The Skyland post. [volume] (West Jefferson, N.C.) 193?-1988, 1943-09-30

s I'LL oASAA Will AI'
James heart smote her. ''Dar-
ling, I'm sorry. I wish I hadn't
made you think about him."
''That's all right. I often do.
Silly, isn't it,"
Cray. But then often think
} of Tony" Even as she said these
!. words she knew quite suddenly
. that she wouldn't think Of Tony
any more.
Jane went alone to Victory
} House the next morning. Stella
had offered to go with her but
Jane had said she'd rather say
good-by to her at the flat. At
Victory House she was directed
to a room where several girls
were already waiting. Some
were alone. One or two middle
aged men stood beside their
daughters wondering just what
was going to happen next. Here
and there were younger men who
had sportingly come along to es-
cort their sisters. One girl had
her beau with her. He, when the
time came for them to go, ac-
companied them on the train
journey down to the camp and
right to the very gates, where
at last his girl was forced to bid
a fearful goodby to him.
With the start of the journey
there came to Jane a feeling that
she was leaving her old life be-
hind forever. A stirring excite
ment held her. There was chat
ter going on around her. Names
were being exchanged. Girls told
of the jobs they had held and left
to join the service. CHANGING at
them, she judged that most of
them were younger than herself
and noticed that the younger they
were the more they talked.
After half an hour in the train
they arrived at their destination.
They walked in a body to the R.
A F. station where a male non
commissioned officer was await
ing them. He took them to the
orderly room and signed them in
Lunch followed in an enormous
hut which Jane soon learned tC
call the cook house. The long en-
ameled top tables were clean. She
was given knife, fork and spoon
. which she was told would be hers
for the time she spent at the
: training camp and which she
, must take away after each mea'
) and bring back again every time
= she came to the cook house.
When the meal Wos over anoth-
: er N. c. o. "a Waaf this time -
, collected them and showed then
. their hut. Jane took in at swift
; glance the long bare room looking
very much like a hospital ward
; with its twenty-five beds, each
. with a locker by its side. The
sight of stove at either end was
comforting, for at least when
these got going they would be
moderately warm. Here they
were shown how to make their
beds and given a brief indication
of their immediate duties. Then
for little while they were left to
themselves. Jane annexed one of
the beds and began to unpack her
belongings. Now indeed she was
reminded very much of her first
term at boarding school, only her
conditions weren't half so COM
Portable and here, instead of be-
ing just the only new girl, she was
one of twenty-five. But soon they
were all beginning to make
friends.
Later in the evening, after sup
per in the cook house, they all sat
around the two stoves and again
she noticed how the younger ones
congregated together, talking in
high, shrill excited voices. AS if
by common consent they crowded
together at one end of the room
while the older, quieter ones
sought the warmth around the
stove at the other.
Now the bare hut was trans
formed. Photographs had ap-
peared on the lockers, photo
graphs of mothers, fathers, broth
erS, sisters and beaux. They
went to bed early and Jane had a
pretty shrewd suspicion that few
of them slept, but they were all
smiling and good tempered the
following morning.
The next day there were fati-
CUES. There was the hut to be
swept and the floors polished and
the stoves to be cleaned out and
lit. They all worked with will
and the morning passed swiftly
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