I am so unhappy with this chapter. Like i kind of hate it. but i've been having major writers block lately so i just had to get this out there.
Thank you for your reviews and follows and favorites, they make me very happy on this inside.
We were staying in Aldbourne, England. The higher-ups had us run through countless training exercises in preparation for the war.
England was nice in September. In fact, I was admiring the weather when I fell. The fall was only a few feet down the stairs, but it was enough to make my knee turn in a way that knees should not turn. Luckily for me, Malarkey was walking by and saw me lying on the ground like a sack of potatoes.
"Christ, Jo, how did ya manage that?" He asked, pointing to my knee.
"Fell down these here stairs, you know, with my usual clumsiness. Will you help me up?"
"Yeah let's get you to Doc Roe."
"Looks like you dislocated it, might have torn somethin', can't really tell. I'm gonna have to pop it back into place."
I grimaced, awaiting the pain that would come. I tried to not scream, instead i dug my teeth into my tongue, drawing a bit of blood. It had hurt. A lot.
"Alright, I'm gonna put a splint on it. You're not to do anything for a couple days, and after that I want you to keep the splint on and take it easy."
As it were, my injury prevented me from being on the marvelous field exercise George Luz called "The Day of the Lost Captain." Except he was lost all the time, so this could apply to many different days.
"And he starts patting himself down and turned in a circle like a dog chasing its tail looking for his wire cutters." George was telling me the story from my bed in the makeshift hospital. "And then we finally get to the crossroad and Sobel's screaming 'HI-YO SILVER!' and Winters just had this look, you should have been there, Jo."
"I wish I was Luz, I wish I was. Being stuck here is so boring and pointless, I'd rather be training with you guys. "
"Nah, wouldn't want you hurting yourself even more. I gotta go, don't want to miss chow. When's Roe letting you out?"
"Well, it's been two days, so I'm breaking out tomorrow, whether he likes it or not." I gave George a wink as he patted my shoulder goodbye.
Doc Roe obviously realized my frustration and let me out later that night. It hurt to walk, and it was impossible to run, but I was tired of feeling useless.
The training continued. Marches, hand-to-hand combat lessons, classroom lessons, you name it, we did it. I ran despite the excruciating pain and warning looks from Roe. A few weeks passed before we heard really bad news. I mean really bad.
"We lost Winters to Battalion Mess." Ranney came in with the news.
"You're shitting me." This came from Tab. I was hanging out with the NCOs in their barn, which technically I wasn't allowed into, but nobody cared.
"Private Sobel?" Evans ventured in.
"Yes Sir."
"Captain Sobel wishes to speak to you." I nodded and watched Evans leave.
"Shit," I muttered under my breath. I nodded a goodbye as the others continued their conversation about Winters.
I entered the Company Office, "Sir?" At Captain Sobel's nod I entered the room.
"Private, I'm noticing that you are acting too comfortable with the men." He said, not even looking up from his paperwork.
"I don't understand sir."
"Private, I believe that you are distracting the men from their duty."
"Permission to speak, sir?"
"Denied." I tried not to show my anger and discomfort. "There is a wonderful opportunity for you to join the Women's Army Corps as a Lieutenant. I think you will be better suited there."
"Sir, no disrespect sir, but I've already trained with Easy Company and the 506th. I see no reason to switch to the WAC when I've already undergone training here. I'm a part of this company, sir, and I've earned my jump wings already." I tried to convince him not to transfer me.
"Your behavior is of concern here, not your training, Private."
"To be frank sir, I'd rather be Court Martialed for my behavior than transferred to the Women's Corps."
"So be it."
"Jesus Christ, Bill, why the hell did you do that?" Bill and the others had just come back from Colonel Sink's office.
"I will not follow Captain Sobel into combat!" He replied.
"Yeah well he could have had y'all shot, you know that?"
"But he didn't, and if he had it would have been worth it. Sobel would have gotten us killed anyway, Jo." I just sighed.
"So what's this I hear about a Court Martial, Jo?" Lieutenant Nixon walked in.
"Oh, Sobel thought my behavior around the men was inappropriate, so so he wanted to transfer me to the WAC but I refused, saying I'd prefer to be Court Martialed due to my behavior."
"Damn Jo, now we might lose Winters and you!" This came from Malarkey, who like me, had snuck into the NCO's barn and was playing cards with Lipton and Tab.
"Well he has no grounds to Court Martial me on, I mean, I hang out with you guys, but it's never been anything inappropriate."
"Yeah well, watch yourself, ok?" Nixon added, ducking back out of the barn.
About a week later the best news we had had in a while came in.
"Sobel's been transferred!" Lieb came into the barracks where I was reading Huckleberry Finn again. There was only a few of us in there, but the celebrating was rambunctious non-the-less.
Muck and Penkala threw up the cards they were playing with, some sort of mock confetti. Lieb and George gave me a giant bear hug, and as I looked around, the others were celebrating in their own special ways.
"What the hell happened here?" Nixon, who was known for popping up in random places walked in.
"We just heard that Sobel was transferred, Nix!" I told him.
"Ohhhh…. Well don't get too excited, we're moving out soon."