Heart of Devotion. N.J. Perez

as the war, and any news about the war, was always taking a great toll on everybody. The new year brought more fluctuating news from the various fronts—every time we got a piece of good news, it seemed that was soon followed by news somewhere else which dampened our spirits. My heart soon got in the habit of skipping a beat whenever I heard anything suggesting increased or further turmoil. Mac had been able to write close to one letter every two weeks as consistently as possible, and this kept me going. He would always tell me that he had received my latest letters, and that they had kept him going.

      I had passed all my midterm exams mostly with a B average, and I was now playing on the senior basketball team as a point guard. It had been Father who had pushed me to join the team, and I was glad he had, since I found that exerting myself on the court quite invigorated me. In mid-January, we had a school dance, and I hesitated attending, but Mother would have been miffed if I did not, and so I let Thomas take me, although I had told him we would be going only as friends. Still, he did hold me during some of the slow dances, but all the time, I thought of it being Mac holding me. I don’t know if this was wrong for me to do, but nobody had ever held me like Mac could, and I even told him so in one of my letters. Throughout the dance, I knew with certainty that nobody else would ever satisfy me like Mac would.

      I began thinking often about the upcoming summer, and I prayed that Mac would be home by then, and perhaps finally, the war would be over. We would go dancing, roller skating at the park and new arena, or just park his car by the lake and talk for hours. I would kiss him goodnight, and the next morning, we would get up and have breakfast together and then go over and visit with his family. We would attend all the St. Patrick’s Day dinners and dances around town, and Mac would show me just how wonderfully well he could perform some of the Irish dances.

      Toward the end of January, Thomas had begun dating my friend Ruth. One night, she and I made him a big dinner at my house, and believe it or not, once Thomas found out that it had been Ruth and I who had prepared everything, he acted like he was going to get sick from the food! That Thomas is something else altogether, and not for me! I was upset to find that Mac’s baby sister, Little Sue, had taken ill with a cold in her chest. I rushed over immediately and took turns with Myrtle holding her, singing to her, and rocking her to sleep. She is the sweetest thing! I feel so bad seeing her so ill, and we all worried that she had better get well soon or else it might turn into pneumonia. I wrote to Mac that she would love a letter from him. I knew she loved Mac just as much as she loved Myrtle, and I wanted to be sure Mac knew that was the case.

      On a rainy Tuesday, I chatted with Margie at lunch, and she was sick with worry since nobody had gotten even one brief letter from Chester since December. I asked her if she would come with me to visit Little Sue after school, but wouldn’t you know it? It began raining so hard that we decided to go straight home and try again tomorrow.