Sunshine and Stardust
By Suzanne
November 20, 1941
New York City
“So it’s all settled then,” Matthew Wheeler said in his booming voice. He relaxed against the overstuffed back of his favorite chair in the formal living room after a sumptuous Thanksgiving feast with his wife and daughter. “You will spend a couple of weeks in Hawaii then Christmas here with us before starting work at Dr. Harper’s clinic in January.”
Honey tried to smile as she looked over at her father. “That sounds really great, Daddy. I’ve never been to Hawaii.”
“Your father is offering you a very generous graduation present, Honey” Madeleine Wheeler remarked in her low, well-modulated voice. She sat on the sofa next to her daughter, an older version of the twenty-three year old young woman.
“Nothing is too good for my only daughter’s graduation from nursing school.” Matthew Wheeler added as he picked up the New York Times and opened it to the business section.
Honey stood up and leaned over to give her father a kiss on the cheek before drifting across the elegantly appointed room to stare out of one of the eight foot tall windows that flanked the grand piano.
Daddy means well, Honey thought as she stared unseeingly at the rain soaked street below. He and mother both do, but they just don’t understand. They see my nursing as something to play at for a year or two until I find the right man and get married.
This isn’t something I want to play at, she thought fiercely. I want to help people, to make a difference in this world. I’m not some mindless debutante who only cares about pretty clothes and parties.
Honey sat down at the piano and began to play her favorite Beethoven Sonata. It always relaxed her when her thoughts got too jumbled. Unfortunately, it didn’t seem to help today as her thoughts continued on in a rush. Even that job isn’t real. Daddy has known Dr. Harper for years. Oh well, I have to start someplace I suppose.
*
December 2, 1941
Honolulu, Hawaii
The tropical sunshine was bright that afternoon, but Honey Wheeler was staring morosely out across the beach at the crashing waves of the Pacific Ocean.
This was her first full day in Hawaii and she was miserable. Honey knew that there was no real reason to be miserable, but she just couldn’t seem to snap herself out of it.
The beach was gorgeous, the blue sky spectacular and everywhere she looked were groups of people enjoying themselves. That was part of the problem, okay a big part of the problem Honey thought to herself as she drew her knees up to her chest and rested her chin on top of them. Everyone seemed to be part of a group everyone except for her.
What fun is it to be in a tropical paradise without someone to share it with? Honey asked herself.
“If you aren’t careful, you can end up with really bad sunburn.”
Honey looked up in surprise to see a young Naval Officer standing next to her. “What did you say?”
Heedless of his bright white uniform, the man crouched down on the sand next to her and repeated his remark.
Honey looked down at her arms and legs and realized that she was indeed glowing pink. “I guess I wasn’t paying attention. I have some lotion in my bag I think.”
“People who aren’t used to the tropics, don’t realize how easy it is to burn. Especially someone as pretty and fair skinned as you are.” The officer stuck out his hand. “My name is Brian Belden, I’m a doctor stationed over at Pearl.”
“Where?” Honey asked confused.
“Pearl Harbor, where the Pacific Fleet is stationed. It’s just a few miles from here.”
“My name is Madeleine Wheeler, but most people call me Honey. It’s nice to meet you Brian.”
“Honey suits you, I like it.” Brian replied as he took the small white glass bottle from her hand. He looked at it with a perplexed look on his handsome face.
“What is this stuff?” He asked trying to read the label, which was written in a fancy French script. “I’ve never seen anything like this before.”
“Mother and Daddy and I took a trip to France a couple of years ago. A friend of Mother’s recommended this to her to protect the skin when we were in Nice. It was invented just a few years ago by the man who founded the L’Oreal Cosmetics Company.” Honey replied taking the bottle back from Brian and twisting open the black cap.
“Here, let me help,” Brian said. “I can get your back and shoulders, they seem to be getting the brunt of the sun.” Smearing the gooey white stuff on his hands, he began to rub the sunscreen on Honey’s shoulders and back that were exposed by the halter style sun dress she was wearing.
Honey smiled her thanks as she began rubbing a coating on her long slender legs and arms. Once they were finished however they both looked at their goo covered hands and then at each other and began to laugh.
“Now what” Honey asked holding up her hands.
“My handkerchief is in my pants pocket.” Brian replied. “We can wipe off the worst with that.” He reached into his left pocket very carefully, trying to get as little of the sunscreen on his uniform as possible and pulled out a crisply folded white handkerchief.
After they had both wiped off their hands, Honey looked at the slimy bedraggled piece of cloth. “I think this is about done for. I’m sorry.”
“Not to worry” Brian replied. “I have plenty of others and I can wash it when I get back to the base.”
“Now, what brings a pretty girl like you to Hawaii all alone?”
*
December 2, 1941
Honolulu, Hawaii
As they were strolling along the beach late that afternoon, Brian found himself telling Honey about his family. He told her about how his dad was a loan officer at the Sleepyside First National Bank and about how Mart and Trixie were exactly eleven months apart.
“Bobby was a surprise that showed up sixteen years ago. He’s a great kid though.” Brian continued, loving the feel of Honey’s slender hand securely wrapped in his larger one. “He is going to letter in basketball and maybe even be able to get a scholarship so that he can go to college.”
“Did you always want to be a doctor?” Honey asked when they had stopped to lean against a low wooden railing to stare across the gleaming sand at the rolling waves of the Pacific Ocean.
“Ever since I can remember” Brian replied instantly. “I was lucky that I was able to get a partial academic scholarship. Mart was too.”
“What about your sister, didn’t she want to go to college?”
“I guess she did.” Brian replied slowly. “But dad didn’t have the money to send her. Not with both mine and Mart’s tuitions to make up.”
Tucking her arm more firmly in his, Brian gently nudged her into walking down the sidewalk again. “She went out and got a job after she finished high school. She is a waitress at a local diner back home called Wimpy’s. They make great burgers and even better milkshakes.” Brian closed his eyes for a second as if savoring a memory.
“Back when she was about Bobby’s age, Trix used to talk about wanting to be a police detective but I think that dad has pretty much convinced her that that was kind of a dumb idea.”
“I don’t see why that‘s such a dumb idea.” Honey suddenly felt a loyalty to a girl she had never even met.
“Of course it is” Brian scoffed. “Everybody knows that girls can’t be detectives. They just aren’t smart enough. Girls should stick to being teachers or nurses, like you.”
“I bet that your sister is plenty smart enough.” Honey said feeling that thrill of womanly kinship run through her body again. She had a feeling she could become good friends with Trixie Belden if the two of them ever had a chance to meet.
“Of course she’s smart” Brian answered looking down at the woman strolling beside him. “There are just some jobs that girls aren’t suited for, that’s all.”
“I’m getting kind of hungry. Would you like to try this little chop suey place that I discovered last month? They give you a big plateful for not much money. This makes it the perfect restaurant for a low paid young Navy doctor.”
“Okay” Honey agreed deciding to let Brian have the last word on the subject of just how smart girls are.
*
December 6, 1941
The Officer’s Club
Pearl Harbor, Hawaii
Brian picked up Honey shortly after five o’clock that evening. As she stepped out of the elevator into the elegantly appointed lobby of the Royal Hawaiian Hotel, Brian couldn’t help but let out a low whistle. “Wow, Honey you look fabulous.”
“Thank you, Dr. Belden.” Honey replied as she twirled around making the bright yellow tulle of her gown fly out around her. “You look pretty fabulous yourself.”
Brian looked down at his pristine white dress uniform and smoothed down the jacket before reaching for his date’s arm. “We should get going. We’re meeting Ed and Sophie at the O Club.”
He escorted her across the lobby and out to the sidewalk where he had parked the little red Ford that he had borrowed for the evening.
Honey couldn’t wait to get to the dance. When Brian had mentioned it the previous afternoon, she had accepted with alacrity. Her vacation was almost over and she didn’t know how she was going to live being five thousand miles away from him again back on the East Coast. He wasn’t like any other man she had ever met. Not only was he tall and darkly handsome, he was a dedicated doctor. She could tell just by listening to him talk about his work at the Naval Hospital.
The other couple that they were joining also worked at the hospital. Dr. Ed Hall Jr. was a few years older than Brian and oddly enough also hailed from the East Coast. He had been raised on some little place called Cobbett’s Island. Sophie Bennett was a Navy nurse and also his fiancée.
Brian pulled up in front of the Officer’s Club where the dance was being held and hurried around to open the passenger door and help Honey out. She stood under the canopied entrance while she waited for him to park the car.
Tucking her arm in his, Brian escorted Honey inside the low brick building, built of white brick like most everything else around Pearl Harbor. It was darker inside, and Honey found she needed to allow her eyes to adjust to the dimness. She heard music playing as they strolled along the corridor towards the main room where the dance was being held.
The twelve piece orchestra was situated up on a small stage and Honey strained to see the name written on the front of their music stands. To her surprise the name USS California was written in fancy black lettering.
“The orchestra is from one of the battleships?” She asked Brian in surprise.
“Several of the boats have their own bands and they duke it out so to speak every other week for the title of best band in the Harbor.” Brian replied as he steered her towards a table near the window where Ed and Sophie were already seated waiting for them. “The California won last time and got to play for the dance tonight. Whoever wins tonight’s battle over at the Bloch Arena gets to play for the New Year’s Eve dance.”
Dr. Ed Hall stood as Brian and Honey arrived at the table. He shook Brian’s hand and gave Honey a gentle hug. Brian pulled out a chair for Honey to sit down as Ed asked what they would like to drink.
Honey asked for a martini, while Brian replied that he would just have a beer.
The evening passed in a whirl of gaiety for Honey as she danced first with Brian and Ed, and then with a long line of naval officers. Finally, she had to beg off and sat at the table sipping another martini while watching the other dancers continue to move about the floor in a twirling mass of brightly colored gowns and white uniforms.
“I don’t know when I’ve ever had such a wonderful time, Brian.” Honey said turning to look at him her hazel eyes shining. “The parties I go to back home are usually dull as all get out.”
“I’m glad that you’re enjoying yourself so much. I haven’t been near you much at all tonight.” Brian replied.
“The guys are always on the lookout for a new dame, Brian.” Ed Hall told him seriously, but with a twinkle in his eye. “You should know better than to bring in such a pretty young thing like Miss Wheeler.”
Sophie Bennett whapped her fiancé lightly across the arm saying, “I like that Ed Hall. You are supposed to be engaged to me, not eying other women.”
As the opening notes of Stardust filled the Officer’s Club ballroom, Brian stood up and reached for Honey’s hand. “Come on, Honey. The band always plays Stardust as their final number.”
Honey smiled as she allowed Brian to lead her towards the already crowded dance floor. Wrapping their arms around each other, they began dancing slowly to the familiar reedy twang of the clarinet and the muted brass of the trumpet and trombone.
“I adore Stardust” Honey whispered, her head settling against Brian’s shoulder. “I actually heard Artie Shaw and his Orchestra play it once, when I was at a dinner dance at the Waldorf-Astoria hotel back home.”
Staring over her head around the dimly lit room, Brian felt his jaw clench. She had just reminded him, once again, why it wouldn’t work between them. She actually attended dinner dances at fancy hotels, while the closest he ever got to a fancy hotel was walking by it on the street.
Brian took a deep breath and forced himself to relax. In two days, Honey would be leaving for home, back to her fancy New York City apartment and her wealthy family and friends. He would be staying here and would soon be nothing more than a vacation memory to her.
The song ended and the two of them stepped apart and clapped as the lights were turned up again. Brian led her off of the dance floor and back to their table.
Sophie and Ed were already there. Ed was helping his fiancée on with her wrap. “I really hate to break up a swell night guys but I am on duty at midnight.” Ed Hall said. “I’ll have just about enough time to drop Sophie at the nurse’s dormitory and get to the Naval Hospital.”
“Why don’t we take her back with us?” Brian suggested looking to his date for approval.
“Sure, sounds swell” Honey replied pasting a smile quickly across her face. So much for a leisurely drive back to Honolulu under a tropical moon she thought bitterly.
“Okay by me” Sophie said. “Why don’t you stay the night with me, Honey. One of the girls flew back to the mainland a couple of days ago for a family wedding, so there’s an empty bed in our room.”
“But I didn’t pack anything…” Honey stopped and indicated with a wave of her hand the frothy buttercup yellow satin and tulle evening gown she was wearing.
“There are three of us in that room. Between us we’ll find you pajamas and a dress to wear tomorrow. Please say that you will stay.”
“All right, I’ll stay.” Honey decided swiftly and was rewarded with a hug accompanied by a squeal of delight from the other young woman.
“Well, if that’s settled,” Ed told the group “I will head right over to the hospital.” The tall thin doctor gave his fiancée a hug and a quick kiss before turning and striding through the quickly emptying room.
“Are you ready to go, ladies?” Brian asked as he offered an arm to each of them. At their nods, he led the way out of the Officer’s Club.
*
December 7, 1941
Nurse’s Dormitory
Pearl Harbor
The balmy tropical breeze drifted in from the open window and wafted across Honey Wheeler’s face, gradually awakening her.
She opened her hazel colored eyes with a smile on her face as she replayed the end of her date the previous evening. After they had left the Officer’s Club dance, Brian had escorted her and Sophie back to the nurse’s dormitory across the compound from the hospital. Sophie had tactfully gone inside the three-story white brick building first allowing Brian and Honey a few minutes to say their good nights. They had been standing there silently, just looking at each other then all of a sudden she was in his arms, his lips meeting hers in a tender kiss. Honey vividly remembered wrapping her arms around his neck and pulling him closer. It was several minutes before she said goodnight and opened the door to go inside.
Brian had asked her to meet him for breakfast before church and turning her head, Honey caught a glimpse of the alarm clock on her bedside table. She quickly threw back the sheet and climbed out of bed.
She wandered over to the window and leaned her head against the panes, staring dreamily at Pearl Harbor, the gleaming battleships outlined by the early morning sunshine. Honey didn’t know how long she had stood there, but all of a sudden several puffs of black smoke caught her attention.
Standing up straight, Honey saw what looked like birds diving and swooping over the Harbor. Suddenly, she realized that those birds were actually planes and that they were dropping bombs on the ships stationed there. More and more billows of black smoke appeared, and now Honey could hear a few explosions as well.
“Oh my goodness” she breathed clapping a hand over her mouth in horror. “We’re being attacked.”
Honey spun around and realized that she was alone in the room. The other two beds were empty their occupants already awake and probably in the shower. She ran across the room and jerked open the door right in Sophie Bennett’s face.
“Honey, what’s wrong?” The statuesque young woman asked with a confused look on her face, her platinum blonde hair tumbling around her shoulders in damp waves.
“Someone is bombing the ships at Pearl Harbor. I just saw the explosions from the window.”
“How could someone attack Pearl Harbor? Who?”
“I don’t know” Honey babbled. “We need to get over to the Naval Hospital to help. There will probably be hundreds of casualties.”
When Sophie didn’t move, Honey urged her more forcefully. “Hurry! Where is Willie? As nurses, it’s our duty to help in any emergency.”
“She is already at the hospital. She had to be on duty at six.”
Racing back to her borrowed bed, Honey pulled her daintily embroidered rayon nightgown over her head and threw it across the bed as she reached for the pair of wide legged panties and a matching brassiere that she had rinsed out the night before and hung up to dry. Honey quickly pulled on a pink and white striped seersucker dress and sturdy rubber soled walking shoes over a pair of white anklets. This outfit was borrowed from the nurse who had gone on leave since she and Honey appeared to be the same size and height.
Pulling her dark gold hair into a ponytail, Honey looked at the bedside clock again and noted that it was only ten minutes after eight.
Sophie Bennett was ready as Honey came across the room again. Honey noted that she had dressed in her crisp white nurse’s uniform and sturdy shoes. The two young nurses rode the elevator down to the lobby in silence.
The instant they stepped out of the elevator and into the lobby, they could tell that there was indeed something going on. Women young and old were pouring across the room and pushing outside to the street.
After forcing their way through the crowd, Honey and Sophie finally made it outside and could only look on in horror at the unfolding scene before them.
“Oh my God,” Sophie moaned as she saw the carnage that had once been a peaceful military installation.
“Let’s get to the hospital, Sophie.” Honey urged her friend reaching for the other woman’s arm. “You can show me how to help.”
Sophie visibly swallowed and grabbing Honey’s hand pulled her across the gravel driveway towards the hospital.
Just as the two women reached the arched canopy covering the front entrance to the large white brick building, they heard a buzzing sound overhead and looked up just in time to see two planes whizzing by.
“Those are Japanese planes” Honey yelled as she saw the big red circles painted on their wings. “We’re being attacked by the Japanese!
They hurried inside and plunged into the chaos.
Dragging Honey along with her, Sophie reported to her supervisor, Grace Robertson. Introducing Honey, Sophie explained that Honey was a registered nurse in Hawaii on vacation and wanted to help. The two women were quickly sent back downstairs to help with triaging the wounded that were already pouring in.
Honey couldn’t ever remember working this hard in nursing school. Not even during her three months spent working in the Emergency room at Vanderbilt Memorial Hospital where she had received her training. The injured men kept pouring in as fast as the ambulances could deliver them. As the orderlies unloaded the ambulances, they brought the loaded stretchers inside and set them anyplace that there was room. Casualties soon lined the halls and corridors.
The second attack brought even more wounded into the hospital. Honey had become separated from Sophie hours earlier, but the Red Cross armband and apron that she wore told people that she was a worker, not a sightseer.
As she hurried back and forth, she heard bits and pieces of information about the attack. She heard about the Arizona being hit and going down with all hands aboard although someone else said that he had seen some of her men jumping off before she sunk.
A little while later she heard two marines talking about how they had seen the Oklahoma turn turtle or capsize and speculating about how many of her sailors had still been on her when she went over.
A couple of radios were also tuned to station KGMB out of Honolulu and they broke in with news bulletins when they had them.
*
“Nurse Wheeler, bandage this man’s shoulder. The doctor has finished.” An older nurse called out to Honey shortly after four o’clock that afternoon. Honey grabbed some sterile gauze, hurrying across the room to comply, expertly swerving around a Navy Chaplin who was down on his knees giving last rites to a badly burned man. As she reached the young marine, who couldn’t be more than a week over eighteen, someone grabbed her by the arm.
“Honey, what are you doing here?”
She looked up into Brian’s haggard face, black stubble of beard already forming on his jaw. He repeated his question.
“I’m working like everyone else of course.”
“You shouldn’t be here. I insist that you go back to your hotel. This is no place for someone like you.”
“On the contrary, Dr. Belden this is exactly where I belong. I am a registered nurse and at the moment every pair of hands are needed. Now if you will excuse me, I have a bandage to apply.” She turned her head back down but then quickly looked up again. “By the way, you have no right to insist that I do anything. I may love you, but that doesn’t make you my keeper.”
She bent her head back down and Brian watched as she expertly applied the bandage. Then, she moved onto the next patient in a long line of wounded that he had just treated.
Someone called for his attention, and Brian turned back to the endless parade of sailors, soldiers and marines still being brought in from the harbor.
It would be early the next morning before he caught up with her again.
*
December 8, 1941
Naval Hospital
Pearl Harbor, Hawaii
Brian stepped wearily into a small room that had been set up as a rest station for hospital employees. As he walked up to a table, he recognized the slender woman already sitting there.
“Honey, am I glad to see you. You look tired.”
“I am tired. I am beyond tired. I think I even passed exhausted about three hours ago.” Honey said in a low voice as she slowly lifted her head to look at Brian. “You look tired too.”
“I am. But things are under control enough now so that I was able to take an hour break. They called in some doctors who were off duty and visiting other parts of the island.”
“That’s good. I’ve been sitting here for ten minutes trying to decide if I have the energy to unwrap and eat this sandwich.” Honey replied.
Brian quickly reached out and removed the wrapping from her sandwich, before unfolding the wax paper from around his own. “There, now all you have to do is take a bite.”
She reached out and picked up a triangle and bit into it. “Thanks” she said after she had chewed and swallowed.
They ate in silence for a few minutes, the only sounds in the room being the chewing and drinking noises that accompanied the process of eating.
“Honey,” Brian began as soon as they had finished. “About yesterday afternoon I was kind of out of line and I want to apologize. I know that you were trying to help and…” he stopped as Honey interrupted him.
“I wasn’t trying to help, Brian. I was helping. But thank you for the apology.” She said smoothly. “If I wanted a man to treat me like some fragile piece of porcelain, I would have never gone to nursing school. I want to help people not just marry some rich man and turn out exactly like my mother.”
“Don’t you see,” she continued. “All of my life, I have been considered frail and in delicate health. As the only daughter of a very wealthy man, I was always surrounded by nannies and governesses. At least until I was old enough to be packed off to boarding schools and summer camps.”
Brian stared at her then replied, “I had no idea what your life was like growing up, Honey. I am the oldest of four and we live on a small farm on the outskirts of a small town. My dad works in a bank. I’ve never had much contact with a wealthy heiress before.”
Honey had to smile at that description, if Brian only knew just how wealthy both her father and mother’s families actually were.“I guess what I am trying to say, Honey, is that even though we come from such disparate backgrounds, I care about you an awful lot. I think that I may even be falling in love with you too. I don’t know if we can make this crazy relationship work, but I would like to try if you would.”
In a flash, she was up off of her chair and flinging herself onto his lap. Brian quickly grabbed the edge of the table to keep from being knocked backwards.
“Whoa! Don’t you think that there are enough casualties around here already without creating more?”
Honey lifted her head to stare into the face of the handsome young doctor that she had come to care very deeply about in the past week. She still couldn’t believe that they had only met last week. It seemed as if they had known each other forever. The hospital was still overflowing with wounded from yesterday’s attack and he was cracking a joke. She loved that about him.
“We had better get back to work” Brian finally said reluctantly as he broke off their kiss and pushed her to her feet. “The casualties are still pouring in from the Harbor.”
“I know” Honey replied as she began to gather up the sheets of wax paper that their ham sandwiches had been wrapped in while Brian picked up the two empty Pepsi-Cola bottles. “It’s going to be another long day.”
Brian’s arm was still draped around Honey’s waist as they walked across the room to the door. He dropped the tall glass bottles into the empty slots in the crate and Honey tossed the wax paper into the trash can. Before opening the door to the busy crowded corridor, Brian leaned down and gave Honey one last quick kiss. “I’ll see you later, Honey.” He said taking a deep breath before stepping out into the corridor and disappearing into the noisy mass of seething humanity.
Nodding, Honey whispered in response, “I love you,” and began to push her way back into the crowd.
*
December 10, 1941
Naval Hospital
Pearl Harbor, Hawaii
The late afternoon sunshine streamed through the tall narrow windows as Honey Wheeler sank wearily into a chair in an empty anteroom. She couldn’t ever remember being this exhausted. Somehow they had managed to treat most of the casualties from Sunday’s attack despite running desperately short of critical medical supplies, not to mention blood and plasma.
She closed her eyes and her chin dropped down onto her chest, too tired to sit up any longer.
“Is anybody still here? We need help!”
Honey’s eyes snapped open again at the sound of the shouting and she jumped to her feet and hurried out into the hallway.
Two men stood there, a wounded man lying on the stretcher that they carried between them.
“Who do we have here?” Honey asked briskly, here weariness of a minute ago quickly forgotten.
“We found him lying behind a hanger at Hickam near the wreckage of an airplane.” The older of the two men told her. “Don’t know how we missed him back there.”
“Bring him this way” Honey told the men leading the way down the hall. After the two men had gently place the injured man on a bed in an empty examination room, Honey leaned over and got her first good look at her newest patient. The man was young, Honey estimated him to be about Brian’s age but there was something about his face that spoke of hard times. He was tall and well built, with close cropped red hair. The silver wings pinned to his torn and bloody uniform shirt told her that he was a pilot.
Honey filled a basin with warm water and using a damp cloth, began wiping the soot and grime from his face.
“Nooo…I must….” The pilot moaned in a low husky voice as he began to come around. His eyes slowly opened and Honey saw that they were of a clear green color although now clouded with suppressed pain.
“Welcome back, flyboy” she murmured in a teasing voice. “Can you tell me your name?”
“Jim Frayne” the injured pilot whispered weakly, his eyes struggling to focus on Honey standing over him.
“Well, Jim Frayne,” Honey replied as Brian hurried into the room and stepped up to her side. “I’m Honey Wheeler and this is Dr. Brian Belden. We’re going to fix you up as good as new.”