Six
minutes to six, said the clock over the information booth in New York's Grand
Central Station. The tall young Army officer lifted his sunburned face and
narrowed his eyes to note the exact time. His heart was pounding with a beat
that choked him. In six minutes he would see the woman who had filled such a
special place in his life for the past 18 months, the woman he had never seen
yet whose words had sustained him unfailingly. Lt. Blandford remembered one day
in particular, the worst of the fighting, when his plane had been caught in the
midst of a pack of enemy planes. In one of those letters, he had confessed to
her that often he felt fear, and only a few days before this battle, he had
received her answer: "Of course you fear...all brave men do." Next
time you doubt yourself, I want you tho hear my voice reciting to you: 'Yea,
though I walk through the valley of Death, I shall fear no evil, for thou art
with me.'....He had remembered that and it renewed his strength. He was going
to hear her voice now. Four minutes to six.
A
girl passed closer to him, and Lt. Blandford started. She was wearing a flower,
but it was not the little red rose they had agreed upon. Besides, this girl was
only about eighteen, and Hollis Maynel had told him she was 30. “What of
it?" he had answered, “I'm 32." He was 29. His mind went back to that
book he had read in the training camp. "Of Human Bondage" it was; and
throughout the book were notes in a woman's handwriting. He had never believed
that a woman could see into a man's heart so tenderly, so understandingly. Her
name was on the bookplate: Hollis Maynell. He got a hold of a New York City
telephone book and found her address. He had written, she had answered. Next
day he had been shipped out, but they had gone on writing. For thirteen months
she had faithfully replied. When his letters did not arrive, she wrote anyway,
and now he believed he loved her, and she loved him. But she had refused all
his pleas to send him her photograph. She had explained: “If your feeling for
me had no reality, what I look like won't matter. Suppose I am beautiful. I'd
always be haunted that you had been taking a chance on just that, and that kind
of love would disgust me.
Suppose
that I'm plain, (and you must admit that this is more likely), then I'd always
fear that you were only going on writing because you were lonely and had no one
else. No, don't ask for my picture. When you come to New York, you shall see me
and then you shall make your own decision."
One
minute to six...he flipped the pages of the book he held. Then Lt. Blandford's
heart leapt. A young woman was coming toward him. Her figure was long and slim;
her blond hair lay back in curls from delicate ears. Her eyes were blue as
flowers, her lips and chin had a gentle firmness. In her pale-green suit, she
was like springtime come alive. He started toward her, forgetting to notice
that she was wearing no rose, and as he moved, a small, provocative smile
curved her lips. “Going my way, soldier?" she murmured.
He
made one step closer to her. Then he saw Hollis Maynell. She was standing
almost directly behind the girl, a woman well past 40, her greying hair tucked
under a worn hat. She was more than plump. Her thick-ankled feet were thrust
into low-heeled shoes. But she wore a red rose on her rumpled coat. The girl in
the green suit was walking quickly away.
Blandford
felt as though he were being split in two, so keen was his desire to follow the
girl, yet so deep was his longing for the woman whose spirit had truly
companioned and upheld his own, and there she stood. He could see her pale face
was gentle and sensible; her grey eyes had a warm twinkle.
Lt.
Blandford did not hesitate. His fingers gripped the worn copy of “Of Human
Bondage" which was to identify him to her. This would not be love, but it
would be something special, a friendship for which he had been and must be ever
grateful...
He
squared his shoulders, saluted, and held the book out toward the woman,
although even while he spoke he felt the bitterness of his disappointment. “I'm
Lt. Blandford, and you're Miss Maynell. I'm so glad you could meet me. May -
may I take you to dinner?"
The
woman's face broadened in a tolerant smile. “I don't know what this is all
about, son," she answered. “That young lady in the green suit, she begged
me to wear this rose on my coat. And she said that if you asked me to go out
with you, I should tell you she's waiting for you in that restaurant across the
street. She said it was some kind of test."
- Source unknown
