The war as the vehicle that brought us together at just the right moment for both of us. Katherine was not in a serious relationship with anyone and neither was I. She was a stunning, beautiful young woman with just enough freckles to betray her farm girl, exposed-to-the-sun upbringing. She exuded a disarming aura of no pretend, Southern belle, shy, genteel innocence.

I watched them go into that motel. My room is just across the hall from hers. It is late Sunday afternoon, she still has not returned to the YWCA.