He looked at them. Karen was watching him. These were his first thoughts on the matter.

“I’ll go into the Air Corps, probably.”

“Hey! That’s great! No kidding! Hey, why?”

They were drunk with the idea of fighting. “So I can turn around and run if I have to,” he said, laughing. “I want to come home.”

Chapter Twelve

CHAPTER TWELVE

They read the newspapers and in the meantime the examination grades came through. His grade was high and he was in the first group to be promoted. The Philippines fell and in the darkness that followed there were predictions of defeat. There were stories of the Japanese plans for invading the United States, murder, rape, and enslavement, and the misery changed, among the people he knew, into a hatred and anger he could not have imagined. The war was to be a war of vengeance. The absurd conception of America as a peaceable nation that had never lost a war was given broad, welcome circulation. One evening he and Karen tried to project, carefully, thoughtfully, the course of the fighting. There was a good chance that the Germans and the Japanese would achieve all their war aims. The Russian spring offensive could have any outcome, and the attack on Tokyo by the Mitchell bombers looked like a very brave show. No one could reckon the resources of the enemy. A series of swift blows, if they could be delivered, could put America out of the war.

He committed himself to the test for Detective Second Grade while he waited. He made the highest grade and his name was placed at the top of the list. The week after the promotion he learned that he was going to be drafted, and impulsively he took the step that he had mentioned casually, bitterly, on Pearl Harbor Day. That night, he was able to tell Karen, too, that his police rank would be frozen for the duration of the war. He would pick up where he had left off.

“I’ll get a chance at flying. Probably my reflexes aren’t fast enough. It will be bombers or transports, if I make it at all.”

She had looked for work in the morning and found a job on the first try. She would be inspecting valve guides on an assembly line. His mother would mind Stephanie during the days. There was no choice; no one they knew was not somehow involved. Now she bit her lip.

“What is it?” he asked.

“You’ll do well. You know you will.”

“I wish I did.”

“Your eyes are better than perfect, you know that. And as for your reflexes, they’ll have to go some to find a set that are faster. You’re alive because of your reflexes.”

“I’m not sure. We’ll see what happens.”