Kings Go Forth Page #2

A hundred and eighty-eight, eighty-nine.

You familiar with the French Riviera?

Only what I've read

in the National Geographic.

I'm told big hotels are fixed

so that you turn on a water faucet...

...and you get either cognac or champagne.

That probably isn't true,

but suppose you and your men go there...

...and make a 24-hour investigation.

Yes, sir.

An hour later we were halfway to Nice.

That's the kind of a war it was.

Some people call it

the Champagne Campaign.

Nobody who was there will ever forget

the way the Riviera was that season.

The Army had made it a rest area.

There'd never been one like it before

and never would be again.

They shipped in oranges from North Africa,

eggs from Sweden, steaks from Argentina.

The champagne and cognac

were already there.

So were some of the girls.

But others came by bus, by foot

and by plane.

There were all kinds of girls.

The hotels were luxurious, all right,

but it wasn't quite like the Colonel said.

You had to go all the way to the terrace

to get the cognac and the champagne.

You can forget how beautiful

a beautiful woman can be...

...but it doesn't take long

to refresh your memory.

I saw what they meant

by the French Riviera.

After a few hours, I got tired of looking...

...at 10,000 other men

wearing the same suit I was...

...and doing the same things I was.

I left the guys at a bistro

and just took off in the jeep.

You are the first American I have seen.

I have been thinking that I must

give something to my first American...

...something I like very much.

I try now to remember

what I thought in that first moment...

...that she was beautiful, I guess.

That I wanted very much to speak to her.

Mademoiselle, je suis American.

Yes, I know.

You speak English.

My mother sometimes says

I speak it perpetually.

Lt. Sam Loggins.

I don't understand.

He does not know

you mean him to keep it.

He has never had a gift before, I think.

Lt. Sam Loggins, Jean-Franois Duvan.

Merci bien, monsieur.

You're welcome.

And now I must go. I am very late.

Thank you again and good-bye.

I know Jean-Franois' name, but not yours.

- I am Monique Blaire.

- Your English is very good.

I am an American.

You're kidding!

Then why do you talk like that?

I was born in Paris.

I have always lived in France.

And you've never been home,

to the United States, I mean?

France is my home.

Whatever it is she's cooking smells good.

What do you call it?

Poulpe.

It tastes very good, too.

Come, I will introduce you to the madame.

That looks good.

That's wonderful.

What do they call this?

Poulpe.

What's it mean?

Octopus.

My father felt the same way.

He loved poulpe.

Very nice.

Can't you recommend something else?

The small sardines, fried crisp in butter.

Could you stay

and have some with me, please?

Thank you, ma'am.

Does she give brandy

to everybody on the house?

Madame is French.

It's unlikely she has ever done so before...

...or that she ever will again.

Tell me what happened

after your father died.

I hung around New York for a while...

...then I realized that everyone I

grew up with were either drafted or in jail.

So I went back to Los Angeles.

Then one day, Mr. Bolling called me

in his office and he said:

"Sam, take a look at the new letterheads."

I looked at them and I said,

"They look fine."

Then I saw it.

The letterhead said,

"Bolling and Loggins, Constructionists."

He made me a partner just like that.

And what did you do then?

I thanked him.

You thanked him,

making your voice very deep...

...then you excused yourself...

...and you went into your own office...

...closed the door...

...and you wept.

You wept because

Mr. Fred Bolling is such a good man.

To tell you the truth...

...I never mentioned this before,

but that's exactly what I did. I wept.

How did you guess that?

I did not guess.

I think Americans are ashamed

when they feel tenderness.

You know, my father once told me:

"Monique, you cannot judge a man

by what he says unless you see his face."

Your father was a very wise man.

Yes, he was...

...very wise indeed.

What'd she say?

She said that she loved

having the Americans here.

She wishes you very much good luck.

For me, it will be very bad luck

unless I go home now.

My mother will worry.

Think I could see you again?

I can get another pass next weekend.

I cannot see you again.

Cannot or you will not?

Will not.

I guess that wraps it up.

I like you, Sam.

I think you are a very good American.

But you won't see me again.

I won't see you again.

I don't usually press my luck,

but if you change your mind...

...around 8:
00 next Saturday night,

I'll be here.

Good-bye, Sam. And thank you again.

When we got back,

it was still the same old war.

It was funny. Some days we drank

champagne, courtesy of the French...

...and some days we ate dirt,

courtesy of the Germans.

Our objective that day was a ridge that

overlooked a valley held by the Germans.

The valley was only 5 kilometers

from the pass leading into Italy...

...but it was a very valuable

piece of real estate.

Intelligence figured the Jerries had

moved off the ridge, but couldn't be sure.

So it was our job to find out.

Sugar 3, this is Sugar 7.

Fire mission. Over.

You got 'em?

Sugar 3, this is Sugar 7.

Checkpoint 8.

Azimuth 4000.

Right 5-0. Drop 2-0.

Concrete bunker. Fire for effect.

Concrete bunker. Fire for effect. Over.

Here they come.

Duck!

Okay, that's it.

End of mission. Area covered. Out.

There goes our radio.

We'll have to wait for support.

Duck!

Then they started paying us back.

We couldn't move in any direction.

We were locked in.

They've got guns, too.

I figured we had five minutes to live,

give or take a little.

You're quite a guy, Harris.

Pretty fancy dancin'.

You like your stripes back,

I'll get 'em back for you.

Thanks.

Next time we're on a pass together,

I'll buy you a beer.

Thanks, Lieutenant.

It's nothing, Sergeant.

That night, we took over the bunker...

We started to zero in on the valley

with our howitzers.

We blasted them whenever we saw them.

But the thing is,

we almost never saw them.

Peek-a-boo.

I'm your new radio operator.

Anderson, Roy.

Hey, Britt.

You guys know each other?

Sure. We just about got our tails

blown off together, didn't we, Britt?

- Yeah.

- How's that?

We're in the same bunch of replacements.

Remember those guys who went

into the mine field and got blown to hell?

Me and old Britt were in there

getting a helmet full of apples.

Okay, Anderson, get on over to the billet.

Rustle yourself up a spot to lie down in.

Right you are, Lieutenant.

Take it easy, Britt.

So you'd already explored the orchard?

You knew pretty much

where the mines were.

I wasn't sure.

I figured you wouldn't pull a bonehead trick

like that without an angle.

If you'd told me about it,

I wouldn't have yanked your stripes.

But then I guess nobody

would have thought of you as a hero.

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