A Summer Sunday- Part II
It must have been a hard conversation, and a VERY long drive. Larry had to tell Charles about his feelings for Joy before things went any further. Larry would have known that Charles was writing to her, and that his feelings were growing. Charles had given her his class pin- that was a big deal. Larry and Charles were the best of friends and told each other nearly everything. And now, they were both falling in love with the same girl.
I'm guessing it took Charles so off guard, this was not at all what he must have been expecting. As far as he knew, Larry hadn't even written to her yet. Charles admitted that he had sensed Joy's attraction to Larry, but hoped her feelings for him were stronger. Somewhere on that over 500 mile drive, Larry told Charles everything. How he had also noticed Joy right away, and been thinking of her constantly. That somehow he was SURE she was the girl for him. While they had had just a few conversations, mainly in the company of others, Larry and Joy had spoken alone for a few minutes on their third visit. And that 5 minutes changed everything. They spoke openly, and a fire was lit that could not now be put out. Larry told her of his feelings, she reciprocated, and it felt miraculous to them both. The time was short, and not even sealed with a first kiss that night. But their lives had changed forever. There would be a life and a family to come, a legacy of love that was just getting started.
Larry was insistent that their next step must be to tell Charles the truth, he deserved no less. He determined to talk with Charles on the way back, and prayed their friendship was strong enough to face this. A heartbroken Charles sent Joy the following letter shortly after that trip back to Montgomery:
Sept. 30, 1941
Gunter Field, Ala.
Dearest Joy,
I believe this is going to be the hardest letter to write of any letter I have ever written. I really don’t know how to start it, so if there is anything that I say that may hurt you, please forgive me, I don’t mean to. It’s just something that has got me so terribly mixed up that I have to know for sure what to think and do about it.
Joy, Roy told me everything, as you surely must have known he would. You see, Roy and I are about the two closest friends you will ever find and we can be honest with each other and tell each other things and not hurt our friendship. So, coming back, he told me what had happened while I was away from the table. Joy, I really wasn’t surprised by it. I could tell by the way you were always talking about him and wanting him to be with us that it was more than just an ordinary interest in him. What kind of hurt was that you didn’t tell me and explain how things were between you and him. It would have stopped me from making such a big fool out of myself. Joy, believe me, I’m not one bit sorry for anything I said or told you. It’s just that, knowing what I know now, those things would have been better for both of us had they been left unsaid. It would have made things a lot less complicated. But Joy, I did mean every word I said and I’ll never regret saying them.
Joy, will you send me my class pin back to me? You will answer this letter, won’t you? Please! I’ve just got to hear from you to set me straight on what I’ve been talking about. Just seal my pin back in the envelope with my letter, if you write. I think it will come through all right. You see Joy, I would rather not have a girl wear my class pin just for an ornament. When I think of a girl wearing a fellow’s class pin, I think of it as meaning something more than just something pretty to wear on their dress. I know that it couldn’t mean much more to you than just that, knowing ow you feel about Roy. So will you send it back to me? I wish you would wear it the way I would like for you to wear it, but since you can’t very well do that now, I would rather you wouldn’t wear it. You do understand, don’t you Joy? I hope you do because I don’t know any other way to tell you or make you understand.
I have something to tell you that I hope you will like Joy. I think that I’m going to get that other stripe for you that you said you wanted me to get for you. I think before long that I will be Sargeant Summers. I’m not sure yet, but I think it will go through. I’ll tell you for sure in my next letter. You see Joy, I see no reason why we should top writing to each other because of this. That is, if you still care to write to me. Because even if you don’t write to me, I’m going to keep on writing to you. So there!!! But Joy, I hope you will answer my letters, because I still mean what I told you that night, and if it’s a game you want to play, maybe I can learn to play it. Do you think I can?
Well, I guess I had better close now. Please try to understand the way I feel as I am writing this letter and answer as soon as you can. Tell your Mother and Father I said “hello” and meanwhile, think about me a little bit, will you?
Always yours,
Charles
p.s. I’ll tell you some things about what’s happening in my next letter, but I wanted to find out about “things” in this letter. Can you tell me?
... ouch ....
I can't help but feel so bad for Charles. He seemed so sweet and sincere in his puppy love! At the age of 20, I'm hoping he still had a great romance ahead of him, but we never forget those moment of heart break, do we?
Charles wrote her only one more letter that I have a record of, 10 days later, after having received a response from Joy. I think a lot of young people could learn from his grace, dignity, and honesty in the way he handles his feelings in this situation. One more hail Mary pass, followed by respect of her decision and a true offer of friendship. Thank you Charles, for being so honorable!
October 9, 1941
Gunter Field, Ala.
Dearest Joy:
There is no use trying to tell you how I feel about what has happened because I don’t believe you could ever understand my feelings. But Joy Dearest, I want to tell you that I hope with all my heart that, if it’s Roy that you are in love with and you are sure of it, I wish you all the luck in the world, both of you. Believe me Joy. I mean every word of it. There is no other man in the world that I would rather see you get happiness with that Roy. He really is one prince of a fellow. And when he comes back to you, may you find him everything you want him to be. I believe that you will too, because he is everything that I could ask of a man for a real, true friend. There is one thing that I am asking of you Joy. If you ever need anything that I can help you in, don’t ever hesitate to let me know. Joy, in my opinion, you’re all that I had you figured out to be. You know what I told you that night in Carrollton. You’re just Joy O’Neal and that’s what makes you what you are. Please don’t ever change. I feel that I haven’t expressed myself like I would like to, but I believe and pray that you will understand what I am trying to say. You’re still the grandest person I have ever met. I wish I could write what I want to say but it would be kind of useless now. So from now on Dearest Joy, ours will be a great friendship, unless something happens that I can again tell you the things I want to and maybe hear from you the things I will always want and wait to hear. I can’t say that I hope that will never happen because that would be a lie, but whatever happens, I want you to get all the happiness you deserve. Joy, I’m going to tell you once in this letter what I wanted to tell you so terribly bad when we were together but didn’t think I had a right to because we had only known each other for such a short time. Well, maybe I have less right to tell you now than I did then, but I want you to know once more the way I feel about you. I’ll never mention it again in any of my future letters but I do want to tell you before we become “Just Friends” that, I love you, Beloved, with all the power that is in my body to love you with, I love you. Believe me, please.
Now we are "Just Friends” and our letters will be accordingly. I haven’t got that other stripe yet. The orders haven’t come through yet but I’m still hoping. I hoped I could tell you in this letter for sure but I guess I’ll have to wait until my next one. They should surely be out by then. The orders I mean.
Things have been pretty dull down here, the same routine, hot weather, and everything else. I’ve been doing a lot of flying in this last week. I got 5 hours and 15 minutes flying since Saturday and that makes me a total of 23 hours and 15 minutes. Boy, it sure is fun. Maybe I’ll be a pilot one of these days.
Well Joy, I guess I had better close now and go to bed. Write me real soon and tell me how you’ve been getting along. Bye now.
Sincerely,
Charles
p.s. How’s school?
p.s. #2 Give your Mother & Father my very best regards.
And with that, Charles moved from boyfriend to friend, and I have no more letters from him in this collection. I'm trying to learn what happened to him later in his life. Wondering if he came back safe from the war, if he married and had a family? I truly hope so. We'll hear occasional mentions of Charles in some of the letters ahead, and I believe that he and Larry remained friends.
The 1940s was certainly an era of great songs, and I wonder if something like this came on the radio in the days after he learned of Joy's decision....
Sometimes a sad song helps.... its good to know that someone else knows how you feel.
I'm listening to this song and sending some love to the memory of Charlie Summers...
Aw, he was such a gentleman about it! I’m so glad he said what he needed to say and then honorably let her go.