Chapter 7
“Alex, what the hell are we going to do?”
“I don’t know. Give me another smoke while we think about it.” Johnny pulled his pack out of his pocket and we both lit up, dragging the warm smoke deep into our lungs as we sat behind our barracks. It felt good to be out in the cold, the brilliant moonlight casting crisp shadows around us.
“Do you think we could ask to be assigned to another squad?” He pulled his coat tight around him as he took another deep drag.
“We’d have to give them a good excuse to justify reassigning us,” I said with a dismissive shake of my head. “If we just go in there and say we don’t like him, they’re not going to care. And like he said earlier, it’s his word against ours if we tried to talk about what happened.” I paused as Johnny coughed again, putting a hand on his sore stomach. “I think we just have to shut up about the whole thing and get through this. I’m sure things will change once we get mobilized.”
“When do you think that’ll be?”
“I think it’s going to be any day now. Jessen told me he overheard the captain and Lt. Shapton talking. He didn’t hear them say any specific date, but he got the impression it was going to be pretty soon.”
“I hope so; the longer we stay here, the more crap we’re going to have to put up with from Murphy.”
We both sat quietly, smoking and thinking. I had seen a look in Johnny’s eyes earlier, one I’d never seen before. “When we went outside to see what Murphy was up to, how did you know?”
“Know what?”
“That he was going to go that far; that he was going to force himself on that girl. I figured he was just trying to look like a big man and show off in front of her; I never figured he’d be that aggressive.” He had a knowing look on his face as I paused. “But you, you knew, didn’t you?”
He slowly nodded, nibbling anxiously on his bottom lip. “Yeah, I knew. You know I told you about my mom taking in that guy Vince to help with the rent?” I nodded. “Well, just before I signed up, I was at home one night and got up around one in the morning to take a leak. When I was in the hallway, I heard a noise that sounded like it was coming from my sister Maria’s room.” Maria was his little sister, the one who wrote to him all the time. “I saw her door was open just a crack, so I went over and put my ear close.
“I heard Maria’s voice, telling someone to leave her alone. I wondered who the hell she could be talking to. I was about to knock on her door when another voice made me stop.
“You’ll do exactly what I tell you and you won’t say a word about it, or I’ll wring that scrawny little neck of yours.” It was Vince’s voice.
“I threw open the door and there was that fat fuck, Vince, on my sister’s bed. He had her nightgown up around her waist and was kneeling between her legs, his hands around her throat. I wanted to kill the fucker right there.
“I ran across the room and knocked him off of her, both of us ending up on the floor with that piece of shit on top of me. I tried to push him off and get out from under him, but he punched me right in the face. It hurt like hell but I kept thrashing around beneath him, trying to get the fat bastard off me. I rolled over and tried to scramble to my knees, but I still couldn’t get away from him. He punched me again in the ear and then again right in the back of the head.
“GET OFF HIM!” I heard my mother yell. “IF YOU HIT THAT BOY AGAIN, I’LL RUN THIS KNIFE RIGHT THROUGH THAT FAT GUT OF YOURS.”
“She had a big kitchen knife in her hand, the tip pointed right at Vince.
“Just……just take it easy,” Vince said.
“You’ve got three seconds to get your fat ass out of here,” my mother said. By the look on her face, I could see she had no qualms whatsoever about driving that knife all the way to the hilt in that fat sack of shit.
“Vince took off out of there faster than a bullet. We heard the front door slam and then my mother rushed over and hugged my little sister. Maria was scared to death.”
Johnny paused and hung his head, his eyes going back to that time. I sat dumbstruck, realizing that memory had been reawakened as he’d watched Sgt. Murphy with the young girl. “So that’s how you knew. When you saw Murphy with that girl, you knew.”
“Yeah. I saw the look on Murphy’s face when he was talking to her. It didn’t hit me until that moment, but it was the same look Vince had given my sister a number of times; when we’d been having supper together, when we’d been listening to the radio, when she’d been sitting quietly doing her homework. He’d give her this look, and at first I thought it was just because she was so sweet, just like she is with everyone else.” He paused for a second, as if recalling that memory. “And then Murphy. He was looking at that young girl with that exact same look. And I knew right then he was the same as Vince. It was the look of an animal that’s got its prey in its sights. It just keeps circling closer and closer, getting ready to come in for the kill.” He looked at me, conviction in his eyes. “I knew there was no way I was going to let Murphy do to that girl what Vince had tried to do to my sister.”
“I knew that girl didn’t like him pestering her,” I said, “but I never thought he’d take it that far. I thought he’d just get the idea and stop bothering her.” I stopped and pondered my own thoughts. “If he’s capable of doing something like that, what else do you think he might do?”
Johnny took a long drag on his cigarette before tossing it to the ground. He slowly expelled the smoke from deep in his lungs, the silvery cloud drifting hauntingly over his head in the moonlight. “I know he’s got us both lined up in his sights now. He’s real pissed off about what we did. I don’t trust him at all, Alex. You asked what he might do. I wouldn’t put anything past him at this point. We just better watch our backs; that’s for sure.”
I solemnly nodded, wondering who the enemy really was in this war.
We sat quietly for a few minutes, each of us mulling over the thoughts in our heads before Johnny spoke again. “You really like her, don’t you?” he said.
It made me happy to see he had a little smile on his face, the first one I’d seen on him in the last few hours. “Yes,” I willingly admitted.
“You got her number, right?”
“Yep.” I patted my pocket, the treasured little napkin tucked safely inside.
“I tell you, brother, you and Helen were unbelievable on that dance floor. You looked like Fred and Ginger out there.”
I smiled, the unbelievable joy I’d felt dancing with Helen just a short time ago seeming like a distant memory already. “I hope I’ll have another chance to see her again.”
“You will, brother, you will. I think she’s crazy about you.”
This brought a smile to my face, even though my back still hurt like hell. We sat quietly, savoring the peaceful stillness of the crisp cool night.
“How do you think Harry’s doing?” Johnny asked; causing us both to smile at the image of the poor pathetic lad passed out fully clothed on his bunk.
“I think he’s going to need a lot of aspirin tomorrow.”
“If we don’t use it all before then.”
We’d raided the first aid kit and popped a couple each as soon as we got back, trying to quiet the thrumming agony in our bodies. I’d taken a piss, the red stream shooting from the end of my dick scaring the crap out of me.
“C’mon buddy,” I said as I took a final drag and flicked the butt to the ground. My weary body ached as I rose, the pain in my back a constant reminder of our recent ordeal. “There’s nothing more we can do tonight. Let’s hit the sack.”
I pissed blood for the next four days, cursing Murphy and Riddick each time I saw the red stream arcing before me. It finally cleared, just as the ache in my lower back started to recede. Our discomfort didn’t seem to faze Sgt. Murphy, who continued to drill us hard. We ran, jumped, climbed, shot and ate when he told us to; just as he’d promised. I was almost surprised that he didn’t come in and tell me when it was my turn to take a shit. I didn’t
know who I hated more, the Krauts or Murphy.
A couple of weeks after the incident at the tavern, Murphy and Riddick addressed us on the parade grounds before our morning drill. Their faces were more solemn than usual, so we knew something was up.
“LISTEN UP!” Murphy barked as we stood at attention. “We’ve just been informed that we’ve been reassigned.” The men looked at each other curiously, wondering what this meant. “Two days from now we’ll be on the move to Halifax. From there, we’re off to England.” There was a flurry of questions, of which Murphy would answer none. “You’ll be told what you need to know……when you need to know.”
Back in The Palace later in the day, no one could talk of anything else. Mixed emotions were running through everyone, from intense excitement to fearful trepidation. That night saw many putting pen to paper, writing letters home. I did likewise, trying to put into words what I was feeling, without much luck. I promised to think of them often and that I’d come home safely, hopefully to a world where we wouldn’t be saluting the Fuhrer.