“I thought there weren’t any rules.”
“Let’s find some fellas to dance with,” Stacy suggested.
Dash grinned, letting go of any lingering thoughts. “Look at those two gents over there, leaning against the bar. They look like they might know what they’re doing. Shall we go see?”
Dash liked the look of them, so she gave one of the men the eye, arching a perfect black brow in a way she knew was irresistible. The men immediately pushed away from the counter and came toward the girls.
“Can we buy you a drink?” one of them asked.
“We wouldn’t say no to that,” Dash replied, though it was still difficult to mean it.
They had another drink then danced until Dash’s voice was gone and her feet were blistered. At the end of the night, they all went their own ways, and when Dash fell into bed, she was smiling with contentment. The only way tonight could have been better was if Gus had been there. And Dot. Even Dot would have danced tonight.
twenty-fiveDOT— Moncton, New Brunswick —
Dot stood at attention, shaking so hard from the top of her cap to the tips of her carefully polished shoes, she was almost dancing. Captain Powell was talking on the telephone, his back to her. When he turned and noticed her there, he waved her toward a seat. Now she sat very still in the hard wooden chair, her knees a foot from the edge of the captain’s desk, her damp palms pressed firmly against her thighs.
Everything about this meeting made her apprehensive, from last night’s summons to this echoing office with the intimidating caption behind the desk. Captain Powell was a thickset man, probably about fifty, with stubby fingers and strands of silver hair falling over his wide brow. Dot had heard someone say that he had an unpredictable sense of humour, but from the looks of it, he was not amused this morning.
Dot was not only nervous, she was disappointed in herself. She had tried so hard. She had sworn never, ever to fail. And yet she feared that’s exactly what she’d done.
At last, the captain hung up the phone. “We simply cannot go forward in this business without obstacles, I have learned. One thing after another.”
“Yes, sir.”
“All right. Let’s see about you.” He inhaled through a bulbous nose,then flipped through a stack of papers. “Oh yes. I’m sorry to have kept you waiting. Let’s discuss what you brought to your superior’s office last night.”
“I deeply regret my actions,” Dot said, though she didn’t at all.
“Do you?”
“Of course, sir. I broke the rules. Before you decide my fate, I would like to point out that I never told anyone anything directly.”
The corner of his mouth twitched. “I see. Now, tell me about the rules you broke.”
“I brought my work outside of the hut, and I shared it with my superior. Oh, and I ran through the building out of uniform.”
“Yes, I did hear you were looking somewhat harried. You were lacking your hat.”
Dot felt awful. “Yes, sir.”
“I see you have it on this morning. Well done. Now. What about bringing your work out of the hut? How was that done, precisely?”
Was he smiling? He didn’t appear angry, at least. “When I returned to my bunk I wrote everything down—”
“You copied it from your notes?”
“Oh no, sir! I would never take paper out of the hut. Everything was in my memory, sir. My mind takes pictures.”
“Is that right?”
“Yes, sir. I could read that letter you have on your desk right now and repeat it back without looking.”
He looked slightly uncomfortable about that and slid the paper to the side. “I see. Do you memorize everything?”
“That would be a waste of time, if I might say so. No. I memorize what interests me.”
“And this transmission did.”
