meet him, as we always did, he gently placed us aside, and with a solemn look on his face, went in to see my mother. I was four years old then, but I sensed that something terrible had happened. My modier and sister, Dolly, the eldest of the family were crying. I started to cry also, and then I asked my sister why we were crying. She tried to explain to me that my uncle Johnny had been killed overseas. I felt very scared. Wasn't our handsome man in the picture-frame in a place called "overseas," as well? I could remember my uncle Johnny, who went away to this placed called "overseas" after my dad had gone. I remember him holding me on his knee when I was three years of age and telling me how pretty I was. I would look at my aunt Tillie and laugh. Aunt Tillie was my mother's sister and she was only eighteen years of age when she married uncle Johnny. Three months later, he went overseas and never returned. I lived in fear then. If "overseas" took uncle Johnny, could it also take the handsome man in the picture-frame? Some time later, my mother took us to Charlottetown on the train. On our return trip home, I saw a man in a uniform sitting across from us, and I instantly thought it was the handsome man from the picture- frame. Mom had bought me new underpants, or step-ins, as they were called at that time. Clutching them in my hands, I ran to this stranger saying, "Daddy, look at the new step-ins Mommy bought me!" and threw myself into the stranger's arms. My dreams were shattered when I found out that it wasn't my Dad, but just another soldier. In the summer of 1945, my handsome man stepped out of the picture-frame and into our lives. The first time I saw him he filled the doorway, and I couldn't swallow the lump in my throat. He came in gathering our mother and all of us in his arms. He was so straight and tall, dressed in his uniform. He was so vibrant, so glad to be home, 128