He winced, and she was sorry she added that last. But he had made her mad, and she needed to get in a jab for women.
We're in a battle, after all, Barbara thought. Men versus women, and vice versa. It's always been so, since Adam blamed Eve for tempting him to eat the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden. But who's to say it wasn't Adam, being so macho, and telling Eve that she shouldn't be afraid to eat what he ate? Stephen tried not to sound confrontational, but had to say something in his defense, if not his sex's in general.
"I don't feel threatened because you know how to fly a plane, and darned well. Better than I ever could. But I can see how some men might be."
"Not just 'might be,' but are," Barbara let him know.
He smiled. "Can we take off our gloves now? You already have me on your side. You know that, don't you?"
No, she was not sure he was. But it sounded good to hear him say it. For now, she would take off her verbal boxing gloves.
"I wish I could see you sometime," he said, surprising her. "But you're going away again. You always seem to be going away. I know Tim hates it. I don't like it much, myself."
He wants to see me, yet he tortures me by disagreeing with me all the time! Stephen had been wanting to tell her something. Finally he got to it.
"I'll be going away, too. I've enlisted in the Army, and will be leaving here any day now. I'll be sorry to leave Glenview and the boys, especially Tim. We've become good friends."
"He likes you very much."
So do I, even though we disagree a lot. She hadn't thought Stephen would be going off to war. Maybe he would be exempted, teaching at a military academy. But then, it was really just a boys' school, and he wasn't training boys for war.
"I don't know what use I'll be to the Army. A history teacher who plays polo. Or which direction they'll send me, Europe or the Pacific. But I'd like to write to you. Would that be all right?"
"Yes, it's okay to write me. I'm just not sure where I'll be. I may train in several places, then fly planes all over the country."
She sensed he had something else to tell her. "There's another reason I can't, or shouldn't see you, so we could get to know each other better. I want to tell you what it is."