A Soldier's Story Page #5

...beat up the murder victim

not long before he was shot to death?

Their CO refuses to report

that they had anything to do with it...

...and he signs an affidavit

supporting their alibi.

These two are our best suspects.

How can you not have them arrested...

...or at least questioned

by the investigating officer?

Something like this is bound to get out.

I didn't say you couldn't question them.

But I want a white officer present.

And I want everything that's said

reported to me.

- Is that clear?

- Of course, sir.

You're dismissed, Captain.

Yes, sir.

Go with God.

Virge, same old sermon.

I didn't know you were

a religious man, Henson.

I'm not. I just play this organ.

If I play on Sundays, I get out of

a few work details during the week.

That's all.

- I want to talk about Sergeant Waters.

- Yeah?

There ain't much to talk about,

except for I didn't like the man myself...

...on account of what he did to CJ.

What did he do?

I don't mean you no offence,

but I ain't exactly crazy about...

...talking to no officer.

Colored or white.

You're gonna talk, Henson,

or I'll put your ass in the stockade...

...so long, you'll forget how to.

He was always on CJ's back

about somethin'.

Every little thing.

Least ways, that's how it seemed to me.

Then the shootin' went down.

What shooting?

The shootin' over at

Williams' Golden Palace.

Happened just last year

right at the end of the baseball season.

A whole lot of shots had gone off

right near the barracks.

I, myself, had gone over and gotten

a little juiced at the Enlisted Men's Club.

Somebody's shootin'.

They're shootin' over there.

- Everyone up. Wake 'em up, Wilkie!

- Come on, move it.

Unass them bunks.

Come on, you Geechees.

Off your asses, on your feet.

Everybody up.

Let's go.

Company, ten-hut!

There's been a shooting.

One of ours bucked the line at Williams'

pay phone and three soldiers are dead.

Two colored, one white MP.

Now, the man who bucked the line,

he killed the MP...

...and the white boys

started shooting everybody.

That's how our two got shot.

And this low-down n*gger we're looking for

got chased down here.

And was almost caught,

until someone in these barracks...

...started shooting at the men chasing him.

So...

...we got us a vicious, low-down

murdering piece of black trash...

...in here somewhere.

And a few people who helped him.

If any of you are in this...

...I want you to step forward.

All you baseball n*ggers are innocent?

- Wilkie!

- Sir.

Make the search.

Open those footlockers. Come on, Smalls.

All right, Peterson,

what are you waiting for, an invitation?

Open 'em up. Spread 'em out.

I want to see what's happening inside.

Memphis, you in this?

No, sir, Sarge.

Okay, guys,

you heard what the sergeant said.

How many of you were out tonight?

Sir, I was over at Williams'

'round about 7:
00.

I got me a pack of Lucky Strikes.

But I didn't try to call home.

Got something.

Still warm.

- CJ, is this yours?

- You know it ain't mine, Sarge.

Probably not.

Probably just crawled in

through a window...

...passed everybody's bunk,

Peterson, Cobb...

...and just snuggled up under yours.

Must be voodoo, right, boy?

Or that Farmer's Dust.

That pistol ain't mine, Sarge. I hate guns.

Makes me feel bad just to see a gun.

Liar! Place this man under arrest.

Look, sir, CJ couldn't hurt a fly, Sarge.

You know that.

I found a gun, soldier.

- Waters, you know it ain't him.

- Who is it then? You?

Sarge, I saw somebody sneak in here.

You were drunk when you left the club.

I saw you.

Throw his ass in the shower.

Well, I was here all night.

CJ ain't go nowhere.

He was asleep before I got to bed.

You think he's innocent?

CJ Memphis...

...playin' cotton picker, singin' the blues...

...bowin' and scrapin',

smilin' in white folks' faces.

This man undermined us:

you, me, everybody.

That "yassuh-boss" is hiding something.

Are we like that today, in 1944?

He shot that white boy!

What did you go and do now, boy?

Hit a noncommissioned officer.

CJ just lost his head...

Shut up!

Get him out of here.

Sarge, I know I saw somebody.

Smalls, I saw somebody, really.

CJ was sleeping when I came in.

It's Waters. Can't y'all see that?

You know, I seen 'em before.

We had 'em in Alabama.

White man give him a small-ass job as a

servant and when the boss ain't looking...

...that old copy-cat n*gger

act like he the new boss.

Shouting, ordering people around.

You see, arresting CJ,

that'll get Waters another stripe.

Next, it'll be you or you.

You see, he can't look good

unless he's standing on you.

Cobb told him CJ was in here all evening.

Waters didn't even listen, did he?

Turning somebody in.

"Well, look what I done, Captain-boss."

Only reason he's in the Army is 'cause

they know he'll do what they tell him to.

I've seen this kind of fool before.

Somebody's gonna kill him

one of these days.

You know, I heard they killed a sergeant

at Fort Robinson. A recruit did it.

Forget it, Pete.

With our luck, Sarge'll come through

the whole war, won't even get a scratch.

Yeah, maybe.

But I'm going over to them stockades.

Tell them MPs what I know:

CJ was in here all evening.

I'm going with you!

You all wait up. I'm coming, too.

Was Wilkie the only person

out of his bunk that night?

I guess. Wilkie came in with the Sarge.

But it's hard to say.

It's been a while and, like I said,

I was a little juiced that night.

- Ellis!

- Yes? Yes, sir?

Find out what's holding up

my investigation of Wilcox and Byrd.

Yes, sir.

The night Sergeant Waters was killed,

where were you?

I was in the barracks.

I played checkers with Cobb till 9:30

and then I went to bed.

Is there gonna be anything else, sir?

Dismissed, Private.

Let her go.

Let me know when it's full board.

Here we go. Let's go, baby.

Pick 'em up.

Pick your rifles up. That's it.

That's it. Move out!

Move your ass!

That's it, move out!

Goddamn it, keep going!

That's it, move it up!

Shake it up! Hit that wall!

Get your feet up!

Hurry it up! Move up!

Watch it!

Ellis!

Hold it!

Stop shooting!

Which one of you idiots is Cobb?

That's me, sir. You all right, Captain?

I want to talk to you.

What'd he want old Cobb for?

I don't know.

What did he ask you, Pete?

He just asked a couple of questions

about the baseball game...

...some about the Sarge.

Didn't amount to too much.

Yeah, we was homeys, me and CJ,

both from Mississippi.

CJ, from Carmella. Me, I'm from up 'round

Jutlerville, what they call Snake County.

How did you feel

when your best friend was arrested?

I hated Waters for it, sir.

"Hated"?

CJ ain't killed nobody.

He hit Waters, didn't he?

Yeah, but the sergeant made him, sir.

He called that boy things

he ain't never heard before.

CJ was from the farm, a country boy.

That jail cell started doing

crazy things to CJ, sir.

It started closing in on him.

You all right?

It's hard to breathe

in these little spaces, Cobb.

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