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state as he progressed through his pilot training, and then bravely said goodbye to him when he went overseas. That was nine months ago now. Would she be willing to wait another who-knew-how-long, when she’d been hoping to see him any day now? But how could he expect her to wave him off to war again, after only a brief respite? He just didn’t know what to think.

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    Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
    E LEANOR T RIMBLE WAS hard at work, enveloped in steam and sweltering heat. It leaked through even into the side office where she worked at the company accounts. Tonight was New Year’s Eve, and the whole world wanted their dry cleaning this minute. She’d been back at work in the laundry for several weeks now, even though it was only two months since the baby’s birth. She needed the wages. Even sharing a rented house with Robert’s mother, Ruth, money was tight. Ruth and the landlady took turns looking after little Carol Ann, whileEleanor caught the bus each day from Lemoyne to Harrisburg to bring home her meager $12 a week.
    It was hard enough living without her husband; harder still to know what a dangerous calling he’d followed. (It was as well, perhaps, that Eleanor didn’t know just how dangerous it was: that flying bombers was the most fatal military occupation in Europe. 10 ) She carried the worry day after day, the fear that one morning a War Department telegram might arrive and explode its payload of grief in her home. Eleanor had already lost her brother to the war; she couldn’t bear the thought of losing her husband too, or that Carol Ann might never know her father.
    The days passed in a forgettable blur of routine. Apart from the seasonal rush, this morning was no different than usual. As Eleanor worked, her mind was far away, oblivious to the distant ringing of the phone in the next-door office. She was startled out of her daydream by the office door slamming open and her boss leaning out. ‘Eleanor! Call for you – it’s your old man!’
    Eleanor froze. Every repressed fear instantly loomed up in her mind. Her heart thumped and her skin prickled as she hurried across to the office. She was out of breath by the time she picked up the phone. ‘Hello?’
    â€˜Eleanor—’
    â€˜Robert! Is that you?’
    The voice that came down the line sounded thin, crackly, and unbearably distant. ‘It’s me, I—’
    â€˜Robert! Are you okay? Are you hurt? They scared me when they said it was you. I thought something had happened. When are you coming home?’ She had known that the time was drawing near when he would finish his tour, and it had heightened her anxiety as well as her hopes.
    â€˜Eleanor, that’s why I’m calling. Colonel Helton made me an offer …’
    â€˜Robert, first tell me you’re not hurt. When are you coming home?’
    â€˜I’m okay, Eleanor, I’m fine. Now listen …’ Robert’s voice took ona serious tone that Eleanor didn’t like at all: even across thousands of miles of ocean it echoed with foreboding. ‘Colonel Helton has given me a tough decision to make, and you and I have to decide what we want to do. And we have to decide right now.’
    â€˜I don’t like the sound of this …’
    â€˜I’ll get right to it. I’ve finished my last mission. My tour is over and I can come home.’ Eleanor’s heart lifted, although she suspected it shouldn’t. ‘I’ll get 21 days and then I’ll likely be called back to do it all over again – another 35 combat missions. Or I can accept the colonel’s offer and go on a mission—’
    â€˜ Mission ? What are you talking about? Robert, I want you home!’
    â€˜I can’t talk about it. Listen, it’s overseas, but it’s outside the combat area. Just flying and light duty. The colonel singled me out for this. I’d be safe until the end of the war.’ He