Page 241 of Winter of the World (The Century 2)

iv

On Sunday morning, Eddie wanted to go with Chuck to pick up the family at their hotel.

"I don't know, baby," said Chuck. "You and I are supposed to be friendly, not inseparable."

They were in bed in a motel at dawn. They had to sneak back into barracks before sunup.

"You're ashamed of me," said Eddie.

"How can you say that? I took you to dinner with my family!"

"That was your mama's idea, not yours. But your papa liked me, didn't he?"

"They all adored you. Who wouldn't? But they don't know you're a filthy homo."

"I am not a filthy homo. I'm a very clean homo."

"True."

"Please take me. I want to know them better. It's really important to me."

Chuck sighed. "Okay."

"Thank you." Eddie kissed him "Do we have time . . . ?"

Chuck grinned. "If we're quick."

Two hours later they were outside the hotel in the navy's Packard. Their four passengers appeared at seven thirty. Rosa and Joanne wore hats and gloves, Gus and Woody white linen suits. Woody had his camera.

Woody and Joanne were holding hands. "Look at my brother," Chuck murmured to Eddie. "He's so happy."

"She's a beautiful girl."

They held the doors open and the Dewars climbed into the back of the limousine. Woody and Joanne folded down the jump seats. Chuck pulled away and headed for the naval base.

It was a fine morning. On the car radio, station KGMB was playing hymns. The sun shone over the lagoon and glinted off the glass portholes and polished brass rails of a hundred ships. Chuck said: "Isn't that a pretty sight?"

They entered the base and drove to the navy yard, where a dozen ships were in floating docks and dry docks for repair, maintenance, and refueling. Chuck pulled up at the officers' landing. They all got out and looked across the lagoon at the mighty battleships standing proud in the morning light. Woody took a photo.

It was a few minutes before eight o'clock. Chuck could hear the tolling of church bells in nearby Pearl City. On the ships, the forenoon watch was being piped to breakfast, and color parties were assembling to hoist ensigns at eight precisely. A band on the deck of the Nevada was playing "The Star-Spangled Banner."

They walked to the jetty, where a launch was tied up ready for them. The boat was big enough to take a dozen passengers and had an inboard motor under a hatch in the stern. Eddie started the engine while Chuck handed the guests into the boat. The small motor burbled cheerfully. Chuck stood in the bows while Eddie eased the launch away from the dockside and turned toward the battleships. The prow lifted as the launch picked up speed, throwing off twin curves of foam like a seagull's wings.

Chuck heard a plane and looked up. It was coming in from the west, so low it looked as if it might be in danger of crashing. He assumed it was about to land at the naval airstrip on Ford Island.

Woody, sitting near Chuck in the bows, frowned and said: "What kind of plane is that?"

Chuck knew every aircraft of both the army and the navy, but he had trouble identifying this one. "It almost looks like a Type 97," he said. That was the carrier-based torpedo bomber of the Imperial Japanese Navy.

Woody pointed his camera.

As the plane came nearer, Chuck saw large red suns painted on its wings. "It is a Jap plane!" he said.

Eddie, steering the boat from the stern, heard him. "They must have faked it up for an exercise," he said. "A surprise drill to spoil everyone's Sunday morning."

"I guess so," said Chuck.

Then he saw a second plane behind the first.

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