A Woman's Place Read Online Free Page B

The three of them bounced on the worn springs like popcorn in a hot pan. Powdery snow blew across the barren fields and onto the dirt road as they sped past.
    “We just got a letter and photo from Danny,” she said, picturing him with his white sailor hat tipped jauntily on his head. “He went on and on about how beautiful the islands were, how balmy the weather was.”
    “I don’t understand how Japanese airplanes could get close enough to attack Hawaii without being spotted,” John said as they drove. “Why wasn’t there any warning?” No one knew the answer.
    Please, God. Don’t let anything happen to Danny, Jean prayed.
    She ran inside the farmhouse as soon as they reached home, not even bothering to remove her boots. “Ma!” she shouted, “Did you hear the news? The Japanese attacked—”
    “Shh!” Her siblings hushed her from the living room. Jean found everyone gathered around the radio, listening intently. She sank down on the arm of the sofa beside her mother.
    “… More than three hundred Japanese aircraft participated in a coordinated attack against American military installations on the island of Oahu, including Wheeler Field, Hickham Field, and Pearl Harbor. All military personnel and civilian defense workers—excluding women—have been ordered to report for duty immediately. Women and other civilians have been ordered to seek shelter and stay inside until further notice.”
    The family listened in silence until the announcer began to repeat himself, then all of Jean’s sisters and brothers began talking at once.
    “Did they say anything about Dan’s ship, the California ?” Jean asked her mother.
    “They mentioned the Shaw and the West Virginia ,” her younger brother Howie said.
    “They can’t get a clear view of the other ships,” her father added. “There’s too much smoke.”
    Jean struggled to control her tears. “I hope Danny’s all right.”
    Ma took her hand, squeezing it to comfort her. “God is in control, Jeannie. Don’t ever forget that. The leaders and nations of this world aren’t running things, God is.”
    “But Danny—”
    “He’ll let us know he’s safe as soon as he can. There’s no sense worrying about something until it happens. I leave my worrying to God.”
    Jean wished she had even half a measure of her mother’s faith. “I don’t know how you can sit here so calmly after what just happened, and—”
    “I’m going down tomorrow to sign up for the air force,” John interrupted.
    “You can’t do that! We’re going to college together next fall, remember?”
    “College isn’t going to happen, Jeannie. If this news bulletin is true and America really has been attacked, then our lives are about to be turned upside down. I may as well enlist before I get drafted.”
    “Me too,” Howie said. “I’ll go with you.”
    “You’ll both have plenty of time to enlist after you’ve finished high school,” Ma said calmly. “You can’t enlist until you’re eighteen, Howie. And they won’t allow either one of you into flight school without a high school diploma.”
    “You don’t have to fight at all, you know,” Russell said. He had followed Jean into the house without her realizing it. “We can all get draft exemptions because we’re farmers.” Everyone stared at him as if he’d spoken in Japanese. “It’s true. I already read up on it. We’re exempt if we stay home and run the family farm.”
    “But I want to fight for my country,” John said.
    “Me too,” Howie echoed.
    “I’d gladly enlist if I were a guy,” Jean said. It wasn’t the first time she’d felt the frustration of being born female.
    “You could join the Women’s Army Corps,” John told her.
    “And be a glorified secretary? No thanks! They don’t let women do anything in the army except wear a uniform and type letters.”
    “Of course they don’t,” Russ said. “You don’t really think women belong in combat, do you?”
    Any other time Jean would