Even Hope jumped to her feet with most everyone in the audience, to applaud at the end of Oklahoma! It was Aunt Lizzie’s treat. She’d purposely picked out something that didn’t have anything in it about the war, or the Jews, or anything remotely controversial. Hope had come up from Virginia. She and Bud stayed down at the Dorothy Day shelter. “In the same room?” Daria asked. “Probably. They’re practically married.” “But they’re not.” “No, they’re not.” “Why not?” Daria said. I told her what Bud had told Tommy and me: that there was no way to know how long the war would last, and that if Hope ever wanted to get another job, it would make it harder for her if she was married to a CO. And even if they ignored that and got married anyway, it wouldn’t be easy to find a place to live together. Nearly all tourist homes near CPS camps didn’t welcome guests who had anything to do with the camps. Some even put up signs saying so. It was the same with landlords who had apartments or rooms to rent, not that Bud and Hope could afford either thing.
