"Sir, I've got a lot to do."

"It'll wait."

"Aye, aye, Sir. And the second thing?"

"Cut a promotion order for the colonel's signature," Galloway said. "Make yourself a corporal."

"Aye, aye, Sir."

(Five) NEAR WAIALUA, OAHU.

TERRITORY OF HAWAII.

1800 HOURS 7 JULY 1942.

Greeting her dinner guests, Lieutenant Commander Florence Kocharski, Nurse Corps, USN, was attired in sandals and a shapeless, loose fitting cotton dress printed with brightly colored flowers, called a Muumuu. Over her ear she had a gardenia stuck through her silver hair.

"Hi, Charley," she said and let him kiss her cheek.

He handed her a brown paper sack which obviously contained bottles.

"Flo, this is Jim Ward," Charley Galloway said. "He's a friend of mine. I didn't think you would mind if I brought him along."

"No, of course not," Flo said, not very convincingly. "There's enough food to feed an army. How are you, Lieutenant?"

"I said 'friend,' Flo," Charley said. "His aunt is my girl. He introduced us."

Technical Sergeant Stefan Oblensky, USMC, attired in sandals, short pants, and a gaily flowered loose fitting cotton shirt, appeared behind her.

"Jesus, Charley!" he said, his tone torn between hurt and anger.

"I'm going to say this again," Galloway said. "Jim is a friend. More than a friend. Damned near family. My girl is his aunt."

"Yeah, sure," Big Steve said, far from mollified.

"And I told him what's going on here," Charley said. "He knows how to keep his mouth shut."

"What the hell," Flo said. "What's done is done. Come on and we'll open the jug." She put her arm around Jim Ward. "I know more about your aunt than I really want to know," she said. "He doesn't talk about her much, but once he gets started, you can't shut him up."

Jim smiled at her shyly.

"He told me about you, too," he said.

"He did? What?"

"About you being on the West Virginia on Pearl Harbor Day and getting the Silver Star."

"Like I say, sometimes you can't shut him up," Flo said.

With her arm still around his shoulders-she was just as tall as he was, and outweighed him by twenty pounds-Flo marched Jim Ward across the small living room of the frame cottage and into the kitchen.

She took the two bottles of scotch from the bag, opened one, and set out glasses. Then she reached under the sink and opened an insulated gray steel container, labeled MEDICAL CORPS USN, and took ice from it.

"No refrigerator," she said, as she dropped ice cubes in the glasses, "and the head is that small wooden building out there. But what the hell, what do they say, 'Be It Ever So Humble'?"

"It's very nice," Jim said.

"It belongs to a guy, retired Marine, who lets us use it," she said.

"Charley told me you were up here on Pearl Harbor Day," Jim said.

"He told you that, too, did he? He say who he was with?"

Jim shook his head "no."

Flo laughed. "Then I won't."

"Then you won't what?" Charley said, coming into the kitchen.

"I won't tell him who you was with on Sunday, December seven."

Galloway chuckled. "I was hoping you would," he said. "I was hoping you would have a motherly word to him about the dangers of getting involved with certain members of the Navy Nurse Corps."

"Don't play Mr. Innocent with me, Charley. The way I remember that, nobody had to drag you up here."

"This was all, Jim, pre-Caroline, when I was a footloose and carefree flying sergeant, like skinhead here."

"I told you, Charley," Flo said, "I don't like you to call Stefan that."

"Well, 'Curly' sure doesn't fit," Galloway said, unabashed.

"Who are you talking about?" Jim asked.

"One of Flo's angels of mercy," Charley said.

"Angel, my ass," Flo said. "I'm always wondering if she won't say something to somebody about Stefan and me, out of pure bitchiness."

"Does she know about you?" Charley asked.

"Not that we're married," Flo said. "But I have to let them know where I am. I'm assistant chief nurse. She knows damned well that I'm not coming up here alone to count the pineapples; she knows I'm still 'dating' Stefan. She's always making some sweet little crack, you know, 'give my regards to Sergeant Oblensky,' like that."

"I don't think she'll say anything," Charley said. "You know too much about her."

"I know more about her than you think I do," Flo said, "but now that she's running around with that lieutenant of yours, no telling what she's liable to do."

By then, she had finished making the drinks. She handed them out.

"Well, welcome to our happy home," she said.

"Thank you," Jim said.

"I'm getting really sick of the whole goddamned thing," Big Steve said, "hiding out like we're doing something wrong. I'm pretty close to telling them. 'We're married. Fuck you, what are you going to do about it?' "

"Watch your mouth, Honeybun!" Flo snapped.

"They wouldn't court-martial us," Big Steve went on. "That's bullshit."

"Maybe not. You can never tell," Charley said. "But they'd sure as hell transfer one of you. Probably you. You'd spend the war changing Yellow Peril engines at Quantico or Pensacola. You could kiss these weekends up here goodbye."

"What the hell's the difference? Here or Pee-Cola? The fuckers won't let me fly anymore anyway."

"You're too goddamned old to fly, you old fart," Charley said, laughing. "The Corps's not flying Spads any more."

"I don't know what the hell is with you two," Flo said, angrily. "Watch your mouths, there's a lady present!"

"Sorry," Big Steve said, contritely.

"Just watch it!" she said. Then, "Charley's right, Honey-bun. Be grateful for what we have. Don't do something dumb."

"Just because he's an officer now don't make him smart," Big Steve said.

"The hell it doesn't!" Charley protested, jokingly. "We officers have to know how to read and write and how to tie our own shoes. Don't we, Flo?"

"You tell him, Charley," Flo said, laughing.

"If you're so fu-smart, Captain, Sir," Big Steve said, "tell me about Guadacanal."

"About what?"

"Guadacanal," Big Steve said, triumphantly.

"Never heard of it," Charley confessed.

"Well, for your general information, Captain, Sir, it's an island. The Japs are building a fighter base on it, and the First Marine Division is going to take it away from them."

This scuttlebutt has the ring of truth to it, Charley decided.

"Where is this island?" Charley asked.

Big Steve shrugged his massive shoulders.

"It's in the Solomon Islands, Charley," Flo said, softly. "Down by Australia. And it's Guadalcanal, with an 'L.' I heard the same thing. They've been levying us for doctors and corpsmen. I heard they're going to invade this place right after the first of the month."

"You heard that too, huh, Honey?" Big Steve asked.

Charley looked at Jim Ward.

"Jim, do I have to tell you not to repeat this scuttlebutt?"

"No, Sir. Of course not."

"I don't even know where the Solomon Islands are," Charley said, as much to himself as to the others.

"Wait a minute," Big Steve said. "I brung some maps. I was going to ask Flo."

He left the kitchen. They heard him a moment later walking across the living room, and then they heard the screen door screeching.

"Straight poop, would you say, Flo?" Charley asked softly.

She nodded. "I don't know where he heard it, but I'd bet on my information."

The screen door slammed again, and then Big Steve called for them to come into the living room. They went in, to find him fastening the corners of a large map to the floor with ashtrays and a bottle.

They all got on their knees and examined the map.

"There it is," Flo said, pointing. "And those itsy-bitsy little islands near it. Tulagi and Gavutu. I heard that, too."

"God," Charley said thoughtfully. "It's a long way from nowhere, isn't it?"

There was no reply, except a grunt from Big Steve. And then Charley asked for a sheet of paper and a pencil. When Flo produced both, he laid the paper on the map and copied the scale from it.

Then he began moving the paper around on the map.

"What the hell are you doing?" Big Steve asked, taking the words from Jim's mouth.

"Ssssh, Honeybun," Flo said.

Finally, Charley sat back on his heels.

"Well, if this is the place the First Marine Division is going, they're going without VMF-229," he said.

"How can you tell that?" Jim asked, curiously, not as a challenge.

"Because it's out of fighter range from any land airbase we control," Charley said. "Which means they're going to have to use carrier-based aviation. And VMF-229 is not carrier qualified. I think only Dunn and me ever were."

Big Steve grunted again.

"And, if your date is anywhere near close, Flo, there's no way we could qualify in time."

"Why not?" Big Steve asked. "All you'd need is, what? Two, three days to shoot some landings."

"We'd need a carrier to shoot them on," Charley said. "There's no carrier here right now. And even if there was, there's no way we could be qualified, and put aboard, and still steam that far in time to make the invasion."

"Huh!" Big Steve said, disappointed.

"But I tell you what could happen," Charley said thoughtfully. "They are going to need fighters on that island when they take it."

"Why, if we take it?" Jim asked.