Flygirl

As Ida and Jolene leave their housecleaning job, they run into a mailman who gives Ida a letter. Ida tears it open and discovers that she has been accepted to the WASP training program. At home, Ida tells her family that she has been accepted to the program. She will go to Sweetwater, Texas,to train, and if she passes training, she will officially become a WASP. Her mother and Grandy ask her how she will pay for the trip as well as continue to support the family. Ida says she will use the money she saved up for Chicago to travel by train to Texas, and if she passes and becomes a WASP, she can send money home. Finally, Ida’s mother and Grandy tell her that she is an adult, and if she wants to go, it’s her decision. But Grandy warns her to be extra careful not to reveal that she is black:“You’ve got to be extra careful not to slip up. They won’t take kindly to it in Texas” (62).

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.