Midnight 1 - The Other Side of Midnight by Sidney Sheldon

Author:Sidney Sheldon
Language: eng
Format: mobi
ISBN: 9780062015600
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2012-04-19T02:10:40+00:00

In the first year following the attack on Pearl Harbor, ten great sea and air battles were fought against the Japanese. The Allies won only three, but two of them were decisive: Midway and the Battle of Guadalcanal.

Catherine read word for word the newspaper reports of every battle and then asked William Fraser to get her further details. She wrote to Larry daily, but it was eight weeks before she received his first letter. It was optimistic and full of excitement. The letter had been heavily censored so Catherine had no idea where he had been or what he was doing. Whatever it was she had a feeling that he seemed to be enjoying it, and in the long lonely hours of the night Catherine lay in bed puzzling over that, trying to figure out what it was in Larry that made him respond to the challenge of war and death. It was not that he had a death wish, for Catherine had never known anyone more alive and vital; but perhaps that was simply the other side of the coin, that what made the life-sense so keen was constantly honing it against death.

She had lunch with William Fraser. Catherine knew that he had tried to enlist and had been told by the White House that he could do more good by staying at his post. He had been bitterly disappointed. He had never mentioned it to Catherine, however. Now as Fraser sat across from Catherine at the luncheon table, he asked:

“Have you heard from Larry?”

“I got a letter last week.”

“What did he say?”

“Well, according to the letter, the war is a kind of football game. We lost the first scrimmage, but now they’ve sent the first team in, and we’re gaining ground.”

He nodded. “That’s Larry.”

“But that’s not the war,” Catherine said quietly. “It’s not a football game, Bill. Millions of people are going to be killed before this is over.”

“If you’re in it, Catherine,” he said gently, “I imagine it’s easier to think of it as a football game.”

Catherine had decided that she wanted to go to work. The Army had created a branch for women called the WACs, and Catherine had thought of joining but had felt she might be more useful doing something more than driving cars and answering telephones. Although from what she had heard, the WACs were pretty colorful. There was so much pregnancy among them that there was a rumor that when volunteers went in for their physical examination, the doctors pressed their stomachs with a tiny rubber stamp. The girls tried to read the words but were unable to do so. Finally one of them hit upon the idea of getting a magnifying glass. The words read: “When you can read this with the naked eye, report to me.”

Now as she sat lunching with Bill Fraser, she said, “I want to work. I want to do something to help.”

He studied her a moment, then nodded. “I may know just the thing for you, Catherine.

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