Liberty Scarf by Aimie K. Runyan J’nell Ciesielski Rachel McMillan

Author:Aimie K. Runyan, J’nell Ciesielski, Rachel McMillan
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2024-11-19T00:00:00+00:00

She took just a moment to swallow back her fear and her unshed tears before reconnecting with the general.

“General, we apologize for the dropped call. The major wanted to convey the following message: 8489, 2402, 0763.”

“He got the message out before the call dropped, Operator Tremblay.” Geneviève started at the sound of her own surname, but the general was renowned for his skill at retaining such information. It was part of what made the men admire him—and truth be told, fear him in almost equal measure. “Let him know the message has been received, and we will do what we can.”

Geneviève learned that was military speak for we have no supplies and no men to send you. So very sorry about the artillery fire. If Jean was alive, he was likely starving and possibly defenseless. It was all Geneviève could do to keep the contents of her stomach in place and the sobs at bay.

Geneviève rang the major again, who responded to the general’s reply with the frustration and colorful language she expected. She shared his frustrations but knew the general couldn’t provide what he didn’t have to give. Knowing that the German side was even more desperate gave her a small glimmer of hope, but it made her ache for the wretched conditions those young boys and old men were forced to contend with as well. None of them had welcomed this, on either side.

She took a few seconds to breathe and uttered a prayer of gratitude that she’d been able to maintain her composure. All it would have taken was a few moments to make her appear flighty and emotional. And it would have been a stain not only on her reputation but on that of all the operators. It had taken a vast amount of the great General Pershing’s clout to convince Washington that women were needed at the switchboards, and she would not be the one to disabuse them of this notion.

The calls, all similar in nature, had come in at the speed and frequency of German bullets. Geneviève and Flora had worked through their lunch, pausing only when two of the men from the Signal Corps brought them sandwiches and cups of coffee and took over the switchboards, practically by force, for a quarter of an hour so they could eat and relieve themselves. So steady was the flow of phone calls that the second round of sandwiches and coffee at seven at night had caught them off guard. But even so, they made no motions to leave their posts for another four hours until Dottie arrived to take over for the night shift. She approached Flora to take over at her board, but she motioned her to take Geneviève’s instead.

Most nights, Geneviève was loath to pass over her duties, knowing they were fielding the most important calls of the war, but she had to put her drive and her ego aside so that she didn’t run the risk of making mistakes. She passed her headset to Dottie and mouthed, “Where’s Patricia?” to her, to which she received a shrug.

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