Sloan Wilson - Ice Brothers

“I’m afraid you’ll never find a woman who can do as well as the cook on your ship,” she said with a smile.

Arranging a pillow, he lay comfortably back. Her knife poised over the bread, she appeared to be studying him.

“I’m trying to imagine you in civilian clothes,” she said. “I can’t. What did you usually wear before the war?”

“Gray flannel slacks and a tweed coat.”

“You were a student?”

He found he had caught some of her desire to be loved as he was, or at least understood. He told her how he had supported himself by selling clothes, playing cards and taking out charter parties on his father’s old boat.

“You were a poor, penniless American student with a yacht?” she said with a smile.

“During the Depression we couldn’t sell her for anything like she was worth. I at least made her pay her expenses.”

“What is your wife like?” she asked, her voice so casual that it was disarming.

“That’s not fair.”

“You mean, women like me aren’t supposed to ask about wives?”

“No, it’s just a damn confusing question.”

“Is she a student?”

“No.”

“What does she do?”

“She decorates a house and she dances at the U.S.O. to improve the morale of our country’s fighting men.”

“I don’t know what that means. You sound so bitter!”

“Probably I have no right to be, but I do get angry at her sometimes. I don’t think I’ve ever admitted that. Do you think that the wife of a soldier overseas should entertain the troops at home?”

“Are you afraid she’s unfaithful to you?” Brit asked, arching one eyebrow a little.

“I’ve worried about it. She used to be sort of wild. It must be hard for a wife to be left alone for so long. The war bitches everything up.”

“How long have you been married?”

“Not much more than two years.”

“Were you happy?”

“I don’t think I really know what that means. Things were pretty mixed up. No, damn it, I wasn’t happy. I never admitted that before either.”

“Do you have children?”

“No.”

“Don’t have any until you’re sure where you’re going. Marriage shouldn’t trap people, but children can.”

“I believe that.”

“I’m too old to dream of your coming back for me, so I’m not speaking selfishly.”

“I know.”

“I don’t read palms, but I’m not bad at reading character. You’re kind of shocked by me and by yourself with me, aren’t you?”

“Maybe a little.”

“You’ve never done anything like this before. I’m afraid I’m sort of the end of a dream for you, a terrible crack in your American idealism.”

“Am I really all that naïve?”

“I admire you for it. My husband was like that. He couldn’t imagine being unfaithful to me. He told me that often.”

“And you?”

“For a long time, but as you say, the war bitches everything up.”

“To be honest, I don’t think that Sylvia and I were headed for much happiness, even if there had been no war. I have never been able to face that.”

“What do you think was wrong?”

“I don’t know. I never felt I was satisfying her.”

“Sexually?”

He felt his face start to burn. “Among other ways.”

“She made you feel that you were no good?”

“Sometimes, and maybe I made her feel she was no good.”

“I used to be a rather difficult young girl myself, and I think I’ve learned a little about you.”

“I’m afraid to ask what.”

“All last night you kept asking me if I was satisfied. That seemed a great worry for you.”

“I’m sorry. ” This time his face really was burning.

“Don’t be sorry,” she said, coming to stroke his face. “That’s a rather charming worry, especially for a man so young. I meant it when I said I was fine and you’re fine. You don’t have anything to worry about.”

“Thank you,” he said. “Probably it’s silly, but I’m very glad to hear that.”

“Do you want me to prophesy your future? My husband used to say I was a witch.”

“Maybe I’m afraid to hear it.”

“I don’t know if you will work out your troubles with your wife or not, but you’re not the kind of man who will let a woman destroy your self-confidence for long. My guess is, you’ll know lots of women before you find one that will let you be as idealistic as you want.”

“Maybe.”

“I wish I were twenty years younger and could meet you about five years from now. When you’ll be old enough really to settle down.”

“I guess this sounds corny, but I’ll never find anyone like you—”

“Not as old, not as cynical and not as educated ,” she said with a laugh. “Now eat. If we hurry, we’ll have time for laughing together one more time before you have to go back to your ship.”

The whaleboat took Paul back to the Arluk later that afternoon. The men greeted their captain stonily. Only Nathan was friendly. They went to Paul’s cabin to talk and Cookie brought coffee which tasted good after the sweet hot chocolate ashore.

“Skipper, I’ve been thinking a lot about our whole situation,” Nathan began. “The only thing that’s happened here is that that ski plane showed up again today with the sun. He just took a peek over the mountain at us and disappeared again. Maybe we can deduct something from that.”

“Like what?”

“The Krauts probably are not in radio contact with people here. If they were, they wouldn’t need to take a peek at us every day.”

“Sounds reasonable.”

“And maybe they’re more afraid of our attacking them than they are anxious to send their ship over to attack us.”

“How do you figure that?”

“They’ve known where we are now for some time. The weather’s been good enough for them to attack. If they had been smart they would have hit us before we got the prisoners organized and got over the pasting they’d already given us. If they’re smart enough to have done some of the other things they’ve pulled on us, they’d be too smart to let us get all ready for them. I know we can’t be sure, but I think the odds favor some such interpretation.”

“Their main job is of course to defend their own base, and maybe they think they can do it better by preparing a real hot reception committee for us than by trying to get us here,” Paul said. “They must know we’re cooking up something, now we know where they are. Maybe they’re concentrating on making a place where their ship will be safe from aircraft, or just building up their defenses. When you come right down to it, they may be just too smart to walk into the trap we’ve set for them here. The bastards always seem to be one ahead of us.”

“I have some suggestions that might let us catch up,” Nathan said. “In the first place, we ought to get that damn little plane of his. I don’t like letting him keep track of us so easily. He seems to show up just about two minutes after sunrise every day. If we got a Lightning to time its arrival just right tomorrow, it might catch him.”

“Tell GreenPat that.”

“I’ve got a message all ready to go. Now do you mind if I talk for a minute about some ideas which might help our overall strategy?”

“I’ve got a few. What are yours?”

“I’ve been studying the charts and the pilotbook. The fjord the Krauts have is just about like this one — it’s different only in detail.”

“As far as we know,” Paul said.

“Peomeenie will probably be able to tell us more, but for the time-being let’s assume that the two fjords are very much alike. We can assume that with prepared positions, most of the Krauts can survive any air attack, and will be ready to fight like hell when the planes go.”