with belts and turnbuckles and ropes. It looked like some kind of crazy spiderweb. Em could not stop his mind. He could see this entire mountain of war machinery sliding through the plane. He was more frightened than ever.
In the middle of the ropes and belts, one man walked. He continually checked and rechecked every knot, every buckle, and every pallet. Em thought that, at the very least, he looked capable. The man made his way through the maze toward him and Jack. Em could see his face the closer he got. It soon became apparent that this guy was not much older than him or Jack. This did not reassure Em in any way. When he had thought him older, he trusted him more. Now that he saw that the man was much too young for this responsibility, his confidence in him vanished.
Em looked up at the young man. He really was about the same age as him and Jack. His height was average, and the oldest he could have been was about twenty-one. He was wearing some sort of coverall. It was olive green, just like everything else around here, Em thought. The only type of insignia visible was a single nametag on his left chest area: “Morton, Crew, 2274.”
Em looked around and watched as more pallets were loaded onto the plane. Morton continued to check the straps closest to Em and Jack. He pointed to the side of the plane, indication that Em and Jack should move to that area.
“Stand here and pay attention,” Morton spoke with an authoritative voice. He then moved to the center of the plane and guided more pallets onto the steel beams that ran along the bottom of the plane.
Em and Jack backed up against the side of the plane. The activity continued around them. Morton was talking to an older man dressed exactly as he was. Together, they looked over some papers and began to retrieve straps and ropes from boxes protruding from the sides of the plane.
“Why do we have to pay attention to this?” Jack quietly asked Em.
“I don’t know. What the heck was in his ears?” Em asked
“No idea, but didn’t it make you want to just reach out and box him upside the head?” Jack laughed as he said this.
“Not really. I’m more worried about where we’re going to ride in this thing. I don’t see any seats.” Em was trying to scan around the interior of the plane.
“I bet there’s seats up front somewhere.” Jack didn’t have many worries about seating. The look on his face said so. Em knew his friend could not wait to be underway. He also knew that Jack was most happy when something was happening. The only time Em ever saw a look other than confident on Jack’s face was when they were idle. Once something was happening, Jack was all business. His concentration was centered on the task at hand.
“I’m not so sure about that,” Em said. “I think there’s only room for the pilots up there.” He looked to the front of the plane. Indeed, it looked like the cargo area began just a few feet from the small door that led to the pilot area.
“Oh, well, guess we’ll find out soon enough.” Jack pointed to the center of the plane. “Look. Once they secure those pallets, we’ll probably be on our way. Maybe we’ll all sit in one of those jeeps.”
Em didn’t think that Jack was very funny. He noticed Morton and the other man as they continued to study the papers and run straps through the pallets and up and over them. It looked as if there were no order to what they were doing. Behind the nearest mountain of machinery, Em noticed that there was a small space between pallets. The two men moved a piece of metal to the center of the plane. Next, they secured it to the beam, which ran down the center of the plane’s belly. When they secured the last piece of metal to the floor of the plane, Em noticed, to his horror, that it was some sort of bench. A row of “seats” was sitting extremely close to the floor. Individual straps for each seat wrapped around the beam on the floor. Em shuddered as he thought of sitting in one of those for seven hours. He was sure that Morton and his partner had made some kind of mistake. He noticed that the seats were facing the rear of the plane. He decided not to mention it. They seemed pretty busy securing even more pallets. Next, he started to worry about them getting too close to the rear of the plane. He thought that they were dangerously close to the ramp.
Jack suddenly began to make his way toward the row of seats.
Em said, “Where are you going? Morton said to stay here.”
“I’m going to tell them they put the seats in backwards,” Jack said as he climbed carefully over a couple of ropes. He looked back at Em and said, “There’s been enough delays. I’m ready to get out of here. I’m going to see if they’ll let us help.”
Em watched as Jack approached the older man in the coveralls. Just as Jack opened his mouth, a deafening noise erupted all around him. It sounded as if the walls of the plane were collapsing. He covered his ears instinctively. Em saw Jack do the same. At the same time, he saw the older of the two airmen reach into his pocket and retrieve two of the cone-shaped items. He immediately inserted them into his ears and looked at Jack. He reached into another pocket and handed Jack two of the earplugs. Jack inserted them immediately, and then he pointed at the seats. The older man began to speak, but Em saw that Jack had difficulty hearing him. He handed Jack something and pointed right at Em.
Jack made his way back to where Em stood and gave him a set of earplugs. Em opened the package and inserted the cones into his ears. At first, he thought that the noise had stopped altogether. He soon realized that it had only diminished. There was still a roar inside his head. He tried to say something to Jack but could not imagine having to endure this for long.
Jack got right next to his face and said, “How about this, huh?”
Em heard him, but he sounded as though he was in another room. He looked up and noticed the two coverall GIs as they secured the final pallet. The last three pallets were placed in the center of the plane, creating space on either side. Here the two of them secured more seats. Em was not aware of other passengers. They had not seen any other military personnel besides the military police inside the airfield’s hangar.
Morton approached them and got really close before he said, “Pick your seats, fellas! The ones in the middle are your best bet!”
Em could not believe what he was being told. He had to strap himself to the belly of this plane and fly over 150 miles per hour. Once again, Jack moved first. He grabbed the aisle seat on the far side, ensuring that he would be the center of attention.
Em began to scan around again at the rest of the cargo. He was looking for the pallet that contained his belongings. If he was going to ride in this tub all night, he needed access to his writing pad. He had not written Irene since somewhere in southern California. He had yet to post any of them that he had written on the train. He was disappointed that he had forgotten to do that. Now, he would have to wait until he got to Hawaii. How long would it take to get to her from the middle of the ocean? Since his mission involved a “top secret” clearance, he only hoped he could mail them once he got there. The address they had given him for correspondence was as fictitious as the story he was instructed to tell. He had lied to Irene in at least three letters. He assumed that the lies would get easier to tell, but he was wrong. Each time he tried to answer one of her questions, the lie seemed to grow. By the end of his last letter to her, he was sure he had convinced her that he would never even see the inside of a plane. How his story had evolved into such a preposterous tale, he never knew. All he was sure of was that Irene was scared. Whenever he tried to reassure her, the lie seemed to grow bigger and infinitely falser. The reason he had not sent his last letters was obvious. He did not want to lie to her anymore.
He climbed through a maze of straps and pallets and located a small pallet with several green duffel bags on it. He saw “Turner” and “Story”
