It is the Second World War, and Jenny is a young woman coping with the shortages of food and other necessities of life, yet enjoying the village "hops" with the young men stationed locally in the armed forces. She meets and falls in love with James, an RAF gunner flying in Lancaster bombers. One night, when returning from a raid over Germany, his plane goes missing over Holland and he is presumed dead. Jenny"s world is shattered, but she refuses to accept that he has gone. Is she living in false hopes? Will she ever see him again? This engaging tale is the first in Traveller"s Joy, a collection of prose and poetry chronicling the author"s observations on the tragic and the comic in life. What is her conclusion about the human lot? Listen to the blackbird "singing a love song", tread the "sun-freckled pathways in May", and you will find the answer.