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Showing posts from September, 2024

1940s: A scattered Christmas

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As Anna is leaving, Thomas is already settling into the new camp in Tomarang. Like Harrison and Harold before him (who are elsewhere in this strange land), the heat and mosquitos are almost as dangerous as the Japanese that keep attacking them in the night. Their camp is one of many, a part of a larger push to retake this part of the Pacific. Days are spent looking for the enemy, endlessly marching, training and keeping a look out for any sign of an attack. But before Anna has even gotten to there, Thomas has risen in the ranks to Sergeant Minor. Anna is of course not privy to any of that information. As she arrives at her hotel, she knows very little of Tomarang in general. But that has not stopped her before, nor does it stop her now. Her knowledge of various languages helps. When English does not work, French or Spanish usually does, and so she manages to speak to the locals to find out more about the place. Quite a few of the people in the hotel are journalists such as herself. And...

1940s: Anna finds a way to keep her promise

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Making a promise is easy, keeping it is sometimes much harder. As Thomas completes his training to go to war, Anna is trying to figure out how to fulfill her promise to Josephine. It's not an easy promise to keep. How can she keep an eye on him, when he will likely be sent off to either Europe or the Pacific? Her first choice would be to join the WAC, but for that she is too old, and without that, and even if she wasn't, there would be no guarantee that she'd be sent the same place as Thomas. Or anywhere, for that matter. And around them the war continues. Battles are raging in Stalingrad and northern Africa. Some guy named Peron takes over Argentina. In Italy Mussolini falls and Italy surrenders, but Nazi forces keep the war going. And in the Pacific one previously unknown island after another becomes known as the battles rages on. But one morning, while checking the mail, Anna gets a surprise. It's her old publishing company who is asking her to write a follow up piec...