Victoria at the Falklands

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Peter, an Argentine military cadet, falls in love at first sight with an unknown girl he accidentally meets at a railway terminal. Fortunately, that very evening he meets her again under the most extraordinary circumstances involving a barbecue, a storm, a ditched car, and the necessity for an asylum of sorts at the girl’s home in Bella Vista, a suburban town, some twenty-five miles from Buenos Aires City. The girl turns out to be Victoria, who lives with her huge family and is also very much attracted to the young military cadet but refuses to be rushed into what she deems a premature affair. However eventually——after some droll incidents——they get engaged.

At the end of the year Victoria and Jimmy——Peter’s best friend——find themselves trapped in a lift for half an hour. Very much to her discomfort, Victoria discovers that Jimmy is in love with her too. But she only has eyes for Peter. They plan to marry and would have done so except that Victoria’s mother suddenly dies leaving Victoria in charge of her small brothers and sisters while Peter, now a graduate officer, is posted far away at a remote location in Patagonia.

But suddenly Peter is mysteriously transferred to the 12th Infantry squadron in the north of the country. Jimmy visits him there and they speculate on the strange rumours about impending military operations that mystify the boys.

A couple of months later the Argentine Army occupies the Falkland Islands and Britain promises to retake them by force. Peter is already there with the 12th Infantry and is soon fighting against the British. On the other hand, very much to his disgust, Jimmy has not been sent over. Eventually Peter dies manfully in battle and, after a suitable wait, Jimmy tries to woo Victoria to no effect since the girl seems to be ‘at the Falklands’ forever.

Years later a group of old friends gather once again on a Sunday evening——they’ve been doing so for years——at what used to be Victoria’s house. Eventually a bespectacled middle-aged woman in a black dress appears and enquires about their chat and when she gets the drift of the conversation——to the effect that youngsters are much too optimistic——she thinks back to that Sunday morning, years ago, when Peter had unexpectedly proposed and how, when she had pointed out that he was rushing things, he had reminded her of the old saying that “it’s later than you think”.

When she goes back to the kitchen nobody sees that she is smiling to herself.