Bennie Hayes felt as if she might burst with anticipation. (Patience never had been one of her virtues. Come to think of it, she wasn’t sure whether she could claim any of the virtues. Kindness! There was one. She did have a big heart. And she supposed if one possessed a single virtue, kindness was probably the most important of all.)
She paced in her bedroom, envelope in hand, as Billie Holiday’s voice lifted from the radio like chiffon rustling in the breeze. She went to the window, leaning over the window seat, and peered down Grosvenor Street, all the way on the other side of Azalea Drive.
No Georgie to be found.
With an exasperated sigh she went back to pacing.
For the past three days, she had sat vigil at the window for the postman so that she could intercept the mail before her mother would get her hands on it.
Well her persistence had finally paid off. The letter from the Women’s Auxiliary Army Corp, the first women's division in the US armed forces, had just arrived that afternoon. But she couldn’t stand to open it until Georgie was there. Where was she?
After another several minutes of pacing, and two more long stares out the window, she finally saw her cousin in the distance. Though still well down the street, Georgie was easily recognizable— she wore her light golden-brown hair closely cropped, revealing high cheekbones and an angular jaw, and her long limbs moved with ease and purpose in the world.
When Georgie crossed the road, Bennie tossed the unopened envelope onto her vanity and dashed down the stairs.
“Finally,” she said breathlessly, as she flung the door open before Georgie had the chance to grab hold of the knocker.
“Hello to you too.”
“The letter came,” Bennie said in a low voice, her eyes twinkling.
The cousins couldn’t have looked more different; Bennie had inherited her mother’s and aunt’s dark hair and short stature, while Georgie and her twin brother, Paul looked just like Georgie’s father, tall and slim, with light hair. The one common characteristic they all shared was their mothers’ hazel eyes.
“What does it say?”
Bennie put her finger to her lips and pulled Georgie inside.