"Smile if you want to."
At which the glint in her eye and the hidden smile on her lips sort of met and sparked and she laughed. Tyler laughed, too, and then they laughed together and were friends.
Miss Cunningham's conversation was the kind of conversation that a nice girl invariably uses in putting at ease a jackie whom she has just met at a war recreation dance. Nothing could have been more commonplace or unoriginal, but to Tyler Kamps the brilliance of a Madame de Stael would have sounded trivial and uninteresting in comparison.
"Where are you from?"
"Why, I'm from Texas, ma'am. Marvin, Texas."
"Is that so? So many of the boys are from Texas. Are you out at the station or on one of the boats?"
"I'm on the Station. Yes ma'am."
"Do you like the navy?"
"Yes ma'am, I do. I sure do. You know there isn't a drafted man in the navy. No ma'am! We're all enlisted men."
"When do you think the war will end, Mr. Kamps?"