U.S.A_ - John Dos Passos [206]
Del was home and seemed glad to see him. She said
she had a date that night but he teased her into breaking it off. After al , weren't they engaged to be married? They went out and had a sundae at an icecream parlor and she told him al about her new job with the Duponts and how she was getting ten more a week and how al the boys she knew and several girls were working in the munition factories and how some of 'em were making fifteen dol ars a day and they were buying cars and the boy she'd had a date with that night had a Packard. It took a long time for Joe to get around to tel her about what old Cap'n Perry had said and she was al excited about his having been torpedoed and said why didn't he go and get a job over at Newport News in the shipyard and make real money, she
-64-didn't like the idea of his being torpedoed every minute, but Joe said he hated to leave the sea now that there was a chance of getting ahead. She asked him how much he'd make as third mate on a freighter and he said a hundred and twentyfive a month but there'd always be bonuses for the zone and there were a lot of new ships being built and he thought the prospects pretty good al around.
Del screwed her face up in a funny way and said she didn't know how she'd like having a husband who was away from home al the time, but she went into a phone booth and cal ed the other boy up and broke off the date she had with him. They went back to Del's house and she cooked up a bite of supper. Her folks had gone over to Fortress Monroe to eat with an aunt of hers. It made Joe feel good to see her with an apron on bustling around the kitchen. She let him kiss her a couple of times but when he went up behind her and hugged her and pul ed her face back and kissed her, she said not to do that, it made her feel al out of breath. The dark smel of her hair and the feel of her skin that was white like milk against his lips made him feel giddy. It was a relief when they went out on the street in the keen northwest wind again. He bought her a box of Saturday night candies at a drugstore. They went to see a bil of vaudevil e and movies at the Colonial. The Belgian war pictures were awful exciting and Del said wasn't it terrible and Joe started to tel her about what a guy he knew had told him about being in an air raid in London but she didn't listen. When he kissed her goodnight in the hal , Joe felt awful hot and pressed her up in the corner by the hatrack and tried to get his hand under her skirt but she said not til they were married and he said with his mouth against hers, when would they get married and she said they'd get married as soon as he got his new job.
Just then they heard the key in the latch just beside
-65-them and she pul ed him into the parlor and whispered not to say anything about their being engaged just yet. It was Del's old man and her mother and her two kid sisters and the old man gave Joe a mean look and the kid sisters giggled and Joe went away feeling fussed. It was early yet but Joe felt too het up to sleep so he walked around a little and then went by the Stirps' house to see if Wil was in town. Wil was in Baltimore looking for a job, but old Mrs. Stirp said if he didn't have nowhere to go and wanted to sleep in Wil 's bed he was welcome, but he couldn't sleep for thinking of Del and how smart she was and how she felt in his arms and how the smel of her hair made him feel crazy and how much he wanted her. First thing he did Monday morning was to go over to