I was just finishing the weld when the whistle blew. But there were still 4 more inches to go, so I bit my lower lip and continued along the bead, knowing that it had to be absolutely perfect. People were counting on me after all.

I finally finished it, and turned off the torch, lifting up my face shield and looking at it with my bare eyes. No bubbling, no carbonization, it looked perfect. I smiled and looked a second time, still perfect. “Hmmmm, that looks perfect Sally!” came the voice from over my shoulder, and I looked back at Mrs. Weller, who was leaning over my shoulder. I grinned at her, and she patted my shoulder as she reached out and with a piece of chalk in her other hand made a mark with her number on the rudder, noting the time and date.

“You’ve come a long ways in the last 6 months, and you should be proud of that. That is fine work. Now let us get down off of here, whistle blew 15 minutes ago.”

“Yes Ma’am,” I said. “But I did not want to leave it half-finished like that, the night crew might have had to do it all over again, and better done right than done twice. And I ain’t gonna have any of our boys in trouble because I did a sloppy job.”

I racked my equipment and saw I was the last one. Mrs. Weller locked the cabinet and together we walked to the office, where I grabbed my time card and stuck it in the machine and punched out. But I was surprised when she grabbed it from me, and signed it, and put a note saying that the 30 minutes of overtime was authorized. “You deserve it my dear, and I am going to turn this in myself so there are no mistakes in getting it taken care of. You go ahead and take off, and have a good weekend Sally.”

“Thank you Mrs. Weller, you also Ma’am,” I said, and walked over to the lockers. I went into the one set aside for us and sighed as I took off my jacket, and grabbed two of the gray towels off of the stack, and went to the sink. I removed my thick blue cotton work shirt and bra, and got one towel wet and washed off my face, arms, and torso. Watching the wavy steel mirror until I was sure all of the dirt was off of my face, I used the other to dry off, then tossed them both into the hamper before putting my bra and shirt on again.

One good thing in addition to the extra money, being late meant I was one of the tail end waiting for the train. I got in line, and climbed into the last car and leaned against the rail as we swayed our way north and east away from the Kaiser shipyard and towards home. A fairly new housing development in Berkeley called Codornices Village. Of course, it was not my home, it belonged to my sister and her husband. While California was nothing like South Carolina had been, it also was not really open for a single woman of color. But there was a war on, and when Kay told me her husband could get me a job at the shipyard, I did not even ask ma and pa, I just told them I was going. And 2 weeks later, here I was.

I was hired almost on the spot, and after 2 months of mostly doing everything from picking up trash to moving around carts full of parts, I was assigned to training as a welder. I was among the best in my class, and thankfully assigned to Mrs. Weller’s crew. We mostly worked outside the hull of the Liberty Ships we were building, which would be bad I know come winter. But here in summer it was nice. A cool breeze off of the San Francisco Bay, and during breaks I could sit on the scaffolding and look out at the water. The same, but so different from that at home.

I finally got home, and Kay smiled and kissed my cheek and said dinner would be ready soon. I went into the bathroom and stripped off my clothes. At least there was plenty of hot water, and once I was clean I put on my robe and went into the living room. “Steak and mashed potatoes, Kay?” I asked, in a teasing voice.

“Heh, not likely! Canned ham and corn. But I did get 5 pounds of grits, they are already soaking for breakfast tomorrow.” I made the right lip smacking noise, and dug into my chow. Murray was working the night shift, so it was just us talking as I ate, and she asked me what I was planning for the weekend.

“Well, some of the girls said they were going to the Rialto, that new movie with Lena Horne and Cab Calloway is playing. After that, I might go to the Victory club.” Sis smiled at me, and said she hoped I had a good time. I ate the last of dinner and headed back to the bathroom.

I put on my makeup and fixed up my hair. It was still scrunched up a bit from the cloth cap I wore under my hardhat, but that was a good thing now. That and the lighter stripe where the band rested against my forehead showed I was working for the war. I went into the bedroom and selected my blue and white pinstripe Georgiana Frock Dress. It was quite daring ma would have said, barely coming to my knee. But there was a war on, so we had to save fabric. I considered putting on my stockings, but I only had 1 pair left so shook my head and sent without. And grabbing my nightshirt I slipped into my shoes and went back to the living room. I put my nightie on the chair near the couch, and after hugging Kay I grabbed my purse and headed out.

A short walk later and I was on the Key Line to Oakland. While some were not happy they were allowing coloreds to live in Berkeley, they could not stop us. They needed the workers to build the ships, and we had to live somewhere. However, there were few businesses that catered to us so most of us went to nearby Oakland for entertainment.

I got off the train and walked to 7th Street, and stood and looked around. It was just starting to get dark, and there were a lot of people on the streets. I walked to the theater and checked the time, and saw I had 20 minutes left. So I got my ticket, and lit a cigarette and watched the people. Almost all of them were colored also, but one or two Mexicans in Zoot Suits were wandering around also. I still thought on most of them it looked silly. Especially since most were around five foot nothing. Now Cab Callaway could pull it off, he was slender and tall. But most looked like kids who had gotten into their dad’s closet and were playing dress-up.

I was about to put out my cigarette when a sailor walked up and asked me how much. I gave the light-skinned fool a look that would strip rust off of a hull, and told him I was not for rent, not available, and I sure as hell was not for him. His buddies who stood a few feet away howled in laughter at him as he apologized and moved away. I took a last drag and tossed the butt into the gutter and headed inside.

I used the bathroom, then got into the line for the concession stand. Of course there was no candy, damned rationing. No Coca-Cola either. I went ahead and got a popcorn and iced tea, even though the ersatz sugar beets they used was not as good as real sugar. Then heading in I found a seat in the back.

The back is right, a lot of people were still there from the last showing, so I had to settle into the back corner. I took a sip of my tea and made a face, then set the waxed paper cup on the floor against the wall and crossed my thighs, taking a bite of popcorn and looking around. Over half of the men were in uniform, most were Navy but a few soldiers. Most of the other men were either too old to serve, or could not serve. And I saw a few that should have been in uniform, and dismissed them because they were not.

The lights dimmed and the cartoon feature started as I saw motion at the end of the row. It was three sailors, and they were moving towards what were probably the only 3 seats together in the place. The one in front smiled and apologized, and took a seat next to me. And I was a bit surprised to see that unlike most of the others and his two friends, he was white.

But he was a Petty Officer Third Class, and the other two were seamen. The cartoon was one I had seen before, with a rabbit doing all he could to make life hell for a Jap soldier. We all laughed anyway, then the newsreels came on.

I leaned forward, and this was actually recent footage out of New Guinea. It was clips of our boys, and talking about how the dirty Japs were being rooted out of the caves and bunkers, and how we were going to push them back into the sea and crying to Tojo.

Then the normal spot telling us to buy bonds. And how we had to do our best in rationing and recycling to beat the Nips and Krauts and bring our boys home. The man next to me softly apologized for taking the seat next to me, but there were no other ones for he and his friends to sit together in. And now that I heard his voice better, I turned to him and gave him a smile.

“Let me guess sir, Charleston?” He looked a bit startled, and smiled in return and nodded. “Yes Ma’am. Good ear. Pee Dee?”

“Uh-huh, Myrtle Beach.” Which is what many called the region where I was raised, after the Pee Dee River.

I was a bit surprised when he reached out and took my hand in his, shaking it softly. “I know the area, my family has a cottage up there. We might have even seen each other from time to time during vacations.” I grinned, thinking that was unlikely. He asked what I was doing out here, and I said I was working at the shipyard. I asked him the same thing, and he pointed to his buddies.

“I asked these two lunkheads to show me some real jazz. Herb there is from this area, and he said if we wanted real jazz, we had to come here.”

“Jazz, not swing? That’s kind of an unusual choice.”

“Well, I grew up with it. And when I saw on the marquee that Cab is in this along with Lena, I had to see it.”

We talked softly until the movie started, this was a rather unusual white boy. The movie was quite good, but not as good as the last one I had seen with Lena. Of course, Satchmo was in that one. And no matter how good Cab was, there was only one Satchmo.

The movie finally ended, and by now John and I were becoming friends. Herb was looking around and I asked if they wanted dancing and punch, or jazz and booze. Well, they wanted the latter so I talked with Herb, and he agreed that the Creole Cafe would be the best place. I was even taken aback a bit when John held out his arm for me, and I found myself taking it.

It turns out they all served on the same destroyer, and John, Herb, and Frank were all quartermasters. Their ship had been damaged in the Solomon campaign, and was in Mare Island for repairs. We were able to get a table, and John went to get us all drinks as I sat with the other two.

And I was a bit surprised when they said he was a “Good cat”. He actually dropped out of college when the war started, and came from a wealthy family. “Daddy’s a doctor, his brother is a soldier over in Africa. He ain’t one of those redneck crackers, he talks real fine and treats us like anybody else. But he been pestering us to take him here for the last month, and this is our last shore leave so we decided to bring him along.”

At that time John came back with 4 bottles of Acme beer, and we toasted each other as a quintet took the stage. They were quite good, but I saw more than a few looks at our table. I mentioned to John as we talked that his buddies had told me his dad was a doctor, so I asked his name. Sadly I had never heard of a Dr. Killman, but John did know the Youngblood Pharmacy.

“Sure I know that, it’s the one my dad uses if we are up there.” I then more formally introduced myself, and he laughed when I said I was Sally Youngblood. “Wait until my dad finds out! How is your dad doing? I only know him as Mr. Youngblood, but he used to let me read the comics as he and my dad did business.”

We talked for a bit, and I admitted that he might indeed have seen me or my sister there, as we normally worked in the summer sweeping or helping customers. “Well, my dad is going to be tickled pink to hear that! I’m gonna have to write and tell him that before we put back out to sea again. It is a small world, our dads knowing each other and we are both all the way out here.”

Well, a few minutes later Herb asked me to dance, so I smiled and accepted. We danced a few numbers, then Frank cut in and I danced a few times with him. The surprise was 2 songs later when John then cut in, and I smiled and took his hand in mine and the song was fast and energetic. And obviously this was not his first time dancing to jazz. But the next song was slower, and he respectfully put his hand on my hip and we danced together.

But I saw some of the looks were getting dangerous, and before it was over I stepped back and said I was thirsty. We returned to the table and finished our beers, and I looked over at Herb. He seemed to notice the mood also, and he nodded and suggested we leave. One of the guys in a Zoot Suit started to step away from the bar. But the bartender grabbed his arm and shook his head, and we made it out without incident.

Both Herb and I gave a sigh of relief when we were on the street, and John did not seem to have noticed anything. “So, where to now?”

I suggested the Victory Club, so we headed on over there. Good music, free doughnuts and punch, dancing and other girls for the guys in uniform, and thankfully integrated enough to not cause a problem. We went inside, and I was surprised when John took my hand and took me right out to the floor. We continued dancing, and he was really good. I saw that Herb and Frank soon had partners as well, so I smiled as John and kept dancing.

After a while we took a break, and he again put my hand on his arm and walked me to the table with refreshments and got both of us a punch. I even giggled when he pulled out a small flask and poured a clear liquid into each cup. “Vodka, the real stuff not bathtub gin.” We toasted each other, and it indeed was good stuff. We had another glass of fortified punch, and hit the floor again.

This time the songs slowed down, and I was a bit started when he pulled me in a bit closer. He was taller than me, about 5’9” to my 5’4”. And his reddish-blonde hair was actually kind of nice, and I felt my fingers itching to run through it for some reason. We talked about all kinds of things, and finally I just could not resist anymore. “So tell me Petty Officer Killman, do you have a hankering for Redbones or something?”

And I instantly felt ashamed, when I saw him jerk, and start to blush. It was also only then that I realized our bodies were lightly touching, and he pulled back. “Oh, I’m sorry Miss Youngblood, I hope you do not think I was thinking anything like that! I simply like dancing with you, honest.” And I could tell he was sincere, and smiled and nodded, moving a bit closer so we were lightly touching again.

“Well, I am sorry but I had to ask. I have to admit, I have never danced with a white boy before.”

“Well, I have danced with colored girls before, but do not think I am trying to get fresh or anything. You see, my family does not hold with the attitudes of many back home. If I was ever heard speaking anything but respect to your father or to you, my mom would have beat me. Then turned me over to my dad and he would beat me again. You see, he works at Charleston Hospital, and also teaches at the Cannon Street Hospital. I hope you do not think I am like most back home like me.”

He honestly sounded hurt, and I felt ashamed. This time I did give in and let my fingers slide up to run through the short hair at the base of his neck. “Oh John, I do not think so at all. But I hope you understand, I had to ask. I do believe you, and nothing in how you have treated me tonight was anything but proper.”

I felt a little thrill and moved closer, and I could feel his chest against my breasts. He was a well fit man, and he felt good against me. But all too soon the songs changed to a faster swing style so we took a break again. I laughed when I saw that Frank and Herb were still dancing, and we had some more reinforced punch as we watched. I then excused myself to use the facilities, and saw it was after 11. I went to the phone and dropped in a dime, then called my sister. I told her I had met some friends, and I might be home late so she should not worry about me.

I met John again, and we sat in a corner and talked as we sipped our drinks. He had the prettiest green eyes, and I was a bit startled when he took my hand in his. I smiled at him, and we moved a bit closer and continued talking. At 11:30 they announced 30 minutes left. I was well familiar with the routine here, so I pulled him back onto the floor just as the band started a Glenn Miller number. Moonlight Serenade was one of my favorite songs, and when John pulled me even closer, I moved my body against his.

His hand moved from my hip to the small of my back, and I felt butterflies in my belly as we moved together. I barely remember the other songs, only that they were slow, and it felt so good to be held by him. Finally they were saying we had to leave, and I put my hand on his arm as we went to get my coat. We walked outside and he asked if he could walk me to the train. I looked for Herb and Frank, and he laughed and said they had left over a half-hour before.

“Herb came up when you were away, and said he had found dates for the two of them, and they were going to take off. I imagine they are all at Herb’s place now.” I laughed, and said good for them. “Of course, he is from here so I imagine that makes it easier. What will you be doing tonight, John?”

John admitted he did not know, probably find a hotel for the night as he did not want to be the odd man out at Herb and Frank’s party. I nodded, and suggested a few that were open to any customer in uniform. We walked together in the early morning, and I suggested the 7th Street Hotel. It was not all that far away, and was known to ignore the segregation laws and allow whites in uniform to stay there. He nodded, and as we walked in the direction he asked me what my plans were for the rest of the weekend.

I admitted I had the weekend off, and he very politely and almost formally asked if I could join him for lunch the next day. I smiled and nodded, and said I would love to. I suggest we go to Jack London Square, they had some good food, and often music and dancing at the clubs there.

We were about 2 blocks from the hotel when I cursed softly and released his arm and went into the entryway of a closed store. John asked what was wrong, and I said I had gotten a rock in my shoe. I removed it, and sure enough heard the soft tap when the rock struck the cement when I shook it out. I had just slipped my foot back in when I felt John right next to me. His body was almost touching mine, and I looked up into his eyes, and once again loved how green they were.

And I did not even think of resisting when I realized his eyes were getting closer to my own, and I licked my lips right before they were met by his. Oh my he kissed me good! His lips were soft, and he pulled me against him, but in a nice manner, not a hungry manner as so many boys had kissed me in the past. I bent up my right leg and pressed against him. And this time it was like all of us were touching, I could feel his strong thighs against mine, my breasts pressed against his chest, and I felt flutters as I realized that was his cock pressing against my belly.

I let my fingers caress up the back of his neck again, and run through his hair. And when his tongue pressed against my lips, I welcomed it inside. Now I was not a virgin, and had not been since one of the neighbors and I were an item after we graduated. But he went and joined the Army, so that ended. And there had been 2 others since I moved to California. But it had been months and months, and I admitted to myself as I felt his tongue in my mouth that this was a fine man that I would like to know carnally, even if he was white and I was colored.

Finally we broke, and both of us were breathing heavier. I saw him lick his lips and swallow, and he actually thanked me! Then apologized, hoping he had not been out of line, and hoped I would still meet him for lunch the next day. I said indeed I would, and after another soft kiss we continued walking. And I only knew how late it was when I sighed as the 1:45 train turned the corner and headed west.

“Shit,” I said, then blushed. John asked what was wrong, and I said that was the last train for the night. “They will not start up again until 5 in the morning. They used to run 24 hours, but they started breaking down, so now they stop between 2 and 5 for maintenance. Nothing for it I guess, there is a night owl coffee shop a block or two ahead.”

He then invited me to his room when he got one and said he could order some coffee and we could wait together. I looked into his eyes, and he did seem sincere so I agreed. Right before we got there I told him to go ahead and get a room, and I would take a seat in the lobby. “Once you get your key, nod at me once for each floor, and a few minutes later I will meet you there. If we walk in together they will assume I am a prostitute and refuse to rent you a room. Just say you know this is a hotel for blacks only, but your shipmates are colored and live in the neighborhood. It is late and you do not want to walk across town at 2 in the morning.”

John kissed me and nodded, and it went just as I thought. I walked in and sat at a chair and removed my shoes and started to rub my feet. The bellboy came up and asked if I needed anything, and I shook my head. “Oh, but thank you. I already have a room with my family, my brother is in the hospital getting over something he picked up over there. I was at the Victory Club, and wanted to massage my feet after dancing all night before I go upstairs.” I saw John nod to me four times, and I nodded as the bellboy told me he was waiting for his number to come up, and he was going in the Army soon. I rested my hand on his arm and wished him a lot of luck and to be safe, and he kindly helped me to my feet and I walked to the elevators barefoot.

Thankfully there was no operator at night, so I was able to push the button myself and stepped onto the hallway on the fourth floor. I saw a door about 10 yards down was open, and saw John’s arm poking out. I walked up and took his hand in mine and entered the room. We kissed briefly, and he said the coffee would be up in about 10 minutes.

“He was a bit surprised because of the time, but I said I had something to add to it to help me sleep and he laughed. So if you can wait in the bathroom until they bring it up, there will be no suspicions.” I nodded, and it was a good idea as I did have to use it.

Afterward I used a washcloth to wipe off my makeup, knowing that no matter what it was no longer needed this evening. I heard the knock on the door, and the bellboy come in and some noises before he thanked John and left again. John called my name, and I came out and saw a coffee service for 4 on the table. And next to it some toast and fruit.

“I asked them for something to eat also, this is all they said they could provide with the kitchen closed. I hope you do not mind Sally.” I said it was fine, and soon we had more coffee and vodka, and I was nibbling on some toast as he had an orange.