Flygirl

Two weeks later, Ida arrives in Sweetwater, Texas, and boards a bus that will take her and 25 other women to the WASP base at Avenger Field. Ida knows there is supposed to be 100 women in all. Ida is nervous and warm from the Texas heat. Another woman notices that she looks uncomfortable and asks the bus driver for something for Ida to drink. She brings Ida a canteen and Ida takes a sip, realizing too late that it is whiskey, not water. The woman assures Ida that she wasn’t trying to mess with her but give her something to wake her up. She introduces herself as Patsy Kake, or “Cakewalk.” Ida introduces herself as Ida Mae Jones, and Patsy gives her the nickname of "Jonesy."

As the women approach the gate to Avenger Field, they see a banner with the WASP mascot, Fifinella, a part-woman, part-gremlin with blonde hair, goggles, and a jacket with wings. A woman comes out and introduces herself as Leni Leoti Clark Deaton, the establishment officer. She explains that two-thirds of the women won’t make it through training. Then, she calls out the women’s names and assigns them to their barracks. Ida and Patsy are in the same group. Ida notices that one of the girls in her group, Lily Lowenstein, carries a heavy bag in addition to the two big trunks she left on top of the bus, and Ida wonders why Lily needs so much luggage.

The women’s barracks have six beds to a room, connected to a bathroom with two mirrors and two showers, which they will be sharing with another room of six. Ida takes a bed between Patsy and Lily. Patsy tells them that she is a wing walker, a type of carnival performer who wears a harness and performs on the wings of planes. Lily tells them that her fiancé is a doctor and a pilot in the army, and he taught Lily how to fly. Ida tells them that she is a farmer and learned to fly on her father’s crop duster. Another woman in the room, Nancy Howard, overhears them and makes fun of them: “Carnies and hicks and Jews, oh my!” (76). Ida and Lily ignore it, but Patsy marches up to Nancy and confidently shakes her hand, her way of standing up to Nancy. Ida knows that she has just made friends with Lily and Patsy. As they unpack, Lily struggles to make her bed, having never made a bed before. Ida helps her, and Lily gives her a hug, which makes Ida reflect on her new situation:“Lily’s the kind of girl I’d be cleaning up after back in New Orleans. But now she’s giving me a hug for the same kind of work that I usually get paid a dime for” (78). The next morning, Ida wakes early to be one of the first in the showers. She knows from sharing a bathroom with two brothers that sharing a bathroom among 12 women isn’t going to be easy. Lily is up early too, hoping for a long shower, but Ida reminds her to be quick so that they can get to breakfast.

After breakfast, they meet their senior squadron leader, an upperclassman named Audrey Hill. She divides the women into two groups, called flights. Each group must nominate a squadron commander and a lieutenant. Ida’s group selects Lily as squadron leader and Ida volunteers for lieutenant, thinking the leadership position will give her an advantage during training.

That afternoon, the women have to take a medical exam. Ida is nervous because she has heard that doctors can tell your race by your blood, even though Thomas told her this isn’t true. Nevertheless, she passes the test.

After the medical exam, they go to dinner, where they’re thrilled to see butter, steak, sugar, and ice cream—foods that were hard to come by due to the rations. Ida goes to bed excited to fly the next day.