Page 61 of The Girls of Pearl Harbor
‘It’s your hair,’ Grace murmured. ‘He’s never seen hair the color of flames before, I bet.’
Eva stepped closer to him and bent, dropping to her knees. The boy hesitated, then moved forward and carefully touched Eva’s hair before throwing his arms around her and giving her a quick hug.
‘Pretty,’ he said, his cheeks flushing.
‘Where have your friends gone?’ Grace asked.
The boy shrugged, but he stood to attention as Eva placed something in his hand and then closed his palm around whatever the gift was.
‘Here, have some cigarettes too,’ Grace said, handing them over.
The boy grinned and gave them a wave, before darting off, running fast in the direction his friends had gone.
‘I think he’s in love with you,’ Grace teased.
‘If a little boy wants to be in love with me, then I’m okay with that,’ Eva said, shrugging, and Grace couldn’t help but smile. They’d tried so many things to draw Eva out of her shell these past few months, and then a little boy full of innocence had stroked her hair and touched her face, and suddenly there was a lightness about her again. Maybe for only a short while, but it was there. She only hoped that being around Arthur and seeing him suffer wouldn’t send her straight back into sadness again.
‘What is the little ponytail for?’ April asked. ‘All the younger boys seem to have shaved heads with little ponytails at the back.’
‘It’s in case they die,’ Eva said quietly, taking Grace by surprise. ‘Arabic boys are circumcised when they turn thirteen—it’s a religious thing—and the pigtail is to signify to the angel of death that they’re little boys who haven’t yet turned thirteen. The angel lifts them by their pigtail to take them to heaven.’
‘It’s so unusual; how different their customs are,’ said Grace.
‘Different is always hard to understand, though, isn’t it?’ April replied, still staring after the children, fascinated by the myth behind their hairstyles. ‘I like that it’s so different here—it makes you realize that we’re all fighting for the same thing, even though we’re so far removed from one another.’
‘Going back to the topic of being in love,’ Grace said, changing the subject as they continued to walk. ‘How’s your love life going, April? Has the dashing Dr. Grey asked you out on a date yet?’
‘Grace! Nothing is going on between me and Dr. Grey.’
‘Nothingyet,’ Grace said smugly, loving how quickly her sister had become defensive. ‘There’s nothing to be embarrassed about; he’s a gorgeous surgeon who happens to like having you on his service with him. You’d have to be a nun not to be attracted to him, and he clearly likes you right back. You should, I don’t know, try to get trapped in a supply room with him or something.’
‘Stop!’ April begged. ‘Please, stop. Yes, he’s handsome,yes, I like him, but nothing has happened. If he asked me out, I’d say yes, but he hasn’t even hinted that he’s interested, so can we please just leave it?’
Grace shrugged. ‘Fine, but are we going to buy food, or are we just going to go for a swim?’
‘Food,’ Eva chirped. ‘I think we should go straight down there and get something to eat, then swim.’
They walked casually into the Arab quarter of town, elbowing their way past more people than Grace had ever seen in one space, the narrow streets and alleys packed with bodies and hungry-looking dogs with their ribs poking out. There were even donkeys tethered to doors, their eyes shut and their lower lips drooping as they waited for someone to return for them.
There was everything presented for sale, from rugs and handbags to shoes and copperware, and smoke billowed out into the alleyways, filling the air with smells that merged with the thick sweat emanating from the men shouting and laughing loudly at one another.
Grace’s heart beat fast as she looked around, amazed all over again at how a regular girl from Oregon had somehow ended up on the other side of the world, in a place so different she couldn’t have even imagined it in her wildest dreams.
‘Here,’ April suddenly said. ‘Let’s stop here.’
A street vendor was cooking what looked like vegetables and rice with some sort of meat, and Grace decided not to ask what it was. Perhaps she’d rather not know and just enjoy the taste of something other than army rations.
‘You,’ someone said to them from behind.
Grace turned. ‘Are you talking to us?’ she asked politely.
‘You, you give my boy cigarettes and candy,’ the man said.
Grace glanced at Eva, not about to point the finger and tell him exactly which of them had given out the treats to the little boy earlier.
April was the one who nodded. ‘We did. Yes.’
His smile took Grace by surprise. ‘You must come to our home for dinner. Tonight. We cook you a feast.’
