Anzio, Italy, 1944
The Italian people were used to us. They didn't stare anymore when we walked down the streets with rifles on our shoulders. Some of them, the ones in the marketplace, gave us dirty looks when we counted our Italian coins to buy their vegetables and fish. But they sold it to us, anyway.
Anderson and I were patrolling the beach. The sailboats in the harbor swayed back and forth on their chains. The sun was setting behind the castles on the hills.
Kids were running around in the sand. They were catching snails, sucking out their insides, and throwing the shells back on the ground.
"Oh my god, they really eat those things?" Anderson said.
He reached down to the sand and caught one. "Dare me to?"
"Yeah, do it."
He put the snail between his lips and sucked. "Oh, shit," he said, spitting and wiping his mouth. "Shit."
I laughed at him and looked down the beach. A girl was running back and forth, barefoot. Her black hair grew down to her waste. Her skirt was blowing in the breeze, and her shirt was too small and tight.
"Look at that," said Anderson.
"She's just a kid," I said. "Sicko."
"Kids don't have those."
He walked towards her, and she looked in our direction. "Ciao," he said, loudly. "I'm John. John."
She looked at him, then at me, and then away.
"What's your no-may?" Anderson asked. "Your no-may."
"Luna," said the girl.
"Luna," he repeated. "My no-may is John. John."
We heard a noise from behind, and we looked towards the water. A strange-looking man had climbed out of a boat and jumped into the waves. He made his way onto the sand, and I wondered why he looked so strange. He was too pale for this part of the world, but there was something else. Then I realized...his hair was white. His skin was old and wrinkled. But he jogged up the beach like a healthy young man.
Just then the girl, Luna, shouted. She ran across the sand and leaped onto the old man. She held something in her hand, like a sword, but made of wood. The man tried to fight, but she stabbed him in his chest. And then, he disappeared.
"What the hell just happened?" Anderson asked.
We stared at the girl, and at the place in the sand where the man should be. Then Luna ran away, into the night.