Everyman's War Page #3

The point is what do you have?

All right, all right, all right.

Look at what l got.

And cigarettes?

You got it.

American cigarettes.

Pleasure doing business.

Stay.

Maybe we can have some other

mutually advantageous...

What?

Pilferage.

Maybe.

You know what? Another time.

They're going to miss me,

so l got to get back. See you later.

Starting up with the 88s again.

We got incoming!

- Ready?

- Yeah.

What, you see something?

l'm not sure.

Tell those Krauts to go back to bed.

We've got some on our left flank.

We've got Krauts moving up out there.

Thirty.

- Go! Get down! Come on!

- Move in!

Over here.

How'd they get so damned close?

- Take the gun.

- Come on.

Son of a b*tch, what was that?

That wasn't an 88.

Here comes another one.

Try to cut across to the gully below us.

l'll take the gun.

Stop, they're down below us!

l know, l know. l'm trying

to keep their men back.

Where's the mortars?

Don't the frogs have mortars?

We got spotters up there.

They must be ranging in those coastal guns.

Nice entrance, Brooklyn.

- Hey, are you okay?

- Leave me alone. l'm fine.

Goddamn Nazi a**holes.

Can we range in on that spotter out there?

Kind of busy with our left flank right now.

Mortars, finally.

l'm going to see if l can get

a sharpshooter on that spotter.

Briggs, Briggs, Briggs.

You see that spotter out there?

Yeah, l'm already on it.

But they're pretty far out.

l just have to wait

until we see some movement.

Sure. l don't think they sell it, though.

Yeah. Hang on.

That one was on the mark.

First mistake they make is to freeze.

Stay there.

The second one's down, too.

Come on, you bastards.

l think we're back to 88s for a while.

Guess l'll just keep poking at it

to see if we're here.

God damn it.

Away from your post, no weapon?

You pull a stunt like that again,

what's left of you

after l'm through with you,

the Army won't want to put in jail.

Where the hell were you?

- Where the hell--

- Maurice.

He was right in front of me.

Now he's gone. He's just gone.

Benedetto, damn it,

get yourself cleaned up.

Look at me.

Get yourself cleaned up.

Come on, Brooklyn.

Starks.

What?

Are you okay?

No, l want to beat the sh*t out of--

Just give me a minute.

We've been in France

for three months now.

You'd think we'd get

some local food for a change.

As far as l'm concerned,

you can take France

and shove it up the ass

of the nearest German.

ls that the topic of the day?

Yeah, l suppose it'll do.

Kind of liked

our topic of the day discussions.

Since we left England,

you kind of dropped off.

l have, haven't l?

So the subject is France, right?

Not the capacity of the German ass.

Yeah.

Okay.

As for France, Paris is okay, l suppose.

Haven't seen much else,

except for the Germans trying to kill us.

Yes, our honorable enemy with whom

we continue our three-month stalemate.

We got them right where they want us.

We won't move.

We can't move.

They can't move.

We want them there.

They seem content to stay there.

Little trap, playing shooting gallery.

We don't advance. They don't advance.

lt's horse sh*t.

You'd rather be with Patton right now?

No. Frankly, l'd rather be bored right here.

Better odds.

Well, this isn't much like fighting,

except for maybe today.

Sit around,

count how many shells are duds.

You know, l'd almost rather worry

about a bullet with my name on it

than a shell addressed

''to whom it may concern.''

That old question.

Didn't we talk about that once or twice?

Destiny or random probability.

Guess it's a good object lesson.

Just out of range, slight variation

in the charge, aiming, the crew,

barrel temperature...

lt won't hit the same hole twice.

They might.

They seem to have plenty enough shells

to hit our little hole.

So as probability goes, the more they fire,

the more we should figure

we're all dead men.

And l don't like it much.

Goddamn German ambitions.

Come on, General.

Those Germans.

See, l have a particular

perspective on things.

Guess we're the guys

that get to tell them they're wrong.

Well, they don't listen too well.

And l'm getting

a particularly nasty perspective

on those bastards, too.

Smith, you got to tell me,

when are you going to mail that letter?

Not sure if l ever will.

Come on, you've been

working on that thing off and on

for what, months now.

Just send it to your girl.

How do you know it's to my girl?

Because you look too serious

when you pull it out.

l don't exactly have a girl yet.

l pry things from you.

You never tell me anything.

Who are you writing it to, then?

Just a girl l met, okay?

lt was before the army got me.

- And?

- And what?

And so what does she look like?

How'd you meet her?

This is Doreen.

She has red hair.

She was Harvest Princess there.

You have a picture of her

from the newspaper.

You two must be real close.

Knock it off, Starks.

l didn't get a chance.

We just met. lt didn't quite

work out for us.

Sorry.

Look, if l had any piece of advice

to give you,

do yourself a favor--

just send it to her.

Take a chance.

lt's just...

we only were at one dance.

l was working nights at the mill.

Weekends l had to study,

then l got drafted.

She sure made an impression on me.

Not sure if she even really likes me.

Come on, not like you?

You've got that Latin blood.

Your big ltalian eyes

are going to melt her heart.

You've never seen

my wife and kid, have you?

Nope. Figured you'd show me some day.

Yeah.

l guess it's my turn.

Nice-looking.

Kid, too.

l think l worry about them

more than l worry about me.

And l worry about me a lot.

Come on.

Let's get some food

back to Fuller and Benedetto,

before the Spam tries to escape.

So l told him l was going to hit him

in the face with a 2x4

if he didn't give me my 30 bucks.

Hey, you guys rotating out?

Yeah, we're headed

back to Heteborn for a break.

Plenty of traffic on this road lately.

Yeah, lots of troops moving up

in the northern sector.

l thought so.

Not with you guys. We're the ones

getting hit with the big artillery.

Sorry.

Hey, l've seen some of them craters.

Don't send them our way.

So anyways, $30 later...

Benedetto's going to b*tch.

Another cold breakfast.

lt's the law of the universe.

lt'll be our turn to b*tch when they

run for chow and we get cold breakfast.

Still beats eating nothing at all.

Yeah.

l've had my share of soup lines,

that's for sure.

- Come on.

- No, it's true.

After the market crash,

my family was left without a dime.

Ended my college years.

Then the war broke out.

Then the war broke out.

And it'll end, some day.

Hell, hard to count on anything.

ls that why you've never

finished that letter?

You got to learn

to count on something, Smith.

Sometimes, that's the hardest thing,

but if it's tough, then you got to

probably figure it's the best thing to do.

l know.

l almost gave up.

Been through a lot of twists in my life.

lf it makes your letter-writing

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