Hey again! I thought it was pretty special that I am in the D-Day part of the series, and today marks the 68th Anniversary of the invasion of Normandy… Enjoy!
Chapter Seven-
They were in Upottery Airfield, making the final preparations for the jump. This jump could turn the war around. Everybody was packing every article of supplies they needed. The special thing about the Airborne was that unlike the other forces, the paratroopers were the only things falling was them, so they had to carry everything with them For once it was Joe Toye complaining, and Perconte nicely telling him to shut up. Even though Essie was standing by Guarnere, she could still hear Joe banter.
"Three day supply of K-rations, chocolate bars, Charms candy, powdered coffee, sugar, matches, compass, bayonet, entrenching tool, ammunition, gas mask, musette bag with ammo, my weapon, my .45, canteen, two cartons of smokes, Hawkins mine, two grenades, smoke grenade, Gammon grenade, TNT, THIS bullshit, and a pair of nasty skivvies!"
"Sergeant Talbert!" Vest yelled to the scattering of men. Essie's face lit up at the mention of his name. She had to talk to him before the jump, and if he wasn't going to talk to her she would. She strained her ears to listen to whatever Vest whispered to him. She heard an atrocious word and her face blushed. Esther still wasn't completely used to being around men, and sometimes she was disgusted by them. Vest walked past her as he called for another man. He smiled at her slyly, and she knew what he was so chipper about. Nobody knew they weren't speaking, only the Non-coms. She blushed violently at the thought of even doing anything close to that with Tab.
Guarnere caught her staring at him, and he admired the new pistol he had received from the Kokomo Police. "Baby girl, just go talk to him. You can't jump like this."
Moments later she was leaning against her rucksack beside Bill, who she felt at the moment was her only friend. He was slopping spoonfuls of soupy ice cream into his under bitten mouth.
"Hey, hey! Give me some of that!" Essie playfully pushed Bill and snatched the spoon right from his hand. She began scarfing it down when Luz asked nobody in particular how something worked. He looked around holding it up in the air as if it had a disease. When he met eyes with Esther, she shrugged at him as a white drop dribbled down her chin. Luz giggled at her until a man shoved a paper in all their faces saying, "From Colonel Sink."
"Toniiight, is the niiight of nights…" He got serious towards the end, and the letter was serious. It was the night of nights.
"EASY COMPANY!" A bellowing man standing on a truck called them over. "NO JUMP TONIGHT!" He explained that the English Channel was fogged in, and any flights would result in failure. It was everything they were worried about.
"Shit…" she and Guarnere spat out in unison. They were so prepared, mentally and physically. This was a low blow. She turned around to complain to Bill, but caught eyes with Tab as he stared at her. Essie stood there, mad one second and feeling tears coming the next. She missed him so much. Bill looked at her intently, then glanced behind him; discovering what she was looking at with such sorrow.
"Go talk to him, "he whispered making his breath tickle her face. Esther gulped, not knowing what she should say. The rest of Easy had cleared out and it was only her and Talb standing there. Floyd began walking towards her, but before she could apologize, he grasped her arms and brought his hand to her chin. She looked up at him with tears stinging in her eyes.
"Esther Fusillade, I've missed you. I know why you were upset; I totally understand. We had to do it, and look; now we don't have to jump with him. I wouldn't do anything to potentially make it so I could never see you again. I don't want to loose that face of yours, and I don't want to loose a girl as special as you." Talbert sucked in a breath of the dreary air. She tried to speak, wanting to apologize for her part, but he squeezed her tighter. "Every man in this company wants to marry you for God's sake; you are just that special to each of us. You will never know how terrible I felt for putting 'us' in jeopardy. Please forgive me, Essie."
She stood there, looking at the setting sun trying to digest everything he had just explained. God, it was good to be back in his arms. She realized everything was the way it was supposed to be, even though the jump was canceled; and she tried to lighten the mood.
"I'll only forgive you if you forgive me. I'm so sorry, I was just so terrified at the thought of loosing you. Now, I won't get all mushy like you did." He chuckled and brought her into a hug. She was pressed up against him and her words were muffled. "And, never talk like that again about me, next time I'll melt into a puddle. You are too sweet for your own good."
Talbert non-chelantly slipped his hand over hers, causing her to look over from the movie she had seen a million and one times. Essie smiled at him and he grinned back. He took his free hand and pulled down at his lower lip. She died inside, between having him back at her side and how handsome he was all she could do was lean against him and close her eyes. This was where she was supposed to be.
Talbert shook her whole body as he checked her gear. She looked up with a grimacing expression to find even Bull struggling to move. She was a small 120 pound girl, and even though it was all muscle her body could barley stand with all the weight. She felt as if a breeze swept through, it would knock her over flat on her face. Talbert bent down to check her leg bag, even through it wasn't necessary to do so. He trailed his hand up her leg and up to her back. The simple touch had caused a shiver to go down her aching back. He wrapped both arms around her waist from behind and put his chin on top of her head. Floyd moved his hands and Essie heard a clinging noise. She turned around as fast as her weighed down body would allow to find him removing his dog tags.
"I want you to have a piece of me with you tonight." He placed them delicately around her head, as he tried to dodge all her gear. She held it in her hand, and as she looked up to him she flipped it through her fingers.
"Here, I want you to carry me with you… too." When she reached up to snatch her, her fingers grazed the silver locket. Esther felt sicken than she ever had before. It was finally sinking in for her. No turning back, the real thing was about to take place. Essie felt guilty, she hadn't written to home since she got her Jump Wings. Poor Dixie was probably crushed. Tab looked at her with a worried look.
"You don't have to give them to me if you don't want to…" He thought she was conflicted about two pieces of metal. She grinned at his innocents, but felt sick again when she tried to explain. The memories of her and Dixie, and her an Tab discussing Dixie flooded her emotions.
"Remember my baby sister? I'm gonna miss her, more than I can even explain." Searing tears burnt in the corners of her eyes, and as she tried to hold them back she choked on the rock lodged in her throat. No, she demanded, I have to be strong. I'm being selfish, everybody else her had family too.
Floyd hugged her tightly and she inhaled his pleasant scent once more. This could very well be the last time she would be capable of doing this. How was this happening? She began to doubt herself as she commonly did. They hadn't even left, and she was already a wreck. Tearless sobs began to shake her whole body, gear and all.
"Second platoon…" Winters was calling them over. Talbert helped her to sit down, and she immediately felt better as some of the pressure was released off her shoulders; figuratively and literally.
"Doc Roe is handing out motion sickness pills. Take one now and another 30 minutes after 30 minutes in the air." As Doc Roe handed her the familiar small brown box, she mustered a grin and she got a rare one back. He placed a supportive hand on her back as he made his way to the next man in line.
"… Good luck. God bless you. I will see you in the assembly area." Winters stuck his hand out to every man and helped them up. When he came up to her, he didn't even smile. He nodded his head, noticing her swelled hazel eyes. She groaned at the strength of his uplift.
Talb was directly behind her, as he would throughout the rest of the war. Liebgott and Talb helped her up the small ladder by placing their hands on her rear. She knew it was the only way to get help, but it still made her blush violently. Loosing her objective in her mind, she stumbled on the last step and hit her face against the side of the door. She felt blood begin to run down her small cheek. The pills were beginning to take their toll on her small body. She plopped down on the bench and leaned her head against the siding of the now rumbling plane. Liebgott and Tab sat next to her.
Talb once again sweetly slipped his hand over hers, as Liebgott began to complain about the affect of the pills. As she leaned into Talbert's chest, she whispered, "You have no idea."
Thanks for reading and please review… I live for those things! Onto 'Day of Days'… I'm done with 'Currahee'! :)
