Canteens (Establishments) -- Juvenile fiction; World War, 1939-1945 -- Juvenile fiction
“I was too busy to come sooner, but I wanted to get over here in time
to see you home. Something to tell you.”
“I brought Hazel with me. We’ll have to take her back to the hospital
before we can talk.”
“Sure.”
“Glad you came,” she added after a moment. “You can go with me to hunt
up Chief Krome. He promised me that shrimp creole recipe.”
“Yeah! Sure, we want it for that picnic tomorrow.”
“They say the only way you ever get a recipe out of Krome is to go
after it. He looks too easygoing to let the mild matter of a promise
like that weigh on his mind.”
“Sure is nice of you Canteen girls to go down on the beach and fix that
supper for us tomorrow. Ned Miller’s looking forward to it, too. You
sure lifted his countenance, Kit.”
Kitty flushed. “Oh, I guess I got as big a kick out of it as he did.”
There was an awkward pause and she looked about for something to change
the subject. Finally she nudged Brad’s arm and whispered, “Take a look
over in the south corner at those chess players.”
Brad glanced at them and whistled softly. “The trail grows warmer,
Kitty.”
“Find out anything about Punaro?”
“Plenty. But we’ll save that till later. But when you see two suspected
ones hobnobbing it begins to look as though something is brewing.”
An hour before closing time Kitty saw the chess players leave their
board and go out. They hadn’t patronized the Snack Bar all evening.
That was one night Kitty was glad when it was time to go home. She had
had no opportunity for a private talk with Brad for some time, and she
had much on her mind. At the hospital they left Hazel at her door and
took the elevator down to the basement.
“Surely am glad you came along, Brad,” said Kitty. “I wouldn’t like to
be hunting up Chief Krome at this hour of the night by myself.”
There was no one in sight when they got off the elevator at the
basement floor. “I’ve never been down here before,” Kitty remarked, as
she followed Brad toward the Chief Cook’s quarters.
“Quite a nifty arrangement,” Brad explained. “Extending out front this
wing of the hospital is a platform running right down to a dock over
the water. Supply boats come almost right up to the building. Saves an
awful lot in transportation of fuel and food.”
Kitty felt no particular interest in what Brad said. She was eager to
get the recipe from Krome and return to the street where she and Brad
could talk without fear of being overheard. Brad knocked on Krome’s
door several times, but got no answer.
“Must be out,” Kitty said, disappointed.
They were about to turn away when Ned Miller came running down the
stairs. “Looking for Krome?” he asked, seeing them outside the Chief
Cook’s door.
“He promised me that shrimp creole recipe, and they say I’ll have to
run him down to get it,” Kitty explained.
“I’ll go ask him for it for you,” offered Ned, eager to be of service
to Kitty. “I saw him up in the recreation room as I came through,
playing chess with Lieutenant Cary.”
“Oh, you did!” exclaimed Kitty.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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