When I was three…

Shortly before Christmas when I was three, I saw a tiny, cast iron, model of a Navy Corsair, painted navy blue and white. I badly wanted it. "No," Mom said, "it's too expensive." I brought the issue up with Dad, a veteran of the US Army Air Corps who fought in the air war over Europe and was now in the United States Air Force Reserve. "Show some respect to your mother," he scolded me. "If she says it's too expensive, then it's too expensive!" But on Christmas morning, there was that Corsair, complete with folding wings, under the tree, waiting for me. I was so damn happy.