“I never thought of it that way,” Joe replied. “We can’t all fight the Japs,” Billis added sagely. “That’s right, Luther,” Joe agreed. “Are you and Hyman goin’ up to the front?” They didn’t know where they were going, but they had a lot of heavy machinery. Probably going to some island. Going to invade some island. “What you goin’ to do when peace comes?” Billis asked. “Back to my shop in Columbus, Ohio. I’m a shoemaker.” “What you goin’ to do if we all start wearin’ plastic shoes?” Billis demanded. “Won’t have to have them mended?” The thought shocked Joe. He had never thought of such a thing before. He had no answer. People would always have to have their shoes fixed. But Luther Billis’ agile mind was on to new problems. “You got a girl?” he asked. “No,” Joe replied. “I ain’t.” “You ain’t got a girl?” Billis shouted. “What the hell kind of a sailor are you?” “I never went with girls very much,” Joe explained. “I tell you what I do,” Billis said with his hand about Joe’s shoulder. “I’m gonna get you a girl. I like you. You’re a real Joe, ain’t he, Hyman?” Hyman agreed. “Look at the moon over the water!” Hyman said. Billis turned to study the rare sight of moonlight upon tropic waters with palm trees along the shore and a ship at the dock.
“God, that’s beautiful!” he said. “You ought to come down here lots, Joe. You ought to look at that. Like Hyman just done.” The three men sat there in silence and watched the moonlight wax and wane along the waves. Never before in sixteen months had Joe seen that strange and lovely thing. He suddenly wanted to go with Billis and Hyman. He wanted to be with men that talked happily and saw new things. He wanted . . . But at midnight the boat pulled out. The SeaBees were gone. Joe followed the ship as long as it rode in the moonlight. He had never before felt so strange. The world was beautiful that night. It was beautiful as only a tropic night on some distant island can be beautiful. A million men in the South Seas would deny it to one another, would ridicule it in their letters home. But it was beautiful. Perhaps some of the million would deny the beauty because, like Joe, they had never seen it. It would not be fair to say that Joe had altogether forgotten Billis. But he had ceased thinking constantly about the strange fellow when a letter came to the rock. It was for Joe and came from Miss Essie Schultz, Perkasie, Pennsylvania. Joe read the letter avidly: Dear Joe, Please excuse me for writing when we haven’t been introduced, but my good friend Mr. Luther Billis told me that you didn’t have any girl to write to. I write letters to seventeen sailors and one soldier. I think you boys are the bravest men in America. I would never be brave enough to fight for us. I wish I had a good looking photograph to send you, but you know how it is these days. One or two prints is all you can get. So I am sending you this one. The one in the middle is me. Skinny, eh? I work in a pants factory. At present we are making sailors pants, so if yours don’t fit, blame me. (Ha!) I like to dance and like Benny Goodman and Louie Prima the best. I listen to the radio a good deal and read some books every year. Mr. Billis said you were a very swell guy and that I would like you. I believe I would. Won’t you please write and tell me all about yourself? I promise to answer right away. Yours (?) Essie Schultz P.S. Send me a picture The letter simply bowled Joe over! It passed his comprehension that Luther Billis would have taken the trouble to do such a thing. But that Essie should have written to him . . . That was a true miracle! He read the letter eight or ten times. It was so nicely written, in straight lines. And it smelled good. And there was Essie in front of a building. And there was snow on the ground! He looked and looked. Essie wasn’t the worst looking, either. Not by a long shot! He got seven more letters from Essie, sweet, cheerful letters. He showed her picture to several of his friends. You couldn’t see much of her face, but what there was looked mighty neat and clean. Joe felt fine. Then one day he got a brief letter. “I am going to marry the soldier” Essie said. “He thinks
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