Tinley Reat II

On a sultry 1940 mid-September evening, Tinley Reat hurried through the security gate on cloud nine. A trolley was filling quickly at the curb of the shipyard. She was the last on board; there were no empty seats, but she didn’t mind. The eighteen-year-old typist clutched the safety poll as they hummed along the long-shadowed streets of The Azalea City. Tinley wished to share her ‘Top Secret’ with her new love, Jane Bell. But the FBI man had laid down the law. Loose lips sink ships.

And what of Jane? Remembering the soft kisses from the night before, forbidden yet just so right, made ‘Tin’ yearn for more. At that moment, she could have gobbled up the thirty-something beauty like one of the St. Francis Street bakery’s delicate cream-filled Éclairs. Tinley shook with the tremor dancing through her core.

Later, at the boarding house, Jane made love to Tinley at supper with darting glances and half-second smiles. As the dinner table cleared, music from the parlor lured Tinley to where Jane sat at the piano playing Debussy’s Reverie. Tinley knew Jane was playing to her, for her, yet Jane never looked her way. No, that would be too reckless for this Jane, her Jane.

Before Jane bid everyone goodnight at nine and departed, she slipped Tinley a note. The young woman subtly checked it later and read ‘11’ centered on the tiny square of paper.