Luck on the Wing: Thirteen Stories of a Sky SpyHaslett, Elmer
History
Luck on the Wing: Thirteen Stories of a Sky Spy
Haslett, Elmer
World War, 1914-1918 -- Aerial operations; World War, 1914-1918 -- Personal narratives, American
Shortly after the great Argonne Offensive commenced, the Fifth Corps Air
Service was visited by a small troop of Y. M. C. A. entertainers. I was
at their airdrome at the time. In the party were two young ladies, one
blonde and the other a brunette. As I was a sort of special boarder
myself, I was very fortunately a guest at the Headquarters Mess, and at
the head of the table sat Lieutenant Colonel A. R. Christie, who was the
commander-in-chief of the Corps Air Service. I had heard early in the
afternoon that these girls were coming, and it had been so long since I
had seen a real American girl that my enthusiasm over their prospective
arrival was not exceeded by a country lad’s anticipation of his first
circus.
As luck would have it, at the dinner table I was seated next to the
brunette, which was just what I had wanted. I must say she was a
“Queen.” She had eyes that were all eyes, and when she smiled it seemed,
as the poet would say, just like the flooding of a dark and desolate
dungeon with the glorious light of day. She wore a daintily scented
perfume that made it all seem to be just like the environment of a
wonderful rose garden and this girl was the loveliest rose of them all.
I immediately felt my insignificance, for I was only a Lieutenant, and
around me were Colonels, Majors and Captains, and on account of this
subordinance I knew my place demanded reticence rather than verbosity.
Therefore, when introduced I merely told her quite formally how happy I
was to know her and then I closed shop with all the good intentions of a
huge, triple-locked, steel safe. However, Eileen, for this was her name,
had the master combination for unlocking the deposit box of pentup
conversation. She started it, but after she had been going for two or
three minutes, rank did not amount to anything to me, because I was
quite sure, as I had been several times before and have been several
times since, that this was the one girl God had made for Elmer. So to me
Rank was business and Love was pleasure, and pleasure superseded
business.
Versatility was this girl’s middle name, and to my great surprise she
even had a conversational knowledge of aerial observation, which is,
indeed, unusual for a woman. Perhaps the reason she was so friendly to
me was that I had some knowledge of aviation myself, and she wanted to
learn more. She asked me no questions, however, simply volunteered her
own information, so I felt she could not possibly be a spy, but whether
she was or not it didn’t matter to me, for I was thoroughly convinced
that there never before had been a girl like this and there never could
be another afterwards.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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