“Oh, no! Sparky,” she cried. “No! No! No!”
“It won’t be hard, not really,” he assured her. “They’ll want to know about the first overseas trip made by a WAF. If you tell them half the things that have happened to you, they’ll be forever convinced that the ladies of the Ferry Command can really take it.”
“Since you put it that way,” Mary replied soberly, “I’ve got to accept.”
“That’s the girl!” Sparky applauded.
Mary could be quite the lady when occasion demanded. The wife of a flying Colonel took her under her wing to help her with dress and make-up. The beautiful gown she had worn in Egypt was still at hand and so it happened that a young flying lieutenant was heard to remark as she entered:
“That glorious dame! She never flew a plane in her life!”
Catching the words, Mary blushed, but forgave the lieutenant on the spot.
Had not the very substantial Sparky, still in his uniform, been seated at her side to nod in confirmation to every strange tale she told, there might have been many an older head that would have questioned her story. As it turned out, she was quite the lady of the hour.
For all that, when she found Sparky next morning, the first thing she asked was: “When do we leave and how?”
“We’re leaving the good, old Lone Star behind,” he admitted sadly. “It’s needed for fighting China’s battles.”