A romance, unrelated to other writings by Elsie Barnett.

Lovers True

Oh yes, Mary Marie and Joe Boy had been chums for ever so long; ever since the days when little Joe, growing restless on a rainy afternoon, would say to his mother: “Go see M’ree, Muvver, go see M’ree.” So the mother, a little lonely too perhaps, would bundle up her sturdy man-child and, leaving her smartly furnished bungalow, walk down the street to the more humble home of Mary Marie. The mothers were fast friends, taking a singular enjoyment in each other’s company, though they did not move in the same circles and rarely met outside their homes. The children were always happy and contented when playing together, either indoors when the weather made it necessary or building castles in the sand at Marie’s back door.

Then came the day when both started to school and went skipping down the elm-shaded street hand in hand, the dainty little lass in her crisp gingham dress and the lad in his neat linen suit. In their kindergarten games, Joey always chose ‘M’ree’ as his partner, and the tiny girl, with eyes shining, reveled in the choice.

Their first quarrel came when they were in the second grade. One day at recess, during a game of ‘Cat and Mouse’, Joe Boy being the cat, made the very serious mistake of choosing another little girl as the mouse. Mary Marie did not speak to him for three days. But on the fourth morning, as she left the front door, her little play-mate came along with two large red apples in his hands. These together with his sunny smile, banished all her haughty resolutions.

Always inseparable, these two romped their way through the grades and all those delightful summers. Then came High School. By this time they no longer built castles in the sand during their vacations, but played tennis or went canoeing on the river; and in the winter there was skating or hockey on the ice. And of course there was usually a crowd of other boys and girls along too, but how Marie’s eyes sparkled, how her dimples came and went, and how her heart beat faster when Joey was her partner, even though she was long-legged and awkward.

Thus High School days passed by: glowing autumn dwindling into winter, cold and frosty winter melting into spring, lovely, misty spring blooming into golden summer, which in turn brought forth autumn once again. So the cycle swept on through four glorious years, and the steadfast friendship ripened into an overwhelming love. Marie was no longer awkward and stumbly, but a beautiful and graceful girl; and Joe, as he was called now, was easily the handsomest man in the class and clever too. His earnest blue eyes held a purpose in their depths, for was he not to follow in his father’s footsteps and become a surgeon?

When Joe saw Marie sitting there Commencement night, her lap overflowing with crimson roses, her dark eyes alight with purposes achieved and new worlds yet to conquer, he knew she was his, his forever, as she always had been and he lost no time telling her so later under the honeysuckle vine.

“Now comes the rub, sweetheart,” continued the man, “I must go away in the Fall, so we shall have a jolly time this summer.”

“Go away, Joe? Where?” cried the girl.

“Why Dad says I must go to his alma mater for my college and premedic work, then to Johns Hopkins for the medical. That will take eight years, eight years away from my pal,” and he sighed wistfully.

“There is no need of that, Dear,” said Marie. “You can take your premedic right here at the university, and the medical over in Omaha. It really is as good a school as any, and plenty of hospitals for clinics. Why go away, Joe? Please stay here. I am entering this Fall, you know, Domestic Science course. We could have such good times together.”

But Joey carried out his father’s wishes, leaving a forlorn Marie on the station platform.

The next four years did not pass as swiftly as did the others, the time between Christmas and summer vacations dragged on and on; but oh, the bliss of those delightful holidays which passed all too swiftly.

At each parting, Marie became more reluctant, more rebellious at being left alone. She went to parties now and then, but the attentions of other young men were but ashes to her soul. How she longed for Joe, longed to feel his presence beside her, longed to smile up into his loving eyes. A premonition began to taunt her, a thought that perhaps it would be always thus, or worse; for after his graduation would come his internship, but surely that could be taken here at home.

Plunging into her work harder than ever, college commencement found her leader of her class. It also brought her Joe, whose own commencement was over a few days previously.

A rapturous time they had that summer, and when Marie took up her new duties in a large High School she had blossomed into a starry-eyed matured young woman who felt sure the future held happiness for her. As the exacting year wore on however, and she realized that Joe was only beginning his really medical studies, her happiness disappeared into the far distance, and again doubt gained a foothold in her thoughts. Joe was now in Baltimore and that was farther away than ever.

Three weary years passed by and Joe had almost completed his work when along came the war, and the United States was soon involved.

With tumult and confusion everywhere, training camps springing up over night, men dropping out of all lines of work to enlist, units of soldiers organized and leaving for camp, Joe did not know what to do, whether to go or not to go. He finished his year however, received his Doctor of Medicine degree for which he had labored so long, then went home to see Marie.

What a happy meeting that was, for all this restlessness had had its effect on the girl too, and her feeling of uneasiness had increased. As the bright sunny days, filled with sweet companionship, passed by, Joe’s conviction grew. By the time glorious autumn arrived again, he knew that he would have to go, and Marie knew that her premonition had become a reality.

One starlit night in September he told her good-bye. “It can not last long, Sweetheart,” he said. “I shall come back to you soon, then we can be married.” With bravery in her smile but sadness in her heart she watched him go.

Returning to her work to wait for Joe once more, the time dragged slowly. After ages it seemed, a letter came from France. This was soon followed by another, then another. They were coming quite regularly now, though not always did they arrive just when expected. These brief messages were her only consolation, the only bright spots in her days of suspense.

Then one evening the letter was not there to greet her when she came from school. Days drifted into weeks, weeks into months, still no word. Her nerves shattered by overwork, worry, and so many sleepless nights, Marie exclaimed: “I can not stand this any longer. I must get away somewhere, farther south would probably be best.” So South she went to rest, still hoping that a message would come from her loved one.

But as time passed, the poor girl began to feel the pangs of real despair. Though she spent her days basking in the warm sunshine and drinking in the resin-laden air, her health did not improve. Gradually she became more frail, more listless, more hopeless.

As she sat there gazing at the pine-covered slopes, she would relive their last summer together. Joe seemed to be beside her now, she could hear his gentle voice, could feel the gaze of his keen eyes upon her face; but when she reached toward him, the dream faded away.

“Oh” she would sob to herself, “If I could only touch his hand with the tips of my fingers.”

One morning Marie heard a roaring sound overhead and looking up she saw a large monoplane cleaving its way through the sky, its body only a deeper shade of blue than the surrounding atmosphere. Here was a new interest, something different to think about, and the lonely girl felt attracted to this solitary ship of the air, so far above the earth. As it sang its way through the azure depths, her spirit seemed to fly to meet it, and clinging to it, to float along with it, she knew not whither.

After being wounded in battle and spending several months in a field hospital, Joe, thin, pale, and still limping, was sent home. When he had submitted to his father’s caresses and his mother’s joyful weeping, the returned hero exclaimed “Say, but it is good to be back. I can hardly believe I am really here. But where is Marie? Why did you not have her come over?”

“Oh, yes, dear, I meant to tell you; Marie is not here now, she has gone south for her health,” his mother hastened to explain.

“Gone south for her health? What is wrong with her health?” Joe wanted to know.

“When your letters ceased coming, she worried about you so, and her work was too much, she had to give it up. She stopped here for a few days on her way.”

“Well,” the lad replied, “I can go down there and find her, and I think she will improve very fast when she sees me come rolling in.”

A few days later found Joe aboard a south-bound train. But locomotive wheels did not show sufficient speed for this eager young man, so at Kansas City he climbed into a huge, blue airplane which was just leaving.

Anxiously, Joe counted the minutes as towns and woodlands sped by below. Now they were in the bright sunlight, now among fleecy clouds. Finally the spires and skyscrapers of their destination could be seen.

On this particular afternoon, Marie sat watching the approach of the blue plane as usual. She saw it emerge from the distance, saw it grow larger and larger; then almost overhead it started downward.

“Is it going to land?” thought the girl. “No,” she decided, “They do not land like that, something is wrong. It is falling, falling, --”

In her excitement she had jumped to her feet, had run a few feet forward, with arms outstretched. Then as this monstrous bird plunged to the earth, the woman’s face was transfused with a wondrous light. She cried out in happy, joyful tones: “Yes, Joey, I am coming. I am right here, Joe” and collapsed on the ground.

That evening the paper boys called on the streets: “Extra, Extra! All about the big blue plane that crashed out by the sanitarium with one passenger killed and five injured; and the Rest-Cure patient who dropped dead from shock.”

But no one had a word to say about the two souls which were blissfully united at last in a union which no human events could sever.