He realized that all was fair in love and war—but not in this case when the other man was his best friend. Besides, he tried to tell himself, he had no right to even think of Elinor so long as Panama wanted her. He knew her first, and then again, maybe she really loved the sergeant and—no, that couldn’t be so, but the one thing vividly certain was the fact that Panama had befriended him when the rest of the world had turned their backs. Surely he owed this man something for that alone.
He stood by, silently, fumbling the snapshot carelessly as he allowed the entire matter to turn over in his mind, reflecting upon what course to pursue. Panama noticed the way Lefty was handling the snapshot and pulled it away from him, saying, “Be careful of that—you act as if it was yours!”
“I’m sorry,” the boy apologized, as Panama carefully put the photograph away again in his breast pocket.
“That’s Okay. Now get busy on the plane. I gotta pack. See you later!”
Panama walked away toward the barracks, leaving the boy alone, looking after him just as an orderly approached, bearing a communication from the Post Commandant.
Lefty tore open the envelope and his eyes fell upon a sheet of official paper upon which was typed flying orders for the Tenth Squadron. Hurriedly he read through the difficult routine wording until he reached the last paragraph where he rested his eyes, reading over the closing lines again and again.
“You are assigned to Sergeant Williams,” it explained, “as his mechanic as per his request.”
As he carefully folded up the paper and placed it in his pocket, his eyes became moist and he felt a lump rising in his throat.
He looked off to his right and saw Panama crossing the field in the direction of the barracks. A broad smile of grateful appreciation lighted Lefty’s troubled face, realizing now what Panama had done for him.
Suddenly he became aware of the terrible breach that might arise between him and this man because of a woman whom they both loved. He remembered Panama’s explanation about the snapshots and how he had to take them when Elinor wasn’t there.