picture flashed through his mind…Mac was standing there in the living room, he was telling Kathy what a swell guy Danny used to be.
At last next day the moment came when his family was fully satisfied he was well and safe, and he could take leave of them. He backed the car from the garage and nervously headed for Kathy’s house.
The night had that sticky East Coast warmth. Wet heat. As he turned the car into Fairfax Avenue, he felt a strange sensation all over. The nights of dreaming, the days of waiting, the endless yearning would soon be over. He pulled the car to the curb and turned off the ignition. Only her house was as he had pictured it. Everything else in Baltimore—North Avenue, Garrison Junior High School, the park—seemed small and out of shape. Had he been gone only seven months? Strange, the vision and the reality were so far apart. He stepped from the car and put on his blouse. He must look right.
He stamped out an unfinished cigarette and wiped the dust from his shoes with the back of his trouser leg. He breathed deeply and walked to the steps, moving to the porch. He pushed the doorbell. The house was dark except for a dim light in the hallway. The emptiness gave him courage for a second, long ring. No one was home. Danny studied the situation, glanced at his watch. A foolish thought struck him. Maybe she is out on a date? No, crazy idea.
He walked to the porch glider, sat, and lit another cigarette. The heat was stifling. He took off his barracks cap, laid it carefully beside him and unbuttoned his blouse. His foot moved the glider into a slow creaky sway. Moments, seeming hours, passed. A car moving down the quiet street gave him a start…it passed by. Moments more…it was near ten o’clock.
Then, through the shadows beyond the reach of the streetlight came a faint clicking of footsteps. They were Kathy’s. They grew louder in rhythm with the wild pumping of his heart. He arose and saw her come into view. He tingled all over…he could see her…it was no dream. Beautiful Kathy…he wanted to rush down and seize her, but he stood frozen, like a numbed galoot, entranced and speechless.
He watched her move up the steps to the door. Then, as though there were voices in the night calling to her, she turned. Their eyes met and neither spoke.
“Danny,” she finally whispered.
“Hello, Kathy.”
“Danny…Danny.” And they stood in their places and gazed at each other. “I…we didn’t expect you till Tuesday. Why didn’t you phone?”
“I got a forty-eight-hour pass for a head start. Caught a plane. I wanted to surprise you.”
“I was at Sally’s. I…I…”
There was another period of awkward wordlessness. A strange tension inside them told them not to speak or the words would choke coming out.
“Would you…would you like to take a drive?” he said at last in a half whisper.
“Yes, I’ll leave a note for Mother.”
The car seemed to find its way over the familiar streets and into Druid Hill Park.
What was it that made me hold onto him, she thought. A sense of duty? Selfishness? Curiosity? What made me write those things to him in my letters? I told him things I knew I shouldn’t have, that no decent girl should write.