Love Letters From the Grave(28)

Other than living near the plant in town, the rest of her routine remained about the same. Nearly every weekend she stayed at her father's home, where she helped her father and aunt with chores around the garden, in the orchard and with the animals. Her weekend entertainment also generally remained the same as she continued to hang out with Carol and a few other girl-friends. As for men, she continued to shun them, concentrating instead on working as many hours at the plant as she could. Almost every week's pay check included considerable overtime, so she was able to continue saving a lot of money.

Finally, the war ended, and shortly after that her war-time role at the plant also closed. This was expected, since the plant guaranteed every service man their job back when they were discharged. Of course, there were quite a few who did not return, but this was no help to the women employees in keeping their jobs, because the plant also had an aggressive policy of giving first choice of their open jobs to other returning veterans.

Molly's landlord's husband returned home, safe and sound, so Molly moved back to her father's home. All in all, she was happy. The war was over, most of the men had returned, and she was able to relax for the first time in a long time, now that she was free from her intense work routine. It suited her, for now, to be unemployed and to be able to work with the plants and animals on her father's "mini-farm."

Her relaxed, easy life did not last long, however. She’d been home only three weeks when she received a call from one of the women she had worked with at the war plant.

‘Hey, doll, it’s Vonnie,’ said her former colleague. ‘What are you up to?’

‘Nothing much, to be honest,’ replied Molly.

‘That’s great!?Cos I wanted to ask if you’d be interested in coming back to work at the plant.’

Molly stared at her reflection in the mirror over the hall table. It looked calm and capable, but not very interesting at all.

What had happened to the young woman who tossed baseballs with the guys, and flirted with Freddie Carter at the traveling fair? It all seemed a long time in the past.

But that girl? Yes, she’d have been interested in going back to work.

‘I thought all the jobs were gone now the boys are back.’

‘Yeah,’ sneered Vonnie, ‘apart from the ones they don’t want to do. My boss is hiring women for certain roles – the ones that don’t pay so much.’

It turned out that the plant had received some large, long-term contracts with the War Department, manufacturing critical military items that were needed to build up depleted inventories.

Vonnie had mentioned Molly to her new boss and, on the basis of her recommendation, he decided to hire her without going through the normal interview process.

If she was interested.

The girl – no, the woman – in the mirror gazed back at her. What was there to think about? After discussing it with her father, she called the manager and took the job.





Chapter 9




* * *



A Special Courtship



* * *





Never thought my heart could be so yearny.

Why did I decide to roam?

Gonna take that sentimental journey –

Sentimental journey home



Sentimental Journey, Bing Crosby



On her first day of work, Molly was told to go to the office of her boss for orientation.

‘I’m George,’ said The Boss.

‘We spoke the other evening.’

‘That’s right. Vonnie recommended you.’

Molly smiled. ‘She’s very kind.’

‘That’s right. We like kind people here. I think I’m quite kind myself,’ said George, smiling back at her.

After inquiring about how she made it to work that snowy morning, he spent a few minutes going over her duties. He then started to ask questions about herself and her situation, reiterating that anytime she needed a ride to or from work, he would be more than happy to take her. He told her that he was single and had plenty of spare time. Molly didn’t volunteer any information about her own situation.

‘What’s your experience with motorcycles?’ he asked suddenly.

‘None whatsoever. Is that part of the job?’

‘No! I just like them.’

She was teasing him just a little, but then, he was asking an awful lot of questions: why she lived so far away from the factory; what her previous job had been at the plant; what work she’d done during the war.

‘I’m new to this plant myself,’ he told her, ‘having previously worked for another metal manufacturing plant which also made critical military products during the war.’

‘Then I’m sure you’ll be great to work for,’ said Molly.

A bell clanged in the distance, and George suddenly sprang to attention. ‘Is that the time? I’m sorry, Molly, I didn’t mean to keep you so long. You’d better be off now, but how about we have lunch together in the plant's cafeteria to continue our conversation?’

She accepted his invitation, and reminded him – kindly – that she already knew where the cafeteria was.

On her way back to her office, she wondered about her meeting with her new boss. He was certainly friendly - very friendly, in fact. Kind, like he’d said. His personal questions and comments were simply intended to make her feel comfortable in her new job, and to impress upon her that he was very accessible to the employees under his supervision. He had said that he was single. She wondered whether he had ever been married. He appeared to be in his late thirties or early forties. He did not mention children, although she volunteered that she had no children from her nearly six-year-long marriage.