Mrs. Fryt turned to Dolly. “When the news got out about Chase, everyone was beside themselves, of course. It was in the newspaper, but still no one could believe it. John admitted they’d gotten the telegram, but Wilma wouldn’t show her face in town. It was several days that went by, and finally I decided I couldn’t let it go any longer. So I made up one of my special pound cakes, and when it cooled I put it on my best plate and marched over there with it. And do you know what she said when she answered the door? Well, first she said nothing at all, just stared at me, and I told her, ‘We’re all so very sorry to hear about your son.’ She said, ‘I don’t believe that he’s dead, thank you,’ and slammed the door right in my face. She wouldn’t even take the pound cake.”

Thelma shook her head. “She was in denial for the longest time.”

“Oh, well, of course!” Dolly said, having a hard time herself accepting the news.

“It took her years to accept it, years!” Mrs. Fryt said. “And I don’t know that she ever forgave Jack. It was his idea, after all, them both going to war.”

“They might have been drafted,” Corinne pointed out. “And everyone admired them so for choosing to go like they did.”

“But if they hadn’t gone so early, they might not have gotten into the thick of that battle. Not many did, you know.” Mrs. Fryt shook her head. “I’ll never forget the sound of her screaming, that June day when she got the telegram. Enough to curdle cheese, that sound. It carried all the way over here and it made the hair on the backs of my arms stand up. Do you remember that, Jeannette? You heard it, too, and you came downstairs to the kitchen. You were pale as a ghost. I suppose we knew what it had to be.”

“It was a few days before we found out for certain,” Jeannette said. “And when a day had gone by and we hadn’t heard anything, I told myself maybe she’d seen a mouse.”

“A woman doesn’t scream like murder over a mouse,” Mrs. Fryt said.

“Well—I hoped!”

Chapter 25

PINE RAPIDS MESSENGER
Friday, June 7, 1918

SEA SOLDIERS ADVANCE AGAINST FIERCE ATTACKS

YANKEES DASH INTO FRAY YELLING
LIKE INDIANS—NO QUARTER

Germans Put Up Stout Resistance, Officers Urging Them
On—Impetuous Onrush of Marines Completely Overpowers Enemy
(By Associated Press)

WITH THE AMERICAN FORCES ON THE MARNE, JUNE 7.—The American Marines who began a second attack on the German lines late yesterday captured the village of Torcy and drove their way into Bouresches, northwest of Château-Thierry. This morning they were holding Torcy in the face of repeated counterattacks and were pushing back the Germans through the streets of Bouresches. Virtually all their objectives in this attack were attained….