She undertook the task with fear and trembling. It was not so much that she distrusted her own ability. She had been well trained. But how would the other girls take it?
“Some of them are thirty years old. One is a grandmother,” she said to Betty, as she broke the news. “And I am barely old enough to vote.”
“It’s not age that counts,” Betty replied in a tone that carried conviction. “It’s ability and experience. Go in there, old pal, and win. This is war. We all must do our best. And you can bet I’ll be right in there rooting for you.”
“Then—thanks! Oh, thanks!” Norma replied huskily.
All the same, when the time came for her first order: “Company, attention!” her throat was dry and her heart was in her mouth.
There was a surprised look on many faces as they turned about to line up. There was a smile or two, but they were not unkind smiles.
Then a thing happened that broke the tension. An officer of the old school, her father had drilled her in an unusual way. When as a child she stood at attention, he would call: “Hup, two, three.”
Now, in her excitement she called to her company:
“Hup, two, three!”
Then suddenly realizing what she had done, she laughed. And they all laughed with her. The ice was broken.