Eugene Sledge moved off of the train and into the crowd of bustling people, all chattering away in either French, English, or something in between. The first thing he'd noticed was how many people here had Snafu's same slow drawl, but none quite had that way about them; Snafu had always had that certain aura of arrogance and sarcasm that had first drawn Eugene to him.
As he picked his way through the throngs of people, he thought about the address the VA office had given him, St. Francisville, Louisiana. He wondered if Snafu had connections there, a family, friends, people who cared about him.
During the war, it had never occurred to him that Snafu had had a life before the Marines, it had always seemed like he had been on those blasted islands his whole life, just waiting for Sledge to show up.
Sledge sat in the cab, a feeling of both trepidation and excitement brewing inside. How would Snafu react to his sudden appearance? Perhaps he should have sent a letter first, announcing his visit. What if Snafu had settled into civilian life, and didn't want to see him? As Eugene stared stoically out the window, these fears and anxieties brewed in his mind.
They grew nearer and nearer to Snafu's home and Sledge noticed a slight change of scenery. The view outside the cab's window was now made up primarily of wild swamp land, probably full of alligators and other wildlife. In other circumstances, he would have loved to look at the local birds, but he was here on a mission. To see Snafu.
The car came to a halt outside of a small, white house with a wraparound porch and and bent maple tree in the front yard. It had wide windows with obviously home-made curtains and looked well loved, though in need of a bit of repair. Overall, Sledge thought, it looked surprisingly inviting. He thanked the taxi driver politely, paid him his fee, and stepped out into the bayou.
Struck by the humidity after the comfort of the cab, he wiped the sweat off of his forehead with a handkerchief he kept on his person and trod up the creaky steps of the house and knocked on the old wooden door. Eugene heard footsteps approaching, and that nervous fluttery feeling in his chest he got when he was scared reared it's head; he still didn't know how Snafu would receive him.
To his shock, a young, dark-haired woman with a kind face opened the door. "May I help you?" She asked in a distinct southern accent, smoothing her slightly dusty yellow skirt. "I…. um…." Eugene opened his mouth, but struggled to find words. "Uh… my name is Eugene Sledge, and I knew Merriel Shelton in the war. I had hoped to find him here." He gazed at her expectantly. Immediately, her eyes dropped; the war must be a delicate subject. "O'course. I'm his wife, Gladys" she beckoned him into the house "Come on in."
Sledge entered, and the words rung in his head I'm his wife, Gladys. Snafu had gotten married? The idea was…. simply absurd. He couldn't imagine Snafu marrying at all, and yet here was the evidence, right in front of him, walking with neat, precise footsteps.
Eugene followed Gladys through the house, and drunk in the sights along the way. It was cozy, with warm lights and soft furniture, nothing like his home in Alabama; it was much more lived in than his own house. She led him to the backyard, where he heard the sound of voices and, he noticed, the unmistakable, drawn-out tones of Merriell 'Snafu' Shelton.
He couldn't help but feel a wonderful sense of familiarity at hearing that voice. Snafu was outside with two small boys, who, Sledge noticed right away, looked an awful lot like Shelton. The bigger one had Gladys' dark eyes, but Snafu's erratic curls, and the littler one had Gladys' smooth hair, but Snafu's enormous, multi-coloured eyes. Snafu had the smooth-haired one on his shoulders, and the older one next him. Snafu raised his head at the sound of footsteps, and his eyes immediately zeroed in on Eugene.
"Sledgehamma'…..?" He said carefully, as though he wasn't quite sure Sledge was real, or just his imagination "I thought you was back in Mobile." (Snafu stretched the vowels in Mobile to the point where it was almost comical) He looked for all the world like a deer in headlights, and Sledge half expected him to dart away. But he didn't. His wife (god, that still sounded so strange to Eugene) seemed to sense the terseness of the situation, and called for the boys to "Stop bugging your papa, and come help me with dinner." "Venir, maman!" They chirped, and ran in after her.
The minute they were alone, Sledge smiled uneasily "Hey, Snaf" For a moment, they stood there awkwardly, then he suddenly remembered the Southern propriety that his mother had so resolutely trained him in, and broke the silence "My sincerest apologies on barging in on your home, I do hope you'll forgive me. And how have you been?" Snafu stared at him like he'd grown another head and barked a laugh, as if suddenly regaining his senses. "Sledgehamma, you ain't gotta be so formal, we been through hell and back togetha'" Then he fixed him with a piercing stare, "And what you doin' here, anyway?"
"I…" What was he doing here anyways? Eugene had no reason to go digging up old bones "I'm not really sure." He expected Snafu to smirk or mock him, or do something. But he just stood there, eyeing him restlessly. It was clear to Eugene that Shelton had no clue what to make of him just showing up. They stood there for a good couple of minutes, awkwardly staring at their shoes, when Sledge decided to break the silence with a question that'd been gnawing away at him for months now. "Why did you just leave me on the train? No goodbye, no address, nothing." It's a long time before Snafu responds, but when he does, his voice is uncharacteristically quiet. "I didn't wanna wake you up, you were sleepin'." And he knows that's not it, that isn't the reason, but it's the most he's going to get out of Shelton for now.
"So, what you been doing fo' the past five years?" Snafu asked "You got yourself some pretty little southern belle and a nice, fancy college degree?" Snaf's grinning, his old self again. Sledge thought about how he's spent the last few years really just wallowing in self pity; not that he's lazy, he just can't seem to get over the war. No one else in Mobile has had his same difficulties, really, and no one really seems to understand just what he went through over there.
But maybe now, with Snafu, he'll be able to talk to someone about it. Unlikely; Shelton's never been one to talk about his feelings. "I haven't really done much, I've been doing some birdwatching and a bit of writing here and there, but that's about it." He shrugged uncomfortably, aware of how privileged he must seem to someone like Snafu, who doesn't have the option to sit around all day, sketching birds and drinking iced tea.
Sledge sat perched on the edge of the small, slightly worn, but clean bed. After he and Shelton's somewhat uncomfortable reunion, he had been asked to stay at the house for a while at their home. Snaf's wife (that word still sounded so strange to him) was, for lack of a better term, the blue to his red. She was calm, collected, and quiet; however, she had a quiet stubbornness and fiery way about her that couldn't be denied. She was shorter than Snafu, had big, dark eyes and thick, straight, ink-coloured hair; she was slightly paler than her husband and usually seemed to wear aprons and colourful, but somewhat tired, dresses. While not beautiful, there was definitely something very intriguing about her features.
Sledge had yet to see what the children were like, they hadn't spoken to him, but rather stared at him intensely, much like their father. Eugene felt a dull tinge of sadness at the fact that he and Shelton hadn't picked up right where they left off. It occurred to him that they would probably never be quite so close as they were five years ago; there's nothing like a war to bring people together. Things were different now, Shelton had a wife, kids, and a job at a nearby lumber mill, and Eugene was considering university and was being pressured by his parents to work at the bank. They would likely always be friends, but it would never be the same again. They had new responsibilities, new worries, new expectations, and they couldn't be two twenty-something kids, just trying to get through a war ever again.