Herman Wouk - The Winds of War

“My God , Warren!”

“Go ahead, pay off the cab, Jan.” His voice was hoarse and tight.” Anna May, get out some bandages, will you?”

The taxi driver, a hatchet-faced old white man, said, “Lady, I’m entitled to fifty. I heard the Japs have already landed at Kahuku Point. I got my own family to worry about -”

She gave him two bills. “Twenty is what my husband said.”

“I’m getting on the first boat out of here,” said the driver, pocketing the bills, “if I have to shoot my way aboard. Every white person in Hawaii will be butchered. That’s Roosevelt for you.”

In the kitchen, Warren sat bare-chested. The maid was dabbing antiseptic on his blood-dripping upper left arm.

“I’ll do that,” Janice said, taking the sponge and bottle. “Make sure Victor’s all right.”

Warren gritted his teeth as Janice worked on a raw wound two inches long. “Jan, what’s wrong with Vic?”

“Oh, a fever. A cough. Darling, what in God’s name happened to you?”

“I got shot down. Those bastards killed my radioman. Light me a cigarette, will you? Our squadron flew patrol ahead of the Enterprise and ran into them — hey, easy with the iodine, that’s plenty — How about these goddamned Japs?”

“Honey, you’ve got to go to the hospital. This has to be stitched up.”

“No, no. The hospital will be jammed. That’s one reason I came here . And I wanted to be sure you and Vic were okay. I’m going to Ford Island, find out what’s happening and maybe get a plane. Those Jap carriers haven’t gone far. We’ll be counterattacking, that’s for sure, and I’m not missing that. Just bandage it up, Jan, and then dress this nick in my ear. That’s what’s dripped most of this gore all over me.”

Janice was dizzied to have Warren suddenly back, literally fallen out of the sky, half-naked, bloody, returned from battle. She felt deep happy stirrings as she rubbed his skin, smelled his sweat and blood, and bound up his wounds. He talked on at a great rate, all charged up. “God, it was weird — I thought those A.A. bursts were target practice, of course. We could see them forty miles away. There was a hell of a lot of smoke coming off the island, too. I talked to my wing mate about it. We both figured they were burning sugarcane. We never did spot the Japs until six of them jumped us out of the sun. That was the last I saw of Bill Plantz. I still don’t know what happened to him, all I was doing from then on was trying to stay alive. The way those fellows came diving — zowie -”

“Hold still, honey.”

“Sorry. I tell you, it was rough, Jan. The SBD’s a good dive bomber, but these Jap Zeroes! The speed they’ve got, the maneuverability! They can turn inside you — whoosh! It’s no contest. They do acrobatics like birds. You can’t shake them and you can’t hold them in your sights. The pilots are hot, let me tell you. I don’t know if the F4F’s a match for them, but one thing’s sure, an SBD against Zeroes is simply a dead pigeon. All I could do was keep turning and turning to evade. They got De Lashmutt right away. He almost broke my eardrums with a horrible scream on the intercom. And then he yelled, ‘Mr. Henry, I’m pouring blood, I’m dying,’ and he moaned and that was all. There was nothing I could do. They kept coming at me. They were so eager, one of them finally overshot, and hung for a second or two, in my sights, turning. I let go with my fifties and I could swear he started smoking, but I can’t claim anything. I lost sight of him. Tracers started from three sides, right past my windows, these big pink streaks, zing, zing, zing — and then, goddamn it, our own A.A. opened up! Why the hell they shot at me I’ll never know, the silly sons of bitches — maybe they were gunning for the Japs and missing — but the flak was bursting all around me. I still don’t know whether they got me, or one of the Japs did. All I know is my gas tank caught fire. Poor De Lashmutt, I yelled and yelled at him, till the flames were coming up around the cockpit, but he didn’t answer, he certainly was dead. So I popped the canopy and jumped. I didn’t even see where I was until the parachute opened, I just saw water. I was out over Honolulu Harbor, but the wind took me inshore. I almost got hung up in a palm tree in a little park oft Dillingham Boulevard; then I cleared it and got down. I grabbed that cab, but I had a time with that fellow. He saw the chute draped all over the tree, he saw me unbuckling he stopped to watch and he still wanted fifty dollars to take me home. A patriot, that one!”

“I’ve got the bleeding sort of under control, sweetie. Just sit quiet, will you?”

“Good girl. One thing I want to do before this day’s out is get at a typewriter. I may file the first combat report of this war on Zeroes. Hey? How about that?… You should see the sights downtown!” Warren crookedly grinned at his wife. “People out in pajamas, nightgowns, or less, yelling, running around gawking at the sky. Old people, kids, mothers with babies. Damn fools, when A.A. shrapnel was raining all over the place! The only safe place was inside. I saw this beautiful Chinese girl — Anna May reminds me of her — go galloping across Dillingham Boulevard in nothing but a bra and pink panties, and I mean small transparent panties — really a sight -”

“You would notice something like that,” said Janice. “No doubt you’d notice it if your arm had been shot clean off.” With his good arm, Warren gave her a rough intimate caress, and she slapped his hand. “All right! I’ve got this wound plastered down. Maybe it’ll hold for a while. Your ear is all right too. I still think you should see a doctor at the Naval Air Station.”

“If there’s time, if there’s time.” Grimacing as he moved the arm, Warren put on his shirt and sweater and zipped up the suit. “I’ll have a look at Vic. Get out the car.”

He emerged from the house a few moments later and opened the car door. “Why, the son of a gun’s sleeping peacefully. He feels cool and he looks like he’s grown twice as big.”

“Maybe the fever broke.” Janice paused, hand on the gearshift. The car radio was broadcasting an appeal from the governor to keep calm, with assurances that fleet damage was slight and that the attackers had all been driven off. “Warren, that cab driver said the Japs were landing at Kahuku. Do you suppose there’s any danger of that, and -”

“No, no, get started. Landing? How the hell could they keep a beachhead supplied from four thousand miles away? You’ll hear all kinds of crazy scuttlebutt. This was a hit-and-run raid. Christ, the high brass on this rock must be cutting their collective throats about now. Of all the sucker plays, a Sunday morning sneak attack! Why, it’s been a routine battle problem for years.”

On the ridge sightseers stood in the grass beside parked cars, chattering and pointing. Heavy black smoke boiled up out of the anchorage and mushroomed over the sky, darkening the sun to a pale ball. Janice stopped the car. Through the windshield, Warren swept the harbor with the binoculars.

“Good God, Jan, Ford Island’s a junkyard! I don’t see one undamaged plane. But there must be many left in the hangars. Lord, and there’s a battlewagon capsized . I’ll bet a thousand guys are caught inside that — hey! Jesus Christ! Are they coming back ?”

All over the harbor guns began rattling and flaming, and black A.A. balls blossomed again in the blue. Warren peered skyward. “I’ll be goddamned. There they are. How about that? Those sons of bitching Japs are sure betting everything on this one, Janice! Well, that means the carriers are still in range anyway, waiting to recover them. Great! Move over. I’m driving.”