Of Windmills and War Read Online Free PDF

New York !
    Me and the guys got a last minute leave so we caught a bus
up here for a couple of days. But I sure missed spending Christmas with you.
Thanks for the nifty sweater and the socks and cookies. I had to hide the
cookies so the guys wouldn’t eat them all! Right before I left the base, I got
my orders. I’ve been assigned to the USS Oklahoma in the
Pacific Fleet! They’ll fly me out to San Francisco to
board her 1 March 1939 . I’ll
try to call you before I leave Norfolk .
    Miss you!
     Love, Joey
     
    “Wow! He’s going to the Pacific,” Danny said. “He’s gotta be
excited about that.”
    “But that’s so far away.”
    “And he gets to fly all the way to San
Francisco ! Man, I wish I could fly in an airplane. That’s gotta be
swell, way up there above the clouds. I wonder how long a flight all the way across
the country will take?”
    She shook her head. “I wish they weren’t sending him so far
away. Now we’ll never get a chance to visit him. I’d hoped we could make a trip
to see him sometime this year.”
    “Really? You think Dad would be okay with that?”
    Her countenance fell. “Oh, sweetheart, I doubt it. You know
how he is.”
    “But Mom, Joey sounds really happy, don’t you think?”
    She tilted her head to one side. “Yes, yes he does. I just
hope and pray he won’t go near all that trouble overseas.”
    “Oh, don’t worry. That doesn’t involve the U.S. He’ll
probably be having the time of his life. You’ll see.”
    She looked at him over her glasses. “Danny, I wish I was as
optimistic as you. You always look for the best in situations. I wish I had
more faith so I didn’t worry so much.”
    “But you’re a mom. Moms are supposed to worry,” Danny teased,
grabbing his letter and heading down the hall. “C’mon, Sophie. Let’s go find
out what’s happening in Holland .”
    The beagle followed him up the stairs and into his room,
jumping up on the bed before he even sat down. She never left his side when he
was home, never happier than when she was curled up beside him on the bed.
    He used the letter opener his mom had given him for
Christmas to slit open the envelope. He sat on his bed beside Sophie and
unfolded the pages.
     
    Dear Danny,
    How was your Thanksgiving? From what you described, it
sounds like such a special holiday for you and all Americans. Although I cannot
imagine what this “stuffing” you mentioned must taste like. But I do think I
would like your pumpkin pie.
    I know well these cranberries! They are quite popular here
in The Netherlands . We learned about them last
year at school. A long, long time ago, an American shipwreck came ashore in the
northern Netherlands province on the island of Terschelling —including
a barrel of cranberries. The man who found them was disappointed to find the
sour berries, hoping the barrel was full of wine. He dumped the barrel in the
dunes. My teacher said the sandy bog was the perfect ground for the berries to
grow and we’ve had them ever since. When I read of your Thanksgiving tradition
of cranberries, I thought of that shipwrecked crate as a gift from your America to my homeland
and I laughed. Should I say thank you? Bedankt!
    We just celebrated Sinterklaas on December 5, and had a
wonderful time. As is custom, we give each other presents that we make
ourselves—sometimes silly, sometimes thoughtful and nice. You have to wrap each
present and write a poem to go with it, then the person who opens the gift must
read the poem aloud. It’s very funny, going around the room hearing all these
poems, most of them very clever. I gave my sister Anya a small wooden pig which
I had carved myself. Whenever I ask my little Anya to do a favor for me, she always
says, “When pigs fly!” So I carved little wings on this pig and made up a funny
poem about Anya flying away on her little pig. She laughed and laughed, then suddenly
she started to cry. When I asked her why, she gave me a hug and said, “Because
you did