A Midnight Clear Page #2

And now you hear it

everywhere

Uptown

Back at Camp Shelby,

when we finally realized...

they really were going

to ship us overseas...

we went into a mild

state of panic.

The thing that

bothered us most was that...

with the exception of Mother Wilkins,

we were all eleven virgins.

I don't know

if this was normal...

or if there's some sort of correlation

between a lack of sexual precocity...

and what is known as intelligence.

I think Shutzer came up with the idea.

Or maybe it was Eddie.

Eddie was the youngest

of all of us.

Four of us managed a weekend pass

and headed into town...

to find a nice, complacent whore

who could put us out of our misery.

We kept it to four. We figured any more

would be some kind of gang bang.

And, well, we had

more romantic aspirations.

We had fifty dollars.

We spent ten on the room...

and left the rest

for the investment.

There was much discussion

as to the kind of woman.

I think we were all scared

that we'd end up with a real woman...

and not be able to manage it.

And the "B"girls

in the bars were out.

We were well-conditioned

by the army VD films.

Avakian and Shutzer

were to handle the search.

Eddie and I waited.

What time is it?

- One.

- You're kidding.

We got company, guys.

Oh, sh*t.

I know right then I won't

be able to do it. I'm glad I'm third.

So we'd just about given up...

when we see this girl

down by the bus station.

Just sitting there

on one of those wooden benches.

Anyway, we got around to talking

about what we'd been doing all night.

And right then,

out of the blue...

she just volunteered

to come back here with us.

I thought she was kidding,

but she's serious.

Well, I got an extra rubber

you can use if you want, Stan.

I got my own rubbers.

You've gotten as bad

as Mother Wilkins.

Actually, I can use one.

I should have known Edward

was gonna take forever.

What the f***

are they doing in there?

Watch your language, Stan.

What would Father Mundy think?

F*** Father Mundy.

Hey, Eddie,

how you doing in there, huh?

Maybe she rolled him

or something.

Knockout drops

or a blackjack.

Would you at least

say something?

Her name's Janice.

She was engaged

to a boy named Matt.

She found out last week that he was

killed in the invasion of Sicily.

She came down to Shelby

to get his stuff...

and decided to kill herself.

But she couldn't

work up the nerve.

All she has now is a bus ticket

back home to Pittsburgh.

Janice has only made love

to one boy, Matt, just before he left.

Now she's volunteering herself

to all of us...

insisting it's what

she wants to do.

Of course

we're so guilty and scared...

we end up subjecting

this simple, lovely idea...

to every kind

of spurious rationale.

We wind down before dawn

and sleep.

Then just before the morning,

Janice comes quietly...

privately to each of us.

We pass through

the mythical barrier...

between boys and men...

men and death.

Janice takes us with her.

After a luxurious

mass breakfast in bed...

we walk Janice to her bus.

None of us talk

about what happened.

And I think I'll always feel strange

about my first sexual experience...

masquerading as a dead boy

named Matt.

- Knott.

- Yeah.

I'll cook lunch if you can get me

some wood for the fireplace.

No, Mother. All we need

is a bunch of smoke...

to let the Germans

know we're here.

Will, if we don't light a fire,

we're gonna freeze our butts off.

And it's very hard to kill Germans

with a frozen butt.

All right.

The smoke's bad,

but not as bad as I thought.

You're taking a little long putting

that back together, aren't you, Bud?

I'm not working

for speed right now.

This wine tastes

like sardines.

Well, here. The sardines

taste sort of like wine.

I sit here trying

to work out four bridge hands.

Miller invented the game, calling it

"compact, cardless, duplicate bridge."

When we lost half the squad,

we also lost our only deck of cards.

They were on Eddie.

He died in the field hospital.

With his left arm gone

and his face the way it was...

I don't think he tried

very hard to stay on.

Hi, Bud.

Did Mother and Avakian

set up all right down there?

They seemed fine to me.

Good. Listen. You have got to be more

careful lighting cigarettes, all right?

Some German could sneak up from

behind you, pop one in your head...

while you're pretending

to be Walt Whitman.

I think my eyeball's frozen.

- Yeah?

- Is that you, Will?

- Yeah. What's going on?

- I don't know. I think I saw something.

- What did you see, Mother?

- I'm not sure, Will.

I don't know. I think I saw something

move on the hill across from us.

Did Avakian see it?

No. Just me.

All right, Mother, hang tight.

I'll call up top.

Oh, sh*t.

- Father?

- Yeah?

Yeah. Mother says he saw something

on the opposite hill there.

- Did you see anything?

- No. Nothing.

Wilkins must have eyes like an owl.

I can't see my hand in front of my face.

All right.

Could be he's only jumpy.

Just keep an eye

on their backs, all right?

Okay, Will.

Hey, Bud. Relax. Relax.

Mother's pretty nervous.

It's probably nothing.

Probably nothing?

That's real reassuring, Will.

Well, what do you think?

I don't know.

Maybe I should tell them

about Mother's run through the woods.

The news of his baby being dead

did him in for sure.

- Yeah?

- We're hearing something down here.

Mother thinks it's the Germans

signaling back and forth.

All right, Mel, hold on.

We'll be right down.

- Bud. Bud, wake up.

- What?

Listen. Mel says he's

hearing some noises, all right?

I want you to call Shutzer, tell him

I'm going down to the lower post.

Then call Mother and Avakian back and

remind them not to shoot me, all right?

Come on. Get up.

Go!

Did you hear any more?

Not since the last one.

It's closer that time.

Americana.

Easy, Mother. Easy.

What do you think?

Maybe they're gone?

I don't know.

Maybe they're

just being quiet.

Mel.

Let's you and me go

check out the road, all right?

Hey, Will, you go if you want.

I'm fine right here.

If they're gone, they're gone.

If they're not,

I'm not walking into an ambush.

Put that pin

back in that grenade.

- No, it wasn't.

- They do sh*t like this all the time.

- I know, but that wasn't the case.

- How do you know?

Do you think

it was five of'em?

- Yeah, yeah.

- What the hell is going on?

Mel said they were actually talking

to you. What did they say?

I don't know. First it was,

"Hey, Americana."

Then when they left, they started

saying something like "slap guder."

It didn't make any sense.

Sh*t, that's Yiddish.

It's schlaf gut.

It's "sleep well."

"Sleep well"?

Yeah, Will. "Sleep well."

Get it?

Holy sh*t. These f***ing Nazis.

They're softening us up for the kill.

Will, wake up.

Ware's on the phone.

He doesn't sound real happy.

- Is Mother out there alone?

- Yeah.

- Why?

- Why? It's the day.

You don't need to leave two guys out

there during the day. What's the point?

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