Free Alice At The Home Front by Mardiyah A. Tarantino Page B

along some of the narrow streets, melting the old snow, polishing up the new, and giving everything around a preview of the coming spring.
    When Alice got near the Rexall drugstore, she heard a terrible racket coming out of the wedged open door. A chorus of men were singing. “… the Lord and pass the ammunition. Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition, and we’ll all be free!”
    When she stepped in, she came face-to-face—at least that’s what it seemed to her—with an enormous orange jukebox. It was winking and blinking and throbbing and pulsing a rainbow of mismatched colors while the music blasted on, until finally, at the end of the song, the whole thing came to a halt. Music and colors vanished, and there stood a big, ugly plastic box.
    With the creature subdued, Alice went over and looked at the tabs with the names of songs and the big black records that flopped down one by one with each nickel inserted in the slot. A fun thing , thought Alice, but “I don’t want that jive on my milk diet.” She chose a booth far enough away so that she’d be able to hear Jimmy talk when he came.
    As soon as she sat down, the door swung back and in shuffled a bunch of boys, one of whom was Jimmy. Another boy, called Moses, whom she’d seen at dancing school in the advanced class, was with him. Jimmy and Moses came over to the booth and sprawled themselves on the benches and then shoved over to make room for the other two standing at the jukebox. She hated the smell of French fries wafting over the tables.
    “Hiya, Alice. See? I brought the party with me,” said Jimmy. “You know Moses, here, don’t you?”
    Something inside Alice sank. She thought they’d be alone, not with his gang. But maybe … just maybe he wanted her to feel included.
    “And here comes Bill in the moth-eaten jacket.”
    “It’s a Pendleton, you jerk,” said Bill, plunking himself down beside him.
    “And over there’s Cameron, who’s never seen a jukebox before.”
    They all laughed.
    “And may I present to you guys, Alice the spotter. And in case you’re too ignorant to know what that is, she spots planes—our planes and Jerries’ planes, if they’ve got the nerve to fly over here. She records them in her little black book that she swiped from me at the stationers.” He winked at her.
    “Oh, yeah? A spotter,” said Bill. “I have an aunt who does that.”
    “You mean you can recognize them from down below?” said Cameron.
    “Very good, Cameroni. Ye get an A,” said Jimmy, climbing over Bill to go to the counter. Alice saw he was ordering for everybody.
    “Okay, now, Alice,” said Bill, when Jimmy returned, “I’ve got a test for you. Listen carefully, now.”
    With all the attention, Alice was feeling a little foolish and a little happy at the same time. “You drive a hard one,” she quoted.
    “Ready?” He leaned close enough to touch noses. “Now, how does a Lockheed P38 look different from a Curtiss P40?”
    Alice sat up straight. “Oh! That’s easy. A Lockheed P38 Lightning is a fork-tailed twin engine fighter. You can’t miss it, because of the double tails. But a Curtiss P40 Warhawk has an open shark’s mouth instead of a nose, with all the teeth showing in a big smile.”
    Bill’s eyebrows shot up. “Well I’ll be a monkey’s uncle. She knows her stuff, all right.”
    Cameron nodded slowly. “Uh hmmm,” thinking hard about what she’d said.
    “Wow!” said Moses, surprised.
    “Wow,” said Alice to herself, who was feeling too warm from the compliments.
    Jimmy went to get the drinks, and the jukebox started up with
     
    Hut sut Ralston on the riddle rah
    And a brawla brawla suet,
    Hut sut Ralson on the riddle rah
    And a BRAWLA SOOO-EET!
     
    The boys joined in, yelling over the music, “BRAWLA SOOO EET!”
    Jimmy came back, balancing five root beer floats in his arms and passed them around.
    “A toast, boys. A toast to the spotter.”
    They slurped their drinks, and Alice, who was the thirstiest