THE WAIT
They waited. And waited. There were more bodies crammed into Lizard than Daisy had ever seen. The other flights had landed safely, one at Bellows and one at Hickam, not far from where Fluff had fled from Dunn. An ambulance met the one at Hickam to transport a radio operator who had a nearly severed arm from flying shrapnel.
“He’s an Oscar, he’s one of us,” Fluff had said, and offered another personalized prayer for the man.
Daisy stayed glued to her chair, counting the seconds until the rescue pilot called in. She knew that in addition to surface craft, a submarine in the general vicinity and a PBM Mariner seaplane were being deployed. A Dumbo Mission, they called it. When the girls had asked Hochman why, he told them the old planes used to resemble flying elephants, with wooden life rafts attached under their wings. They would drop them for the survivors until ships arrived. Now, the ability to make water landings speeded things dramatically.
Wai‘anae called in the PBM, and the pilot radioed in a minute later. “Mariner 6 to Honolulu, we’ve got a low ceiling and heavy rain, over. Check my bearing, please.”
Nixon, who had been keeping a close eye on Daisy, mumbled shit under his breath. Low clouds and rain were not what they needed. Bulldog 6 had said it was clear, but weather in Hawai‘i had its own mind. At least the winds were light. Daisy corrected the Mariner’s heading by five degrees, working to keep her voice calm and steady. When she looked up, she saw that everyone in the room was focused on her. Peg looked as anxious as she did.
“You should reach them in approximately five minutes,” Daisy told him.
If all went well.
“It’s auspicious that both planes are number six,” Lei announced. “It’s considered a lucky number by the Chinese.”
“They haven’t been too lucky so far,” Daisy pointed out.
There were so many variables in a water landing. Weather, swell size and direction, visibility, type of aircraft, pilot skill and experience, and boatloads of luck. The women had rehearsed this exact scenario numerous times. Only not with Walker as one of the souls on board. It felt different now, so achingly personal and surreal. A good portion of Daisy’s heart was on that plane.
Hochman and Nixon paced behind the board, while Daisy sat perched on the edge of her seat. Phones were still ringing and coordinates marked. Bodies moved around her on the plotting table, but she scarcely noticed. When the next reading came in, it showed them slightly off where they ought to be.
“You’re too far north. Turn around and head one-three-zero. And hurry!” she told them in a commanding voice that didn’t sound like her own. Telling a pilot to hurry was not protocol, but she couldn’t help herself.
He seemed unfazed. “Roger, searchlights on, seas calm.”
Shining searchlights were a risk they had to take. There were no bogeys in the sky, so they had that going for them. The plane followed their standard search and rescue grid pattern. She looked at her watch. Nearly fifteen minutes had passed since the pilot first made contact. What was taking so long? She went over the calculations in her mind again. Had she somehow made a mistake? Nixon looked at her as though he might be thinking the same thing.
All of Lizard fell silent and she swore she smelled salt water and fuel. Heard the drone of an engine, dropping out of the sky, and the ensuing explosion. She shook her head, trying to clear the image.
Suddenly, the radio burst to life. “Honolulu, we’ve found them. Flare spotted and raft is intact. We’re going in for a landing. Will report back soon. Mariner 6, out.”
“Roger your last, Mariner 6, will do. Rascal, out.”
The whole room broke out in cheers. But they weren’t in the clear yet—at least Walker wasn’t. She took a swig of the warm Coke and kept her rear end on the hard seat. Betty and Fluff slid their chairs over, and Lei, Peg, Thelma and half the WARDs on shift huddled around them. Some of the men, too.
Daisy closed her eyes for a moment, and imagined the ocean at night—dark and silky and bottomless. Miles out at sea, there would be gentle rolling swells and the smell of salt surrounding you. Currents with logs and sticks and coconuts created long trails of debris. And the occasional shark. She hoped the lifeboat could hold all thirteen of them.
Fluff whispered into Daisy’s ear, “Have faith, honey.”
No matter what happened, Daisy felt held up by a kind of sisterhood that she never knew existed. She could feel the caring soaking into her skin like a soothing balm. Whenever her mind wandered to dark thoughts, all she had to do was look around at their faces.
And suddenly, Mariner 6 came through loud and clear. “Honolulu, this is Mariner 6. All souls alive and now on board with us. Injured men will need immediate medical attention upon arrival, over.”
Daisy sprung up and hugged the nearest person, who happened to be Nixon. His back was as solid as a fifty-pound bag of rice. When she pulled away, he was half crying, half laughing and wiping tears from his eyes.
“Goddamn it, they’re gonna make it,” he said. “Good filtering, Wilder.”
And then his mouth broke into a warm and dazzling smile, full of pride and approval and something fatherly that touched a place in Daisy buried for so long. All this time, she’d known that beneath the steel exterior, there was a heart inside there somewhere wanting to come out. The plane was to arrive at Hickam. As soon as they heard this, Daisy asked Nixon, “Sir, may I be excused from duty?”
“Get the heck out of here, Wilder.” He nodded toward the door. “And take backup.”
“Thank you, Colonel.”
She nearly yanked Fluff’s arm off. “Come on, we’re going.”
“We can’t just leave.”
“We’re cleared.”
At the door, they heard footsteps behind them. “Can I come with you?” Peg asked, her pale face dusted with red blotches.
Fluff glanced at Daisy, who nodded. “Of course,” she said.
Fortunately, Tripler Hospital was not a far walk from Lizard. Halfway there, they heard the whine of an airplane engine in the distance.
“It has to be them,” Daisy said, picking up the pace.
It felt good to breathe the fresh evening air into her lungs. A mixture of night-blooming jasmine and mock orange. Once their eyes adjusted, they navigated by spotty moonlight to Palm Circle. None of them said much. There was nothing to say. A singular unspoken sentiment surrounded them all.
Tripler was nothing fancy, just a two-story wooden building that looked more like an oversize plantation house than a hospital. They sank down on a grassy mound out front and waited for the ambulance.
“Cheerio said that the doctors here are top-notch. They patched up a few of his buddies like new. Lord knows, they’ve been through the wringer,” Fluff told them. “And my friend Beatrice on staff here says they’ve become masters at reattaching limbs.”
The thought gave Daisy chills. “How about fixing lungs?”
“I’m sure they’re good at that, too.”
Though none of them had any idea how one fixed a collapsed lung. Before long, they heard a siren drawing closer and closer. Shouldn’t there be two? If Fluff and Peg were wondering the same thing, neither said anything. The thought sent Daisy into a cold fury and she felt like Moon had on that fateful day in December, wild with fear and ready to bolt. Instead, they went inside and checked in at the nurses’ station. Someone had already called in the emergency, and nurse Gina Hayes informed them, “We’re ready for him.”
Fluff corrected her, “There are two of them.”
Gina looked up from her clipboard. “There’s only one. The other is going to the morgue. I’m so sorry.”
Daisy’s knees almost buckled. “Do you know which one?”
“All I know is the surgical team is scrubbing up and they’ve called in some kind of specialist from Honolulu.”
Fluff led Daisy to a chair, and Peg sat down next to her, lip quivering. Daisy reached out and grabbed her small, cold hand. No matter what bad blood had gone on between the two of them, she knew how much Peg adored her older brother. This small gesture was the least she could do, especially since she was unable to form any words.
When the ambulance drove up, they all stood and went to the door. The blackout curtain hung heavy and black between them and the answer Daisy awaited. Men’s voices carried in. A door slamming. A man backed in, carrying a litter. She looked down at the face. Arched eyebrows. Dark five-o’clock shadow. And then she fainted.