“That sounds all right,” he said, cautiously.
“You’ll have to take your training in New York out of LaGuardia.”
Larry nodded, waiting.
“There are four weeks of ground school and then a month of flight training.”
“You flying DC-Fours?” asked Larry.
“Right. When you finish your training, we’ll put you on as a navigator. Your training
base pay will be three fifty a month.”
He had the job! The son-of-a-bitch had needled him about all the thousands of pilots
who were after it. But he had the job! What had he been worried about? No one in the
whole damned Air Corps had a better record than he did.
Larry grinned. “I don’t mind starting as a navigator, Eastman, but I’m a pilot. When
does that happen?”
Eastman sighed. “The airlines are unionized. The only way anyone moves up is
through seniority. There are a lot of men ahead of you. Do you want to give it a try?”
Larry nodded. “What have I got to lose?”
“Right,” Eastman said. “I’ll arrange all the formalities. You’ll have to take a physical,
of course. Any problems there?”
Larry grinned. “The Japanese didn’t find anything wrong with me.”
“How soon can you go to work?”
“Is this afternoon too early?”
“Let’s make it Monday.” Eastman scribbled a name on a card and handed it to Larry.
“Here. They’ll be expecting you at nine o’clock Monday morning.”
When Larry phoned Catherine to tell her the news, there was an excitement in his
voice that Catherine had not heard for a long time. She knew then that everything was
going to be all right.