In the entry, service members are sprinkled about, including two from the ATS, the Auxiliary Territory Service being the women’s branch of the British Army. Assigned to Hutton’s team, his so-called lovelies assist with our packing, shopkeeping, and what minimal accounting is possible with our boss, all while keeping up with the latest gossip. Spotting me in passing, they pause their animated chat. The smiles they impart reflect the common treatment I’m afforded: courteous yet rigid. I return the greeting in kind as I continue on my way.

As an American, and an odd “gadget girl” perhaps, again I’m an outsider.

Down a corridor, the ringing of phones and the clacking of unseen typewriters bounce off the white bricked walls. About to cross my path is Lenora Walsh, one of Hutton’s military drivers. A few years my junior, she’s willowy in her shapeless British uniform with a billed cap over cropped reddish hair. Though her large eyes and rounded nose comprise a friendly face, she too maintains guarded formality.

“Good afternoon, Miss Vos.”

“Private Walsh,” I reply pleasantly as she slows to a stop.

“It appears you might be in need of assistance.”

A bit dazed from my bus ride, my mind scrabbles for reference.

“With your parcels?” She gestures, a reminder of the stack filling my arms.

“Yes. Right. Those parcels.” I shake my head with a quick laugh that brings out her smile, refreshingly genuine if brief. “They’re really not heavy, so no trouble. But thank you.”

Men’s chuckles drift from a nearby meeting room, denoting sociable relief from grimmer topics. In that instant, paired with the levity in Private Walsh’s eyes, I too find myself yearning for a chat. I could finally learn about her life beyond her duties. Maybe she’d even be game for an outing. While I’ve no interest in an underground dance hall crammed with hot-to-trot servicemen, catching a film would be far more enjoyable with a companion—as it used to be back home.

I go to suggest as much, yet I’m too late. Already she’s moving past me.

And all the better.

I’m here to work, not for leisure.