CHAPTER THREE THE USO PARTY

All the next day, though Kitty had many obligations and numerous things on her mind, her thoughts continually returned to the peculiar circumstances of her boat ride from town. There was something very mysterious about the whole business. She felt certain her father had evaded telling her all he might have. Was the new nurse involved in some mystery?

Suddenly Kitty recalled Brad’s worried expression at the meeting of the two. He looked like one who suspected the cause of the disharmony. Though she could not question Nurse Dawson there was no reason why she shouldn’t talk to Brad about what had happened. Maybe she would see him at the USO party Saturday night.

As she dressed for the party the following night, Kitty’s thoughts were busy with what she would say to Brad. All the girls were wearing gay evening clothes, even though they were pre-war gowns, for this made the occasion seem festive for the boys.

Vera Parsons, a member of the Motor Corps, who drove the station wagon around to collect the girls for the USO parties, honked before Kitty had quite finished dressing. She threw her coat around her shoulders, caught up the skirt of the fluffy evening dress of pale yellow, and hurried toward the front door.

She felt buoyantly happy as she kissed Billy good night and joined the girls. Life had become an interesting adventure once more, with a goal to work toward. She had the happy feeling of one who had at last found a niche into which she fitted perfectly.

Kitty had been to only one other USO dance, for she had been in no mood for parties when she first joined her father on the island. She missed her Aunt Nina too keenly. It was Vera Parsons who made her realize these dances were not like most others. She would not be going merely for her own pleasure, but to help the boys forget they were homesick and lonely and still had a big job ahead of them.

“You know they won’t allow just any sort of girl to go to these dances,” Vera told her. “Only those of the highest caliber. They’re not always easy to find, especially on an island as small as Palmetto. We need all the nice girls we can get to help us out.”

So Kitty had attended the dance last Tuesday, and enjoyed it immensely. It was then she had noticed, though only casually, the Snack Bar which the Canteen operated. Tonight she planned to give the bar more than a brief inspection, and to get acquainted with the workers.

Vera knew all the girls and introduced Kitty. She had been on the island a year and was acquainted with everyone who was helping with war work. Vera was a most capable girl, large and rather muscular, but with such a wholesome attitude Kitty warmed to her at once. She had come upon her the first time on a sandy road running through a palmetto thicket. Vera was changing a tire with as much ease as a garage mechanic. Kitty later learned that she was the type of girl who doesn’t hesitate to put her hands to any task. Her reddish brown hair, snapping brown eyes and gusty manner won her friends wherever she went.

“Well, Kitty Carter’s soon going to be one of you!” was her method of introducing the Canteen candidate to the girls behind the Snack Bar. “Kitty, this is Mrs. Evans. She’s Chairman of the Corps over here, and this is Sally Bright and Judy Conner.”

“We’ll surely be glad to have you,” spoke up Mrs. Evans, a thin, sprightly woman in her fifties. Though much older than the other two, she was still young enough in spirit to be comradely.

“I can hardly wait to begin my training,” said Kitty, perching on one of the stools, and leaning her elbows on the counter.

“When do you start?” asked Sally.

“We’ll Be Glad to Have You,” Mrs. Evans Said

“Monday. The nutrition class first.”

“Yes, that must come first,” Mrs. Evans told her. “It’s a prerequisite to the Canteen course. We have to know a lot about food since our job is feeding people under all sorts of circumstances.”

“And we have to know how to wash a stack of dishes as high as the Washington Monument,” put in Judy Conner with a groan.

“Fortunately no one has to do that all the time,” Mrs. Evans explained. “We take turns doing the different tasks so everyone has an opportunity to gain all-round experience.”

“I’m always glad when it comes my turn to make out menus,” said Judy. “But Sally actually likes to clean up. Can you imagine that?”

Sally’s button nose wrinkled as her round face spread into a grin. “Strange, but true. I like to bring order out of chaos.”

“Isn’t it wonderful that we have a group where different ones like to do different things?” said Mrs. Evans happily.

“I like to cook,” Kitty told them. “I like experimenting and creating new concoctions and trying out new recipes.”

“I’m afraid there won’t be much opportunity for new dishes in this work, but you’ll be given plenty of opportunity to cook if you like that.”

Kitty glanced at Sally with a look of appreciation. “But I just can’t imagine anyone really liking to clean a kitchen.”

“They’re rare birds,” giggled Judy.

“It gives my esthetic nature a keen satisfaction to leave a kitchen spick-and-span after the hullabaloo is over,” Sally explained.

“Sometimes she is too anxious to clean,” Judy reported. “She has a way of cleaning up bowls and spoons before the cooks have finished with ’em.”

Sally went back to the kitchen to end their teasing, and Kitty asked, “Is the nutrition course very hard?”

“Oh, no. Miss Pearson makes it very interesting. You learn all about food needs in emergencies and food values for all times,” explained Mrs. Evans.

“I guess we could all learn a lot about that.”

“Indeed we could! Part of our work, too, is giving instructions and demonstrations to people. Good health and sane living are so dependent on proper diet.”

“More so than most people will admit,” said Judy. “You’ll learn about that in nutrition class.”

“Well, it seems I’m in line to learn lots that will help me even after the war is won,” Kitty answered, and she felt her interest and anticipation in the work increasing.

“The most exciting part of the work comes at the time of an emergency,” explained Mrs. Evans. “I helped once during a flood out in Mississippi. That was when I first went into Canteen work.”

“When we read about such things in the papers they seem so unreal and far away,” said Kitty, suddenly feeling a great sense of responsibility in her new undertaking. She realized now that a Canteen worker must have the courage and endurance of a true soldier if she was to fulfill her obligations.

There was much more she wanted to ask Mrs. Evans and the girls, but at that moment the band began playing and Jimmy Barnes, a young storekeeper, came to ask her to dance with him.

The second dance had just begun when someone tapped her partner on the shoulder. Kitty looked over the sailor’s shoulder to see the spotless white of a Naval officer’s uniform. She was surprised to recognize Lieutenant Cary.

She could not suppress a startled exclamation, “Oh, you?”

“Sorry to break in, but I had to apologize for leaving yesterday at the dock without telling you how much I appreciated the ride from town, but I was late for an appointment.”

“Oh, that was O.K. Dad had told me to phone so we’d have a way of getting Miss Dawson’s bags up from the dock.”

“So she’s an old friend?”

Though the young doctor’s words seemed harmless enough Kitty was instantly on the defensive. Guardedly she replied, “I never saw her till yesterday.”

“Though you met her at the train?”

Kitty noticed how blond the Lieutenant’s eyebrows were when he lifted them with a skeptical expression. She made no reply to his last remark, not knowing how best to speak.

He seemed to take the hint that the subject was closed, and after an interval said, “You dance beautifully.”

“Thanks.”

“You look charming tonight,” he persisted.

She flushed in spite of not wanting him to pay her compliments. She was about to make a pert retort when she reminded herself that he, too, was in the service, even though she disliked him personally. After all she had come here to try to make these men who were serving her country a bit happier. Suddenly she caught sight of Brad watching her with a puzzled expression.

To her relief the band crashed out the finale at that moment, and Brad came to claim her for the next dance.

“So glad you came,” Kitty said cordially.

“No gladder than I am.” He grinned as he looked her over with a sauciness at which no one could take offense. Then he whistled softly.

“Gosh, but you look like a dream walking!”

“But I came here to dance, not walk.”

“You didn’t come here to dance with Lieutenant Cary from now on if I have anything to do with it.”

“Why he dances divinely.” Kitty found herself defending the man she didn’t like just to take Brad down a peg or two.

“Maybe he learned his dance steps where the great Strauss waltzes were born.” Brad glanced around before he added “Vienna.”

“You mean?”

“We can’t talk here,” he warned quietly.

“I wanted to talk to you about something, too.”

“Did you?” he asked eagerly.

He took her arm and started toward the rear door. Some steps led down to a court with a fountain in the center and natural palms around it. There were dim lights, and a hostess to make everyone welcome.

Brad found a seat at the far end where the lights were dimmed enough for them to catch a glimpse of the stars. Kitty glanced around to be sure that no one else was within hearing distance.

“Brad, did you notice anything odd yesterday when I introduced Nurse Dawson to Lieutenant Cary?”

“Plenty!” He spoke the word with significance.

“They seemed to have an innate animosity for each other when obviously they had never met before.”

“If you ask me, Kitty, it was a blow to Lieutenant Cary to discover Ensign Dawson on her way to Bernard Hospital.”

“But why?”

“Well, I hardly know how to tell you. It seems so intangible—sort of hunch.”

“It must be a mighty big hunch, for I have the same sort of feeling that something’s wrong somewhere. Miss Dawson looked so sort of burdened.”

“Guess she has enough to make her feel depressed and definitely self-conscious at being sent to this hospital of all places.”

“Why?”

“Something happened while her brother was here. He left under a sort of shadow. Was shipped off to Santiago.”

“You mean he almost got a bob-tail?”

“Well, not quite. But I heard things were terribly mixed up in his work. He was Chief Pharmacist’s Mate like your dad.”

“I wonder what was wrong?”

“That’s what I haven’t been able to find out. But on several occasions I heard him and Lieutenant Cary having rather hot arguments. I could never get to the root of their trouble.”

“Then you think Lieutenant Cary had something to do with Dawson’s leaving the hospital?”

“I’m convinced of it.”

“Did you know him very well?”

“I wasn’t there long before he left, but I liked him an awful lot.”

“Naturally Lieutenant Cary would resent Nurse Dawson being sent to the same base.”

“And he didn’t make any bones about showing it,” said Brad in disgust.

Kitty watched some couples go back to the dance hall as the band struck up again. After an interval she said, “Brad, I believe Dad knows something about all this.”

“He ought to, if anyone does. They put him in the position Dawson had filled.”

“He shut up like a clam when I told him what happened in the launch yesterday.”

Kitty sat turning the opal ring on her third finger, as she puzzled over the complications.

“You have nice hands—capable,” Brad told her.

“That’s from all the years of piano practice. You have to have piano, you know, along with voice training.”

“Some time will you sing for me?”

She smiled up into his eager eyes. “I’d love to. But right now, Brad, I can’t think of anything but this queer business we’ve stumbled on. I have a queer feeling it may mean real trouble at the hospital.”

“Oh, I don’t think it’s anything as serious as that. But I’ll tell you frankly I don’t trust Lieutenant Cary. He’s a man who’ll bear watching, all right. I heard that just a year before the war broke out he was studying surgery in Vienna and Berlin.”