Here is a "Pearl Harbor" vignette told in the first person, from the point of view of one of the movie's supporting characters, a New York born Italian-American named Lieutenant Anthony Fusco. It's called, "Anthony's Doubts":
"ANTHONY'S DOUBTS"
RATING: PG-13
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SUMMARY: Anthony expresses his feelings toward the burgeoning relationship between Danny and Evelyn.
DISCLAIMER: Yadda, yadda, yadda! All characters pertaining to the motion picture, "Pearl Harbor", belong to Jerry Bruckheimer, Michael Bay, Randall Wallace and the Walt Disney Company . . . unfortunately.
NOTE: This comes from that delicious line expressed by someone in the movie. I think it was Anthony Fusco, but I'm not sure. I only wish I could remember it, word from word.
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"ANTHONY'S DOUBTS"
I don't know why everyone seems to think it's a good idea for them to date. I certainly don't. If you ask me, they're making a big mistake. Danny and Evelyn, I mean.
I mean, jeez, anyone can see that Danny and Evelyn are only interested in each other, because of Rafe. Rafe McCawley - Danny's best friend and Evelyn's boyfriend. Well, dead best friend and dead boyfriend. Rafe has been dead for the past three months. Shot over the English Channel by the Germans. Damn Krauts!
Of all the people I could never see getting shot down it was Lieutenant Rafe McCawley, of the U.S. Army Air Corps. I mean, hick or no hick, the man was a talented pilot. Even our old CO from Mitchell Field, the famous James Doolittle, had considered Rafe to be an outstanding pilot. And Rafe . . . well, he just seemed too talented and too alive to bite the dust over the English Channel. Then again, no one lives forever. Not even a walking live wire like poor old Rafe.
Danny Walker is another kettle of fish. Like Rafe, he's another talented pilot. Although not quite in Rafe's league. I guess you can say he was the second best pilot in our squad. Now that Rafe is dead, he's the number one guy. Now Danny is the quiet type. Sometimes, the man barely says two sentences during an entire day. Unless the subject happens to be flying. He had practically worshipped the ground Rafe walked upon – like a typical younger brother Hell, they had seemed like brothers. I heard that Danny's pop had fought in the last war and came home, a drunken wreck. After he died, Rafe's parents took Danny in and the two practically became brothers. Now that Rafe is dead, he no longer has a family. I guess as far as he's concerned.
And then there was Evelyn Johnson. I still remember that evening in New York, when we all first met her and the other nurses. I had my eye on Sandra O'Connell, a pretty redhead with glasses and kissable lips. What is it with that woman, anyway? After nine months, she acts as if I've got the clap or something. Although I mainly had Sandra on my mind, I could not help but notice Rafe and Evelyn. The electricity between them was unmistakable. I swear it seemed as if they were in their own little magical world.
Poor Evelyn. Rafe's death must have hit her just as hard as it did Danny. Both Red and Betty told me that for the past three months - since Rafe's death - she had been crying herself to sleep. I remember how she seemed to be in a daze, during that little memorial service we had for Rafe at the Hula-La Bar. Come to think of it, Danny kept to himself a lot, during that period. The only time he seemed to come alive was during flight duty. I don't know. Maybe he had visions of avenging his buddy's death.
Then just a few days ago, Red proposed marriage to Betty. They, along with Billy and Barbara, spotted Evelyn and Danny together, inside the Black Cat Café. They had run into each other outside a movie theater in downtown Honolulu. Billy and Red talked of nothing but Danny and Evelyn. And how it would be great for those two to get over Rafe's death and start dating. Jesus, what a couple of morons! Meanwhile, Danny ran over to the nurse’s quarters at Pearl, to return Evelyn's handkerchief. Yeah, right. I saw how he looked. Like a man who had found a drop of water in the middle of the desert.
And now we have Evelyn, visiting Danny, here at Wheeler Field. Dressed in this little red Chinese number that fit her in the all the right places. It was obvious that she wore it to impress Danny. And the dumb idiot practically drooled over her like a dog in heat.
Being Danny, he asked us for advice. Should he or shouldn't he date Evelyn? Red told him to give her a shot. As far as Red was concerned, Rafe was dead and it was time for Danny and Evelyn to move on. That was the worst advice anyone could have given. I think I was the only one who thought differently. I said that if I were dead and my best friend was dating my girl, I'd come back and beat the shit out of him. Everyone laughed, thinking I was joking. Well, I wasn’t joking. I Jesus, they can’t all be idiots, can they?
Red, Billy and the others don’t seem to understand that you can't stop grieving over someone, as if he or she was a sink you can easily turn off. I remember my Uncle Mario Fusco. He was a soldier who had served in China, some fifteen years ago. Poor Uncle Mario had been declared dead and his wife, Aunt Lucinda, cried over him something awful. Well, the rest of the family advised her to move on and she ended up getting engaged to one of Mario's buddies, this guy named Paul Rizzo. And guess what happened? After dating Paul for several months, Aunt Lucinda decided to marry him, because she was lonely. Despite the fact that she still had not recovered from Uncle Mario's death. Just before the wedding, Uncle Mario showed up, alive and well. And Aunt Lucinda dropped this Rizzo fella like a hat. It almost broke up Mario and Paul's friendship.
Now, I'm not saying that Rafe is going to appear from the dead or anything like that. But hey, you never know. Plus, I can see that Evelyn still has not recovered from his death. When she visited Danny, this afternoon, I had this weird feeling that her heart wasn't really focused on him. It seemed . . . well, as if she had to force herself to stop grieving. I suspect that the only reason both are interested in each other is because of Rafe. They're using each other to get over their grief, but they don't seem to realize that.
But it's too late now. Danny just left to see Evelyn. He told me that he plans to take her flying over Wakikki Beach. I don't know. Something tells me that nothing good is gonna come out of this. And my instincts are usually pretty on the QT. I guess all I can do is wait and see.
THE END
