When I recall the summer of 1941, I think of it as one of the most pleasant times of my life. nothing had affected me, in fact, everything had a positive connotation associated with it. I was ever thankful to be one with the summer.

I had my Charlie, who kept my heart close to his, and his close to mine. 

My brother, who had become a respectable man, and always protected me.

Hilda, who had become vulnerable in her time of need. 

Charlies father, who had the most unimaginable connection to me.

My own father, once harsh, but softened by the happiness of life. 

I helped Mr. Burrow pack up the fishing hut down by the pond. It was nothing but a small light, a few fishing rods here and there, nothing much else. 

A new family had moved into the Kennedy's place. I could almost see it, a moving picture, Jane and I running in our dresses down to our shady tree. I loved her still, but it felt harder to love someone who had made the effort to be distant. 

Hilda and I went over to the new neighbors house. A girl of about my age answered the door. 

"May I help you?"

"Hello, Ms, my name is Hilda Bea Robinson, and I live in the house just  over there. Oh, and this is my stepdaughter, Miss Rachel Robinson." I slightly curtsied to her. She had hair the color of sand, done in a fancy updo. She wore a lavender dress, and invited us inside.

"Well, pleasure to make your acquaintance, my name's Alice, Alice Beacon."

"How old are you, Ms. Alice?" Hilda was awfully curious today. 

"I'm sixteen years old. How old are you?" I stood there with a pleasured expression on my face. 

"I'm sixteen as well!"

"Well, that's great!" 

I was ecstatic, another girl my age. I loved spending time with Charlie, but being with a girl my age again, how I'd missed that comfort that I had at Charlotte Hill. 

We both shared a love of painting, so we took it upon ourselves to paint together. I never was into painting landscapes, but I learned how to do it, and I rather enjoyed it. The precise details on the trees that I watched as the leaves fell down, or how the grass swayed with the wind. 

"You're getting quite good at this, Rach."

"I love your pond landscape, Alice! That's beautiful work!"

Frank came home one day, tired from work. I asked him whatever was the matter. 

"Ruth's parents don't think I'm suitable for their daughter."

"Well, why not?" 

"I guess I'm not rich enough, or have a stable enough job."

I didn't know what exactly he meant by that, but I would soon enough understand. 

I was in the Burrows home when it happened. December 7th. Everyone was preparing for Christmas. It would be a good Christmas, at least one would hope. We turned on the radio and heard the announcement. Japan had bombed our base in Hawaii. 

"Pearl Harbor?" Mr. Burrow practically waddled into the room upon hearing this announcement. 

Charlie stood up and went into the other room. I sat there, in complete shock. I knew what this meant. America would finally have to get involved in the war.

They wanted strong boys. Charlie was within the right age, seventeen, to enlist with parental consent. I was certain that he would do it for his country. 

Charlie cared a great deal about America. It meant a lot to him that he could live in this beautiful country. He memorized the words of our national anthem, and greatly enjoyed celebrating our independence in July. He also didn't really go to school anymore, which meant that there wasn't much he could do. 

I ran home immediately. They had all heard the news. 

My brother was understandably the most worried. I could comprehend it now, Ruth's parents didn't want Ruth to be married, because Frank would likely be drafted, and they didn't want her to have to wait, or have her heart be broken. 

"Have you officially broken off from one another?"

"It's weird to put it that way, but yes, we have."

"My father started going into a state of disorder. All his papers were mixed up, he displaced his reading glasses, he even drank alcohol for the first time in what I had assumed, years. 

"They haven't declared war yet"- I tried to reassure my brother.

"They will. That's what frightens me, Rachel."

"I've never seen your vulnerability, Frank. I didn't know what your reaction would be..." I felt sick to my stomach as soon as I uttered those words. 

"My life...could be taken from me. Everything I've worked for. Everything I've wanted and wished for and lost and gained is gone, because leaders use fear to invoke fighting, and fighting means either a loss or a victory. Testing the waters is what they do."

He stood up and rubbed his jaw with his hand. Frank had worn white mens dress shirts and dress pants for as long as I could recall. I tried to picture him in uniform, the same uniform father once was in. There was a picture of him in the living room. The green everything. Frank was strong and smart, but he wasn't particularly clever. 

"I am not weak. I am strong. We only see the tips of the iceberg."

"The tips of the iceberg?"

"Imagine this. A cold, dark, empty sea. There's an iceberg. The closer you get to it, the more you see it. I think it's that way with people too. The closer someone gets to another person, the more of themselves that person allows them to see, allows them to be a part of. Now, even those who dive so far into the ocean may never see the bottom of the Iceberg. There are still parts of ourselves we keep hidden. They are so far buried within us that it will never come out, unless the iceberg flips."

I decided not to ask him any more questions. "I am...so sorry, my dear brother."

I left and went upstairs. 

I woke up the next morning and turned on the radio to hear that America was declaring war against Japan. I saw a few things with this. We weren't just going to war with Japan. Germany and Italy were against us now, too. 

"Who is this man, and what does he want?" I heard Hilda say. Her bedroom window faced our front door, and mine the backyard. I quickly went across the house to figure out whatever was the matter. 

I saw a man travel up the road. He was coming to our door. 

"Hello, my name is Hopper Buckley, and I'm a good friend of Franks."

"Ah..I didn't know my son had good friends!" They both chuckled. "Frank! It's for you!" 

"Who is it? Oh. Hey, Hopper."

"Cmon Buddy, let's have a night."

"Um...he desperately looked at father. My father was an oblivious man to the little hints people would give him."

"Have fun, Frank! Don't be home too late!" He shut the door. 

"Father, what have you done?"

"What do you mean? I want him to have some fun. You don't have fun when you're on duty."

"We don't even know"- "It'll be required of him to serve soon enough, Rachel." 

"You could clearly see the discomfort in his eyes...could you not?"

"Nonsense." He waved his pointer finger as he trodded back into his study. 

I waited all day for Frank. I listened to the radio for some more information. I knew who Hopper Buckley was. He had terrorized Frank all of his high school days, so Frank gained some strength. 

Frank stumbled in the door. "I..had the time of my life."

"What, really?" I grabbed his arm. "You hate those boys, don't you? This is so unlike you, Frank."

"Maybe, but I loved it. Hopper wanted to mend his ways with me, you know, before the war. We were men, who have moved past the obnoxious problems of childhood. 

I had never seen my brother so happy. The clear life in his eyes, the pure joy. He had forgotten a bout Ruth, forgotten about the war, he had the biggest smile on his face of any man. 

A smile I would never forget.

"I don't know when I'll see you again. I promise to be with you, in some shape or form, forever." Charlie and I sat on the dock once more, my head on his shoulder. I felt the age of the dock on my fingers, and the beauty of the midnight sky.

"I want to go crazy." I didn't know by what impulsivity magic I said that, and I didn't know what I meant by it, but I did it anyways.

He laughed, "what do you possibly mean?"

"What if we did something crazy? There's a train leaving here at dawn. It comes back at three the next afternoon. We could catch it."

"There's nothing more I'd want, but I don't have the money to do it."

"It's okay." I pulled out some money. We had been given a good amount of money, each of us, from the Lady Charlotte, to use and invest in our futures.

"You will not use your money from the Lady Charlotte for such a whimsical idea."

"Oh, but I would."

"At dawn, there was Charlie at the station. I had left a note for father saying I was with Charlie and not to worry about me. I was collected as I could be. 

The conductor checked our tickets, nodding, and we were brought onto the train. 

I never knew New York could be so beautiful. The dazzling trees and the nature all around us. The seats were perfectly cushioned to my liking. 

Charlie held my hand. My hand in his, there was nothing I felt could stop us from growing our love. If war took him apart, we wouldn't be physically together, but in spirit, we would never be apart. 

"I'll write you...every single day."

"I trust that, with everything in me."

"Good."

"Would you like some treats, my dears?"

We nodded and went to the dining car, getting our sweets. I loved the simple life we had created. Things would get more complicated soon enough, but for now I enjoyed every moment. 

My hair, the color of brown sugar, my dress the color of an ocean. My eyes, my lips, my nose. I didn't question if I was beautiful, and I didn't question if I was worthy. 

The beauty of the world encircled me, I trusted in its bounty. The snow flecked each tree with its glow. It was December 9th, the day I got out, the day I never looked back. 

I liked dreaming, I found it rather fun. To plan out what your life would be like. I've learned that you can make plans, but it's so unlikely that even three will happen, and those three won't happen in exactly the way you want them too. I didn't know if that was beautiful or rather annoying. 

Charlie and I danced with the other couples. They were of all different ages, all here for the same purpose. To spend time with their lover once more. To share a memory. To feel alive. 

I saw the glimmer of hope in their eyes. I met people with children, without children, with jobs, without jobs, a few didn't even have permanent homes! They just traveled till they thought they would drop. 

The women, dancing with their curls, slender. One, named Abigail, had a pretty orange-y colored dress. She had once been a professional dancer, a Rockette in the city. She retired once she had a baby. Abigail taught me all her moves, and then everyone on the train joined in. It was almost like being in a major motion picture. 

I remembered seeing Snow White with my friends from Charlotte Hill when it came out four years prior to this occasion. We were all fascinated to see the animation, see how detailed everything was. I learned dances from the Argentinian couple on the train, who told us about how coming to the states was hard, but they'd made it work. 

Music played for hours. I could've danced all night. 

I knocked myself out onto the bed. It wasn't comfortable, but my tired self could've slept on the floor if that had been the only option.