Codebreakers

Martha grinned. “Jo we’re, like, twins! Both of us with bogus last names!”

“My name is not bogus. Dardenne is the name I was born with – it was the Mrs. that I added.”

“‘When it seemed necessary’? What does that mean?”

The girl never missed a trick but Jo had some of her own.

“Why don’t you work in a hospital?”

Martha smiled and shook her head.

“Jo, Jo, Jo – trying to distract me. Ah well. I told you why. I don’t fit or should I say a hospital doesn’t fit me.”

“How would you know if you never tried?”

Jo wondered if she’d gone too far – Martha’s face suddenly paled.

“Because Mrs. Dardenne, I did work in a hospital and things did not work out so well.”

Martha stopped smiling.

“Too many rules?” Jo pointed to Martha’s hair. “Too many regulations?”

“That’s what I said.”

They were at a standstill. They stared at one another until Jo finally gave in to the fatigue that swept over her still, even though she thought she should be back to her old, energetic self after two weeks.

“I think I need to take a nap.”

Jo lay down, pondering their conversation. What happened to Martha at that hospital? Her thoughts floated away as she sank into sleep.

Gilson was a difficult supervisor. Jo complained to Fred about him and he offered to ‘sock the bugger’ but Jo just laughed and reminded him that she could take care of herself. She was uneasy in his presence from her first day on the job. He was arrogant. And, she discovered, he thought he was God’s gift to women. Huh! He was an ugly little toad. She tried, for as long as she could, to persevere and do her job but Gilson seemed intent upon interfering with her concentration, especially after Fred left.

It was a Saturday night. A few of the other girls asked her to join them for a get-together. Gilson assigned her to an over-night shift so she reluctantly declined the girls’ invitation. Traffic was light that night, at least until it wasn’t. She heard a change in the frequency of the code – it seemed almost frantic. Gilson sat across the room from her with his headset on but seemed oblivious. He was cleaning his nails as she called to him. She turned back around to her table and continued to type code as quickly as she could. She was so engrossed in her work, she at first did not feel Gilson’s fat fingers kneading her shoulders. When she realized what he was doing, she turned in her chair so quickly that his hands were forced to move. She did not remove her headset because she realized something important was being transmitted – it was a top priority message.

“Josephine, doll – relax. Thought you were looking a little frazzled and maybe a little lonely since Fred is gone. I could help with that.”