This would normally go in Historical Fiction, but I made absolutely no attempt to make it historically accurate, and do not want to be accosted for such. The war slogans used are real, though, and taken from posters at the Nebraska State Historical Society. For those interested, I'll put picture links at the bottom of the page.
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LOOSE LIPS SINK SHIPS
Grace shifted a little. She had been sitting on a vinyl couch in the waiting room of the Military Affairs office for more than seven hours, nervously watching the big hand of the clock at the front of the room swing in spirals. Her cuticles were ragged and bloody and she felt vaguely sick.
Her skirt was stuck to her thighs. She sat up and peeled it away, the pleats leaving little angry red lines in the skin newly exposed.
The man in the khaki-colored uniform standing at her left shoulder was beginning to fidget, fiddling with the peeling leather on his pistol holster. He flinched when someone turned on a radio behind the vacant counter at the front of the room.
A man with a cartoonish accent began to speak through the static. It is goot to hear Americans are putting 10% of der pay into Bunds!
Canned laughter. Herman, can you tell our Führer that it's 'bonds', not 'Bunds'?
A man with no accent began to speak, his voice deep and powerful. For Victory! For America! Buy war bonds today!
The Star Spangled Banner began to play. It was muted when the chime above the door began to ring, and heavy bootsteps began to sound.
Grace turned around. The man in the khaki uniform tapped her shoulder.
A boy in a crisp navy blue uniform with gold epaulettes sat down on the couch next to Grace. He took off his wool cap and began to twirl it around his finger.
"What are you in here for?" He asked, leaning back and casually pulling a cigarette from his pocket.
Grace's mouth began to tremble. "I…I gave away the position of…" she lowered her voice. "A food and weaponry storage facility."
His thumb lowered toward the lighter, but stopped. "You what?"
Tears began to well up in her eyes and her nose began to run. The man in the khaki uniform handed her a handkerchief. "It was an accident! We…we were playing Spin the Globe, and my finger landed on a…and she said….she said the Germans where watching, and that people…people might die…"
"Those Germans are sneaky bastards," he said.
She blew her nose. "Do you think they heard?"
"I'm sure they did." She let out a long, shuddery sigh and rubbed her eyes with her sleeves. The boy flicked the lighter and waited until the tip of his cigarette glowed orange before lifting it to his lips. "You can never be sure where the enemy is."
Grace gulped. The big hand on the clock passed four and they sat, silent, ears straining to hear the radio. She cleared her throat before asking, "What…what are you in here for?"
He blew smoke through his lips. "My neighbor exhibits Jap Tendencies."
"Jap Tendencies?" Her eyes widened. "You don't think…"
"Oh, I do. The man takes his shoes off before he enters the house, and he mutters to himself- in their language, I'm sure. And I'm pretty certain he has a spy headquarters in that little shed in his backyard. Always going back and forth…shifty, if you ask me."
She cocked her head to one side. "How do you know those are Jap Tendencies?"
He snuffed the cigarette out on the bottom of his shoe and tossed it limply aside. It landed on the linoleum and skidded beneath a table. "I read the papers. I know what Japs are like."
Grace looked at her shoes. "I wish I knew how to spot them. I wish I knew so that…so that people would stop dying."
"Except for Japs."
She blew her nose once more. "I heard they eat babies- do the papers say that's true?"
He nodded. "Live ones."
"How awful!" She paused. "Surely- surely we can't just let them alone? They're awful…maybe they'll die by themselves."
"You talk like a communist," he said. Grace wasn't sure what that was. "They're a threat. We leave them alone, and they'll come back- you heard what happened in Hawaii?"
She bit her lip and nodded. "But surely they-"
"They're sneaky bastards, too, the whole lot of them. There's no 'surely' with the Japanese, and you ought to know that."
A woman with an American flag pinned to the collar of her uniform stepped up behind the desk. The radio was playing a symphony of some sort, with violins and brass. "Grace Abler? The Chairman will see you now."
The sick feeling returned to her stomach and she waited as the man in the khaki uniform pushed metal braces round her wrists. The boy looked at her sympathetically. "Better hope the Germans don't do anything about that facility." She kept her eyes on the ground. "Better be careful next time."
The man in the khaki uniform led her around the front desk to a little corridor with rooms to either side. The one at the very end had a plaque nailed to it- Office of the Chairman. Voices muffled by locked doors resonated through the hall, and Grace's legs tightened, ready to run.
Her shoulder was prodded. Grace hesitated.
She took one last look back at the boy through the little window slit on the door. He had a paper unfolded, and pressed up so that his face was obscured by a very large printed advertisement. This man wanted alive! said block text, below an American flag. But careless talk can kill him!
Her shoes squeaked against the floor, dreading every step towards whatever awaited her. The slogan at the bottom of the page ran through her mind like a newsreel. When the enemy is all ears- don't be all mouth!
The man in the khaki uniform rapped on the door and waited. There was a click as the doorknob turned and the door swung open.
Grace gulped.
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[spoiler]
Loose Lips Sink Ships
Buy War Bonds!
Don't Be All Mouth
Bonus points to whomever can correctly guess what this is a thinly veiled rant about! [/spoiler]
Oh please... eating babies? I always thought that was the Germans who did that.
