Just when the passengers thought they were doomed to sail forever across the vastness of the Pacific Ocean, playing cards day after night, tossing fitfully in narrow bunks and smoking pack after pack of cigarettes until the haze in the lounge looked like a perpetual ground fog... just when Maggie thought she would be bunk bed forever in this fashion and when Nell’s recurring dreams of gypsies mingled with those of women at bridge tables which rode on the waves of the seas; just as Leah had reached the decision to invite the young captain back to her cabin, just one more time before landfall; and just as Trudy was ready to write in her journal – diary that she was going insane from boredom and monotony –

Just then, the USAT Gen. Mayo sighed and dropped anchor in Inchon Harbor.

Well, not exactly to port, they discovered the next morning. The women gathered expectantly in the cold, still morning air, waiting for their instructions. Maggie and Trudy found Nell and her children and they huddled together for warmth and companionship.

“We’re sure a long way from land,” Trudy squinted into the horizon. “No sign of port; we’re stopped dead out here. I wonder why?”

Maggie shrugged, spotting her two boys who were butting each other with their Mae Wests. “You know the Army. It’s probably one of their hurry-up and wait games. They’ll keep us idling out here until they unwind some damn snafu.

“Damn! And it’s so close, after all this time. I can almost smell dry land——and men!”

They heard a small boat puttering to a halt alongside the Mayo and soon a small party of men clambered aboard. The leader took a central spot and with the help of a bullhorn began his speech.

“Good morning, ladies. Welcome to Korea. I’m Captain Wilson and you will shortly be receiving instructions for debarkation. I know it’s cold and you want to get to shore as soon as possible, so we’ll make it brief.

“Your husbands——and fathers——” he nodded in deference to the children around him, “will be waiting dockside.”

A loud cheer went up and Maggie whistled through her teeth. There was a pause, during which time, Maggie noticed her boys leaning over the railing, spitting. Below, a soldier complained loudly. She shut her eyes.

“Now,” continued Captain Wilson, “because of strong tides in Inchon Harbor, this ship is unable to get any closer. You and your children will soon be loaded onto LCTs which will take you on to the dock at Inchon.”

Maggie gulped and whispered to Trudy and Nell,  “Aren’t those things we saw in the newsreels during the War, where boys climbed down the ropes into little—bitty boats that went up and town...?” she shuddered.

As though hearing Maggie, the captain said, “We have provided ladders for your convenience in disembarking this ship. The landing craft are stable, the seas are calm, and after starting out, you should see your loved ones in about half an hour.

“Now, ladies, if you will please gather all our gear——er, suitcases, and reassemble here in one hour—“

The rest of his words were lost as the passengers raced for their cabins to do just as he said.

“Where’s Leah?” Nell asked Trudy as they were swept along in the tide of women and children.

“We’d better go check on her, she probably overslept and won’t be ready in time.” Maggie joined them and they squeezed against the bulkhead until the surge was past, then went the opposite way to Leah’s cabin.

Maggie banged on her cabin door. “Hey, Leah. Get up! We’re here!”

They heard rustling sounds inside, then the door -opened slowly.

“Hey, you been seasick again?” Nell asked as they entered.

Leah nodded weakly. The cabin was a shambles, with clothing tossed about and suitcases opened but not even half packed.

“Get dressed,” Maggie ordered, tossing clothing into the open bags. “They won’t wait for you, ya know.”

Leah ran to the bathroom where they would hear the sounds of running water.

“Let’s go,” Nell urged. “I don’t think she wants us here when she’s been so seasick.”

“Seasick?” Maggie snorted. “Hell, she’s hung over.”

“Why would she do a thing like that?” Trudy whispered.

“I dunno. You’d think she’d want to look her best——which is considerable, when she sees her husband again.

“Which reminds me—I’ve got to go make myself presentable. If that’s possible.” She tugged at her girdle and patted her hair.

“Time to go,” Nell called. “See you topside, Leah.”

Maggie brushed her hair vigorously, dabbed lipstick on her full mouth and peered critically at herself in the mirror. Well,  Jake’ll just have to love me for myself, she thought. The big moose.

She packed a few remaining comic books the boys had tossed around the room, searched under the bunks or any stray belongings and finally snapped her suitcases abut.

And that’s the last of this place, she thought.

Nell had merely to retrieve her suitcases and make a last—minute survey of the cabin before she took her children’s hands and left the cabin. Just a little while——

Trudy entered the last notes in her journal, then packed it inside her suitcase. She had never written so much before. She had never had the time to write so much, before, either!

Leah stood in the shower, feeling the trickle of water on her body. She shook the last of the water from her hair, toweled it dry and wrapped the other towel around her damp hair. In her bathrobe, she hurriedly applied her makeup with shaking hands, putting more foundation under her eyes to hide the dark circles.

She pulled a sweater and pair of slacks from a pile at the foot of the bunk and put them on and rubbed the towel over her hair once more, then brushed it until it was dry. The luster was almost back, she thought. She almost looked normal again...

She swept the remaining articles of clothing and cosmetics into her bags and closed them firmly.

Almost time to go, She lit a cigarette. Damn. What a stunt to pull the night before I see David again. But she hadn’t called the captain to her cabin. She had merely drunk herself to sleep, all by herself.

She had paid for that this morning, when the others had caught her. Maggie hadn’t been fooled, she thought. But so what? She was all right now. She would show them that she was fine, this morning.

She crushed out her cigarette, took one final look around the cabin and went up to the deck.

A long line of women and children had formed at the Mayo’s side.

Leah joined them silently, shivering in the cold air.

“Hey, Mom!” Jimmy Gorski’s voice shrilled. At least twenty pair of eyes turned in his direction, Maggie’s included. He sat perched inside a lifeboat, his brother Tommy beside him. “We’re playing abandon ship!”

“This isn’t the time,” Maggie groaned. “Come down from there, right now. For Pete’s sakes. Just you guys try that when your father’s around——and it’ll be soon!”

The boys bounced down in front of her and clambered down the iron ladder into the waiting LCT.  Maggie followed, clutching the rail tightly. Behind were Nell and her children, then Trudy and Leah.

A slight breeze sprang up, causing the landing craft to rock and Maggie's stomach lurched. All this way and not seasick; I’ll be damned if I get sick now, she vowed.

She looked back at the Mayo as the LCT pulled slowly away. It looked smaller than when she had seen it in Washington, in the harbor——so long ago, it seemed. It stood silently in the water, in foreign seas, far away from home.

This round-bottomed tub had carried her safely, if uncomfortably, across the thousands of miles of stormy Pacific. The Pacific Ocean, by God!

She saluted it silently. She saluted HER.

An ice floe collided with the craft, making a dull thud, followed by a sound not unlike fingernails scratching on a blackboard.

Trudy shuddered, then looked reassuringly at Nell.

Nell looked at Andrew and Marcie. Evan won’t know us, she thought. We look like refugees from the last war. Marcie is pale and wide—eyed, looking older than her nine years. And Andrew—he looks like a little old man, wrinkled, bent with the cares of the years, and his nose was running a steady stream.

Marcie took a handkerchief from her pocket and held it under her brother’s nose.

“Blow,” she commanded. Andrew snuffled. Marcie pinched his nose.

Somewhere a small child cried. The wind shipped the passengers, causing them to huddle together, wool coats against wool coats, gloved hands pressed together.

A moment later the engines were cut. Silence. The women looked at each other. Then they heard and felt another thump.

But this was different. There was no sound of fingernails on a blackboard. Then, sounds of men’s voices and boots pounding on a wooden dock, and a military band blaring as only a military band can——they were here!

Their men were meeting them, now. They were home!

The women pressed toward the front, eagerly, joyously, some already crying, others laughing, but all pushing forward, towards the great steel doors, which yawned and clanked slowly open.

Then, like Jonah’s great fish, the craft spewed forth onto dry land, not one man, but women and children, who were immediately swept up in another tide of another kind——a tide of olive drab.

Uniformed men surrounded them. Maggie found herself being propelled by the sheer momentum of the surging crowd, clutching her boys frantically.

Over the din of voices and the military band insanely playing “Kiss Me Once and Kiss Me Twice, and Kiss Me Once Again…”

“Love songs, for Chrissake,” she thought, she heard Jake’s voice, “Maggie, Maggie. Over here.”

Then arms reached out for her, uniform—clad arms held her tightly. Rough whiskers raked her cheek.

“I can’t see you,” she protested. She drew back and looked into the face of The Big Moose. Beneath all the padding, the olive drab was her Jake. Now she remembered his beard, his arms holding her——it was real. They crushed their boys between them.
      
Nell and her children found Evan and they cried and laughed and cried some more, Marcie wiped Andrew’s nose again, and Andrew summoned the strength to kick his sister in the shins and then run up his father’s leg for safety.

Things were back to normal, Nell sighed.

Trudy was surrounded by a sea of green. A solid wall of uniformed men surrounded her. They all look alike, she thought in sudden horror.

Every man looks like the next, bundled to his GI haircut in his parka, all brass and polish and smelling of wet wool and shaving lotion——where was Philip?

My God, I can’t even recognize my husband!

Then she saw him, the same Philip, the man she had married, running towards her.

They held each other without speaking. Words were too much, and yet not enough for this moment. She was a wife once more. Gone were the days of the Cavanaugh proprieties. Gone were the days of idleness, without purpose and Colin and his job, and Gail and Alex—-here, she was what she had always wanted to be—-Philip’s wife.

Leah found herself alone on the jetty, surrounded by the band, the uniformed men, the women and children who were embracing their husbands and fathers, and she was cold.

The band played concluded its medley of WWII songs and then marched smartly away.

She noticed couples were moving towards a train that idled nearby. A building sported sign that ran the width of the top floor. In hold black letters on white background it spelled out:  “Welcome to Inchon, Best Damn Port in the Pacific.”

She was struck again by the feeling that most certainly she did not belong here. And where was David? He should have been here to meet her—-she was alone now on the dock and a Red Cross representative started towards her, a sympathetic look on his face and clipboard in hand.

No, she thought in panic. He’s not dead. Don’t let him tell me David’s dead———

“Mrs. Barnes?” the man had, by process of elimination on his check sheet, deduced who she was. “Can I be of any help? It looks like your husband has been delayed in meeting you. Why don’t we go inside and call his unit——”

She allowed him to take her by the elbow and gently steer her inside.

This is how they do it, then, she thought. Inside. Of course, they can’t give me the had news outside, on the dock; wouldn’t look good to the others

The train gave a shrill whistle

“I’ll miss the train,” she b1urted. “They’ll go without me.”

“I’ll see to it that you reach Seoul, Mrs. Barnes. What unit is your husband in?”

She searched her memory, told him. She sat down on the hard wooden bench while the man telephoned somebody, somewhere...

Others in the room cast glances at her. Then they returned to their typing official papers, reports, whatever this building’s purpose was.

“I reached Lieutenant Barnes’ unit, Ma’am. He’s on his way. Delayed by——” but the words lost their meaning. She heard only that David was on his way. He was all right.

The train chugged away, giving Leah a farewell toot. She didn’t care. Let it go. David was coming to get her.

After what seemed like hours, after she had sat on the hard bench until she felt it growing into her skin; after the warmth in the room had become unbearable and she had taken off her coat and gloves; after she had read every uninspiring military bulletin on the board behind her——after Leah thought she would go mad from the constant clacking of the typewriters, David came though the door.

He swooped on her, pushing her down against the bench, while around her she heard the cheers and whoops of the other men.

He released her enough so she heard him say, “Honey, I'm sorry. The Old Man kept me doing some Mickey Mouse stuff up to the last minute and I knew I’d be late and he didn’t give a damn...But that’s okay, now. Let’s go.”

He was urging her out of the building into the cold and towards a jeep.

“Friend of mine runs the motor pool.” He shut her securely inside and climbed in beside her. “What do you want to bet we beat the train into Seoul?”

He kissed her soundly, then let out the clutch and gunned the motor. “Record time, I’ll bet!”

Aboard the train, Maggie and Jake made their way with their boys to a section of four seats together and piled gratefully into them.

Maggie loosened her jacket and helped the boys settle into their seats and let the warmth of the train compartment flow over her. And Jake’s strong arms. She fell against him.

“Where are we going, anyway?”

“Into Seoul, to the compound.”

“Seoul? You mean, that’s the way it’s pronounced? I thought all the time it was Sool, the way it’s spelled, now you tell me it’s Sole, like your foot——well, that’s ridiculous.”

“Same old Maggie,” be grinned.

The train, slowed, then stopped, and the passengers groaned, “We’ve just started.”

Workmen were repairing a section of the track. Nell was familiar with their work, thinking of her father, and watched them, secure in Evan’s arms.

Andrew and Marcie stood at the window.

Just at that moment, one of the workmen walked away from the others unbuttoned his white trousers and urinated on the roadbed.

“Uhhhhmmmmm!”Andrew shrilled. “His mama’s gonna spank him for that! You told me never to do that, huh, Mama?”

The parents chuckled. Nell turned to Evan, who in turn, looked at Jake Gorski. “Okay, son, listen to Lieutenant Gorski, here...”

“I thought I’d regret this,” Jake told Maggie. “I told Evan Martin that I’d tell the kids about this country... now he’s holding me to it.”

The train lurched forward. Andrew and Marcie looked at him, expectantly.

“Well, kids, over here, things are different. These people don’t do things the way we do at borne, they don’t have the same rules about--bathrooms-—and so on. I know it looks naughty to you, but they don’t think it is.

“And bathrooms aren’t the only thing. Manners. You know your mothers taught you manners? Well, here it’s okay for people to burp——er, belch——after a meal, to show they enjoyed it.”

Jimmy let out a huge belch.

“Not now, son.
“And the food is different, too...” Jake regaled the passengers all the way into Seoul about Kim chi, fertilizer, the smells and the sounds of the country they were soon to begin living in.

“Women breast —feed their babies, too,” Philip whispered to Trudy.

“Is that a fact?” Trudy smiled. “Maybe we can test that custom in a few months.”

The train whistled and as the sounds died, the passengers heard a loud honking outside, coming from the highway that ran alongside the tracks.

Nell glanced out to see an Army jeep racing alongside their train. Its passengers were waving and smiling as they passed.

“It’s Leah and her husband,” she exclaimed to Evan. “I wondered why she wasn’t on the train with us.”

Evan scowled. “That Colonel of his outfit wouldn’t let Barnes go in time to meet the ship. Everybody else gets the day off but him.  But I see he found her all right.

“And, from the looks of her” he teased Nell, “he won’t go back to work today, either...”

The train at last arrived in Seoul.

Nell stepped off the train into another world. A world of chaos.

Pungent aromas, a cacophony of sounds and countless yellow skins surrounded her. Evan escorted her firmly through the mass of humanity to the outside of the terminal, to his jeep. As they passed, the natives smiled unabashedly, eagerly exclaiming over the tall, curly haired American woman. Two sweet—faced urchins of about six or seven planted themselves firmly in front of her, yelling, “Allo, Allo, you son of a bitch, give me chew gum, you bastard”

Nell threw Evan a startled look.

“These kids think they’re really saying something in welcome,” he explained. “Some smart—ass GI undoubtedly thought it would be a real funny joke and rehearsed them months ago.”

“Some sense of humor,” Nell yelled above the din.   

They were outside, in the cold again. Crowds followed them even to the place where Evan had parked his jeep.

Around the vehicle stood a ragged knob of urchins, holding their hands out. He reached into his pocket, pulled out a wad of bills and passed them to the children. “If I didn’t pay them, we’d have come back to a pile of nuts and bolts.”

He helped Nell and the children climb inside the jeep, which was zipped with canvas sides against the cold and then carefully eased the vehicle into the street.

Small-pedaled contraptions thronged the thoroughfare, moving swiftly past ox—driven carts, piled high with——what? Nell wondered.

Everywhere in ebb, and flow, like the tide, people milled about, darting in and out of traffic, defying death at every intersection: streetcars threatened to mow down huge sections of people who stood impassively until the last second, then jumped quickly aside.

Above the clamor, Nell heard periodic greetings of “Allo, Allo, migook.”

“They’re saying Hello Americans, Marcie,” Evan had anticipated her question “When some of our GIS got here, they heard the word Migook and they thought the Koreans were saying Me, Gook. So, the Koreans became Gooks. It’s not right, you know, and I don’t want you or Andrew saying it, okay?” He glanced at Andrew, who nodded, wide—eyed.

Nell settled back for the ride of her life. Smells assaulted her: garlic, fish, fresh and rotting, boiling cabbage, hay, steaming rice, peppers, manure, urine——all these separate odors soon rolled into one malodorous stench. Nell’s senses felt overloaded.

Soon, the traffic thinned and the jeep was on the outskirts of town. They turned onto a wide dirt road.

Here was the inevitable compound with the inevitable MP §standing guard at the inevitable gate. Nell almost returned the salute, she was so happy to be on American territory again.

“Camp Sobingo. Home.” Evan waved his hand indicating the entire area. “Over there is the commissary, and the p.x. is next door. The hospital is across from them although it’s really more like a clinic—-the main hospital’s downtown. This one’s for minor emergencies and giving booster shots.

“The building at the end of this lane is the school. Are the Gorski boys old enough to go to school, Marcie?”

Marcie made a face indicating that she didn’t know or care whether the Gorski boys were going to school or not.

Nell answered. “I think Maggie will probably find a way to enroll both her boys just to keep them out of her hair!”

Evan turned the jeep into a smaller gravel road with huge ditches on either side. “For the rain and snow run—off. Things get a bit soggy here in the spring and during monsoons.

“Here we are. Home.”

The only thing that distinguished this stucco house in the mid1le of the block was the fact that a shingle in the front yard read: HO G 27 RM Martin, Capt.

No attempt had been made to bide the natural stucco color. The roof was of wood shingles, rather haphazardly done. A front stoop passed for a porch, with two steep cement steps leading to a screen door, then a plain wooden door.

To the left of the entrance were two screenless windows, and two windows on the other side. The house had an——unfinished --look to it, Nell decided, as if it had been hastily erected and the workmen recently gone to lunch and not returned.

Only the smoke from the chimney gave any sign of life inside.

And the life inside came bounding down the front steps as Evan halted the jeep in the gravel drive. Grinning and saluting, the servant began hauling luggage inside.

“Yessah, Captain, Sah,” he bowed.

“This is Kim.”

“How do you do,” Nell said.

“Yessah, Missus Captain, Sah.”

“A servant, no less,” Nell whispered.

“Our houseboy. Everybody here has one.”

“Well, well,” she mused as they followed Kim inside.

The houseboy gave Marcie only a cursory glance, but made much over Andrew. “Number One Son,” he pointed at the boy. Andrew’s eyes grew wide with hero worship.

Nell surveyed her new quarters. The warm glow of the fireplace was the one redeeming feature in the entire house.

She stood in the combination living—dining room, which could only be called, “adequate,” containing a couch, overstuffed chair, a couple of end tables upon which sat squatty little lamps with dim bulbs inside. They cast all of fifteen watts between them.

In the dining area was a large mahogany dining table with eight solidly built chairs around it. A cabinet filled with colorful Japanese dinnerware was the only spot of beauty in the room.

“Missus Captain like tea?”

She nodded, a bit startled at the presence of this different person.

Kim whirled into the kitchen.

“What do I call him?” she hissed at Evan.

“Kim. That’s his last name. Here, last names are first——Kim Yung Kyu——and first names are last.”

“Sounds like Alice in Wonderland,” she laughed. “Complete with tea party,” she added as Kim set a cup of steaming liquid before her. She sipped, then regretted it. It was green tea, strong and vile.

Kim’s eyes, however, watched her every move. She swallowed, smiled.

Kim bowed and backed from the room.

The children, exhausted by the events of the day, had found their rooms, unpacked what security blankets or toys they had carried with them and fallen into their beds.

Nell sighed and relaxed in front of the fireplace.

“Welcome home,” Evan whispered.

“Our home. It’s where you love and are loved,” she whispered back.

Maggie burst through the door of her quarters. “It looks just like everyone else’s house. Quarters. No imagination. That’s the Army for you; give everyone the same treatment, then no one can complain.”

“No one but you, Magpie.”

“Well, let’s see the rest of this joint. Living room, dining room——God, they’re small.”

“It’s just the four of us.”

“Five you mean.” Her houseboy had entered and bowed.

“This is Lee. He won’t be in your way. Just tell him what you want him to do--”

“Does he speak English? I didn’t think so. And I can’t speak Korean. What am I gonna do?”

“He speaks a little English. Lee--English, please.”

“Yes Sah. I speak English little bit. Shine shoes, polish brass, Yessah, nossah.”

“Oh, brother,” Maggie murmured. “Wonder what’s in the kitchen,” she rallied. She strode to the other room. “Let’s see...” she flung the cabinet doors to reveal row after row of canned goods.

“Canned corn, beans, peas, carrots, ‘Spam——ugh! ——Canned milk-—” something was wrong, here, she thought, but she couldn’t quite put her finger on it...

The icebox was next on her inspection tour. There was nothing inside but a pitcher of water and a block of ice, which dripped steadily into the pan below.

She straightened and turned to Jake. She knew now, what was wrong.

“No milk. No eggs. No vegetables or fruit.”

“Well, Lee and I stocked as much as we could, honey. But, we don’t have any fresh meat or eggs, or milk, or vegetables or fruit. We’ll have some soon, though, flown in from Japan. But not right now.” His voice trailed off.

“What’ll the kids do without milk?”
 
“They’ll love it! No nagging them to drink their milk. And we’ve got canned milk and canned cream.”

“Speaking of the kids, where are they?”

“Hey, Mom,” Jimmy called. “Come look at this funny—lookin’ bathroom!”

She marched to the hallway, Jake trailing behind, and saw her boys standing in the doorway of the bathroom, giggling.

“What are you guys up to now?” she began, and then gasped. She had heard about outhouses, and this was close. Instead of worn holes on a bench, there was a toilet, all right, but this fixture was brown—colored with age, had no lid and a pull-chain dangled from a rusty tank above.

Tommy yanked on the chain, which produced no results.

To the side of the toilet was a sink, equally dappled with age, and a half—finished shower stall stood opposite. It looked——unclean, she thought.

“Jake…”’

“Come into the living room and sit down, honey; Lee has some tea for you.” He steered her down the hall and sat her down on the couch.

She held the cop of steaming liquid in her hand, watching as Lee stirred the logs in the fireplace. More out of a sense of futility than a sense of graciousness, she sipped the tea.

“All okay, Captain?” Lee grinned.

“All okay,” Jake answered him, dubiously. Lee bowed and went to his room.

“Honey,” Jake began...

“Mama! I wanna drink a water!”

She rose to answer Tommy’s call.

“About the water,” Jake began hastily. “I wanted to tell you, about the water—”

“What about it?” her eyes narrowed.

“There’s no water.”

“Wbattaya mean, no water?” Her voice rose.

“I mean, no running water.  It's delivered every morning, to the back porch, in ten-gallon cans. Lee takes care of it———” but he was speaking to Maggie’s back.

She stood at the kitchen sink, turning the faucets. Nothing. Not a drip. Then she saw the empty ten-gallon can beside the back door.

“Mama!” Tommy shrilled again.

She took a glass from the cabinet and bent to remove a pitcher of water from the icebox. She straightened and handed the glass to Jake. “Here. Take this in to Tommy. Might as well start acting like a father again.”

“You’re not mad at me are you?”

“Mad?  Why should I be mad? Just because this goddamn place has no water, no fruit, vegetables, meat or milk, it’s cold and the hired help can’t even speak English?

“Mad? Jake Gorski, I’m insane!”
                 
To Trudy, the quarters were a mansion. It was her home, for herself and Philip. Thanks to Father McDowell’s help, she had learned a few phrases in Korean and had instructed her houseboy in a few arts of homemaking, such as making the coffee for the morning.

To her, the wood burning stove was quaint, the primitive bathroom a mere inconvenience. And the lack of water was no problem; her houseboy would take care of that. She was free of the Cavanaughs and all that they implied. She was in Philip’s arms in her own house at last.

She hoped the baby would be a boy.

At Nell’s, no sooner had she digested all the lack of comforts, than the lights went out. Hurricane lanterns cast a glow over the room as she supervised the children’s unpacking.

“This happens a lot,” Evan shrugged. “The Russians have control our electricity, and whenever they feel like it, they pull the plug. It’s no big deal.”

She smiled. No, it wasn’t any big deal. They were together.

Leah took little notice of her new home, choosing instead to briefly acknowledge the presence of her houseboy and choke down a light supper of Spam, canned beans and bread, washed down by glasses of scotch. She wished she could get drunk, but as part of her new life here with here with David, she had sworn never to get drunk again. So she drank just to the edge, to dull the senses. To blot out the sharp edges of this place.

Eighteen months, here, she thought. Only she and David in an olive drab house with olive drab walls, leading an olive drab life.

Later, after David’s gentle lovemaking, she lay in the dark.  Somewhere, she heard a bell tolling, slowly, solemnly.

“What’s that?”

“Oh,” he answered, his lips touching her shoulder, “that's the bell downtown. It has a crazy old legend to it. Something about a bell maker who wanted a clarity bf tone, unmatched never before.

“An evil spirit told him in order to do this, he must sacrifice his only child to the molten brass.
“The bell maker watched his little girl at play, and said, no, of course not. And went on his business.  One day, however, the little girl came running into the foundry and fell – into the liquid metal. As the bell maker watched, aghast, she cried, “Ama, Ama-—” Mama, Mama.

“They say you can hear her voice still crying, even now. Listen. Can you hear it?”