U.S.A_ - John Dos Passos [301]
"I don't love anybody but you, Joe," she suddenly said quietly. But he already had control of himself; "Daughter, forgive me," he said in a quiet lawyer's voice, "I don't know what I was thinking of, I must be crazy . . . this war is making us al crazy . . . Good night . . . Say
. . . er . . . erase this al from the record, wil you?" That night she couldn't sleep a wink. At six in the morn-ing she got into her car, fil ed up with gas and oil and started for Dal as. It was a bright fal morning with blue mist in the hol ows. Dry cornstalks rustled on the long hil s red and yel ow with fal . It was late when she got home. Dad was sitting up reading the war news in pyjamas and bathrobe. "Wel , it won't be long now, Daughter," he said.
"The Hindenburg line is crumpling up. I knew our boys could do it once they got started." Dad's face was more lined and his hair whiter than she'd remembered it.
-284-She heated up a can of Campbel 's soup as she hadn't taken any time to eat. They had a cosy little supper together and read a funny letter of Buster's from Camp Merritt where his outfit was waiting to go overseas. When she went to bed in her own room it was like being a little girl again, she'd always loved times when she got a chance to have a cosy chat with Dad al alone; she went to sleep the minute her head hit the pil ow. She stayed on in Dal as taking care of Dad; it was only sometimes when she thought of Joe Washburn that she felt she couldn't stand it another minute. The fake armi-stice came and then the real armistice, everybody was crazy for a week like a New Orleans mardigras. Daughter de-cided that she was going to be an old maid and keep house for Dad. Buster came home looking very Anned and ful of army slang. She started attending lectures at Southern Methodist, doing church work, getting books out of the circulating library, baking angelcake; when young girl-friends of Buster's came to the house she acted as a chap-eron. Thanksgiving Joe Washburn and his wife came to din-ner with them. Old Emma was sick so Daughter cooked the turkey herself. It was only when they'd al sat down to table, with the yel ow candles lighted in the silver can-dlesticks and the salted nuts set out in the little silver trays and the decoration of pink and purple mapleleaves, that she remembered Bud. She suddenly began to feel faint and ran into her room. She lay face down on the bed listening to their grave voices. Joe came to the door to see what was the matter. She jumped up laughing, and almost scared Joe to death by kissing him square on the mouth. "I'm al right, Joe," she said. "How's yourself?" Then she ran to the table and started cheering every-body up, so that they al enjoyed their dinner. When they were drinking their coffee in the other room she told them that she'd signed up to go overseas for six months with the
-285-Near East Relief, that had been recruiting at Southern Methodist. Dad was furious and Buster said she ought to stay home now the war was over, but Daughter said, others had given their lives to save the world from the Germans and that she certainly could give up six months to relief work. When she said that they al thought of Bud and were quiet. It wasn't actual y true that she'd signed up, but she did the next morning and got around Miss Frazier, a returned missionary from China