Falling Star Chapter 7- Christmas Day, continued…
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Roseanna had been sitting with Tab for the last thirty minutes, listening to him regale her with stories about Easy Company's time in Europe thus far. She was genuinely captivated by him, this charming sergeant of Easy.
"Fair enough Market Garden failed, but that day we landed in Eindhoven was one of the most incredible ever. The locals were so happy to see us and the celebrations were out of this world. Orange banners everywhere, confetti…they really made us feel welcome,"
"That must have been incredible," she put a hand under her chin to support it as she looked intently into his eyes, mesmerised by his stories. "I'll bet they were so happy to see you, having been under occupation for so long."
"Absolutely," he nodded. "It was really good to meet the local people."
"Were they friendly?"
He squirmed in his seat, coughing slightly. "Very friendly."
Roseanna sighed, stretching her arms out in front of her. As she did, she noticed that a lot of the men were staring at the two of them sitting together. She received a few cheeky winks as she made eye contact. It made her feel instantly uneasy. This probably didn't look very good. She turned back to him. "Well, I should get going. Don't want the other men to get jealous if they see me giving you too much attention."
He put a heart over his chest and laughed. "Aw, you're breakin' my heart leaving like this, but okay…."
She offered him a hand. "It was a pleasure chatting to you, Sergeant Talbert."
"The pleasure…," he took her hand, kissing it. "…was all mine."
Unable to think of anything to reply, she giggled light-headedly as she padded through the snow. She spotted Luz up ahead sitting round the edges of a foxhole with Bill, Perco, Heffron, Martin and… someone she hadn't been introduced to yet. Walking up to then, she dropped down onto an unoccupied space in the circle. I'm back."
She looked back at the wide-toothed grins staring back at her.
"…what?" she asked, nervously.
"No escape now," George laughed, digging her in the ribs. "You've just become Tab's next target."
"His tabget…geddit," Perco said, bursting into a fit of laughter at his own joke.
George stared blankly at him, unimpressed. He pointed to the man in the circle she didn't know. "This is Skip."
"Nice to meet you. It's not like that," she brushed it off instantly, not wanting anyone to get the wrong impression. "He was just being friendly."
"Floyd's friendly alright," Martin laughed, looking over at the amorous soldier in the distance, looking pretty pleased with himself.
Guarnere, sitting next to her, took the opportunity of the others chatting amongst themselves to lean into her, whispering into her ear. "Seriously, be careful. Tab's a good buddy of mine…but he's a flirt with a wandering eye."
"I'll bear that in mind," she smiled dryly at him, putting an appreciative hand on his arm. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Eugene squatting by a tree, staring off into the distance, a tin cup of food hanging from the crook of his index finger. She waved at him to get his attention. "Hey, Eugene!"
Eugene didn't reply, didn't even acknowledge her, just kept staring out into the forest at nothing in particular.
"Doc don't talk much," George said, taking a puff of his cigarette.
"Really?" She asked., furrowing her brow at him. She hadn't gotten that impression of him.
"So why'd you and your sister stop singing together?" Perco asked, taking her attention away from Eugene. "Stepsister, sorry…"
"Um…I went to college for a year," she explained, turning to face him.
"What?!" He raised his eyes, incredulously. "Why?!"
"…I wanted to learn," she said flatly, not understanding why he was so surprised.
"Can you believe that?" Perco looked round at the others. "Why would you want to give up being famous and rubbin' shoulders with all those other stars to go to college with a lot of old regular Joes?"
"You know, being in the public eye isn't all it's cracked up to be, Perconte," she held her hands up in protest. "Sure, I mean it's great performing and, don't get me wrong, there's no bigger rush than being applauded in auditoriums by thousands of people but, as for the rest of it…. Imagine never knowing who to trust, trying to decipher whether someone really wants to be your friend or they just want to know you for the family name Caine, or having to put on a happy face every day cos America isn't ready to have a famous unhappy family."
As she ranted, the foxhole became eerily quiet. She frowned. "I just dampened the mood, didn't I?"
"Little bit," Martin offered her a little smile.
"Yeah!" George said indignantly, laughing. "Now you have to compensate by telling us stories about Lola."
She laughed, rolling her eyes at the thought of discussing that witch. Suddenly her eyes lit up. "Say, I have a story for you. Lola once tried to put the moves on a certain Robert Taylor."
"The guy from Johnny Eager?" Babe piped up.
"The very one," she nodded at him. "He was a guest at my father's annual summer garden party at his mansion in California. He was completely horrified because he's married to Barbara Stanwyck, of course. He just looked at her and said Kid, I don't know what my wife would say about that."
They burst out laughing.
"No way in hell would I reject her," George mused.
"Yeah, me neither," Perco agreed, shaking his head fervently.
Roseanna felt a hand touch her shoulder. She craned her neck round to see Private Vest. She stood up, happy to see him. "Allen!"
"Good to see you again, Miss Caine," he smiled bashfully at her. "Merry Christmas."
"And to you. What do you have there?" she asked, looking out at the envelope he held in his hand.
"It's for you, came the other day but I didn't get a chance to get it to you before now," he said, apologetically.
"For me?" she said, taking it from his hand. Looking at the handwriting on the front, she knew straight away that it was from Annie, her and Lolas' personal assistant. She put it into her bag with a view to reading it later. "Thanks Vest."
She sat down again in the foxhole but no sooner had she done so when she felt another hand on her shoulder. This time she turned round to be staring face to face…with Dick. "oh…"
He looked down at the ground for a moment before looking back up into her eyes. "Colonel Sink's orderly has come to drive you back into town."
"Oh," she said, standing up. As she did, the rest of the men in the foxhole stood up too. As word got round that she was leaving, a soldier ran up to her brandishing a camera and a slightly different uniform from the other. She recognised the insignia on it instantly. He was from the War Advertising Council.
"Mind if I take a picture before you go?" He asked, flashing her a smile.
She assumed that most probably he had been sent out to get pictures that could be used in advertising, for war bonds most likely. Still, she had no problem with a picture being taken and, secretly, would have liked to remember the day that she'd met these men. Nodding at him, he directed the soldiers around her, everyone beaming at the camera as the bright flash went off. And one more.
"Thanks ma'am," he smiled appreciatively at her before slinking off into the distance.
"Well," she slapped her hands off of her sied, sighing. "I suppose this is goodbye for now, Easy Company."
She sadly said her goodbyes to everyone, with special amicable hugs for Luz, Perco, Guarnere, Nix, Heffron, Bull, Liebgott, Skip and a handshake for Martin, who had a wife, after all. As she turned to leave, Tab broke through amongst the crowd. "Leaving so soon?"
"Unfortunately," she smiled at him.
"Well in that kiss," he took her hand, kissing it a final time, generating whoops and cheers from the men. "It was a pleasure to make your acquaintance."
"Well, isn't he a charmer," she clucked her tongue at the crowd, ever the performer. She took her hand back, feeling her cheeks reddening slightly. However, that was nothing compared to the butterflies that flooded her stomach when Dick put a hand on her shoulder. Waving her final goodbyes, she let him lead her towards the truck that she could see parked in the distance.
They walked in stony silence at first, until Dick finally piped up. "Have you had a good day?"
She nodded, merely reply. "Yes."
He stopped a couple of yards from the truck. "Well, here we are."
"Yeah, here we are," she said, looking at the ground. A tension hung between them, as though something needed to be said. Eventually she decided it wasn't going to happen and made her turn towards the truck. Damn it, she wanted to turn round and apologise for the way she'd acted today, telling him that she wasn't sorry for trying to kiss him, that she got goosebumps every time she was near him. "Dick, I…"
"Yes?" He looked up at her, their eyes catching.
She lost her nerve. "Merry Christmas."
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Back in the "safety" of her room, she slumped onto her bed. She had such mixed feelings about the day. On one hand she'd met these amazing, funny, friendly men, and the handsome Tab too. On the other hand, it had made her feel even worse about her situation with Dick, assuring her, unfortunately, that he felt nothing for her. Putting her pillow over her head to shut out the light, she suddenly remembered the letter that she had in her bag. Quickly she reached for it, admiring Annie's meticulous handwriting on the front and the Californian postmark. She ran her fingers over the slightly bashed envelope. As happy as she was to hear from her friend, she couldn't help feeling a little hurt that her first piece of correspondence since being trapped in this warzone hadn't come from her own father. She flipped the envelope over, ripping it open:
Dear Roseanna,
We miss you so much. I'm so, so, so sorry about this mix up that has left you where you are right now. I feel so incredibly guilty. I know how much you were looking forward to Christmas with your grandparents. I can only hope that all of the troops out there are making you feel as at home as possible. Lola says to tell you how sorry she is. She is completely confused as to how this happened, especially, she tells me, as she made sure that she pointed you onto the right jeep that night. She asks if you still have her scarf, by the way. I wanted to tell her how unimportant that is…but, well, you know how she is. Your father is devastated, so much so that he was determined to cancel the annual Caine Family New Years Eve Party, but Lola has convinced him to go ahead with it, convincing him that it's what you would've wanted. I cleared your absence in Iowa with your grandparents. They're worried about you, understandably, but they've asked me to reassure you that they're thinking about you and that they love you. I hope you have as lovely a Christmas as possible, and I'm looking forward to seeing you soon (because I'm hopeful that it will be soon).
All my love,
Annie.
Life goes on, she thought bitterly to herself. Lola had seen to that. She felt annoyed that Annie felt guilty when she'd done nothing wrong. It was Lola's fault that she was here. Furthermore, she was absolutely positive that Lola had had a hand in making sure that Lola felt so guilty.
Stuffing the letter back into her head, Roseanna felt increasingly annoyed. She looked around disdainfully. She couldn't spend the rest of her Christmas Day sitting alone in her room like this. Sighing, she threw on her coat. She'd be better help in the hospital.
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As she went in, her heart went out to the patient, the majority of whom sat glumly in their makeshift cots. This must've been ten times a harder day for them than it was for her. She gave them affectionate pats as she bypassed them, some appreciatively squeezing her arm as she did so. "Chin up, boys."
She made her way to the back of the large hall, where Renée searched aimlessly through a large box. Roseanna knocked lightly on the doorframe, alerting her presence to the nurse. Renée smiled at her, pushing the box to one side and walking over to her. For the first time in their lives, the two girls embraced warmly.
"Merry Christmas," Roseanna said.
"And to you," Renée smiled, motioning for her to take a seat. When they were both seated, she leaned forward to her, intrigued. "Where did you go last night? I saw you leaving with that red-haired officer."
Roseanna frowned, reminded of the memory. "That was Dick."
"He was Dick?" Renée raised her eyebrows. "So what happened?"
Roseanna shook her head and held up a hand. "It was awful. I had too much whiskey to drink…and I tried to kiss him."
"Tried?" Renée furrowed her brow. "He didn't kiss you back."
She looked down. "No, hence the embarrassment."
"That's horrible," Renée looked at her sympathetically, giving her knee a sympathetic pat.
"It was horrible," she nodded her head. "Imagine how much more awful it was to have to spend the day out on the line with him after that."
"You were on the line?" Renée said, her interest piqued. "Did you see Eugene?"
"I did, actually," she smiled devilishly at the nurse. "He seemed a little pre-occupied, though. But more importantly, why do you want to know, huh? I thought you weren't interested."
"I'm not. Don't go thinking that again," Renée replied warningly before her face softened. "He's just seemed a little distracted recently. I suppose I'm a little worried about him.
Roseanna smiled sympathetically at her, moving across to sit on the same crate, putting a reassuring arm around her shoulders. "Don't worry. I'm sure that everything will be-"
BANG. She couldn't finish that sentence as a soldier suddenly burst in screaming for help, carrying a limp soldier in his arms who had blood spurting from his neck and from the entire length of his leg. "HELP! HELP!"
Renée sprang immediately into action, pushing some crates together to make a sort of table. "Put him here!"
The soldier placed the man carefully on top of it. Renée looked him over quickly, checking to find all of his cuts and bruises. Panicked, she began to get ratty. "There aren't even any doctors at the moment! Roseanna! You have to help!"
Roseanna's stomach lurch as she looked at the man on the crates, spurting blood all over the floor. "But…but…I'm not a nurse."
"I know that!" Renée yelled, looking over at her, her face red from the effort she'd already put in on this man. "But you're all I have right now so get over here!"
Roseanna couldn't move, she was rooted to the spot. She couldn't play a part I whether this man lived or died.
"ROSEANNA," Renée shouted again, stamping her foot off of the ground.
That tone did it. Roseanna lunged forward, her head spinning. "What do you need me to do?"
"I need you to stop that blood spurting from the artery in his neck whilst I tend to his leg," Renée rushed out her reply.
Roseanna looked at the blood spurting out of the gash from his neck, horrified. She looked up at the nurse with fear in her eyes. "I can't do that! I can't, I can't, I can't, I can't, I can't, I can't, I can't…"
"ROSEANNA! Shut up and look at me," Renée instructed, snapping the terrified starlet back to reality. "You can do this. Now."
Taking a deep gulp of air, Roseanna put her middle and index fingers into his neck, moving them around until the blood stopped gushing, squealing as she did so. Renée smiled to show that she was doing that right thing, then busily set about tending his leg.
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An hour later, after Renée had managed to clean up his leg and bandage his neck up enough to keep the soldier alive until a proper doctor showed up, which he did ten minutes earlier, Roseanna escaped up the stairs and back into the fresh air, standing just at the entrance to the church. She rested her head against the frame, taking deep breaths of air. That was the single scariest thing she'd been involved in since she'd arrived. A nearby hospital orderly noticed her anguish and offered her a cigarette which she politely declined.
"I thought I'd find you here," Renée said, appearing behind her from the stairs. She stood beside her, folding her arms against the cold. "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine," she nodded, her voice still shaking. "Sorry I was flaky in there."
"That's alright, it's all new to you," Renée nodded, showing she understood. "You did very well though. You should be proud of yourself."
"I didn't really do anything," she shook her head, knowing the nurse was just being polite.
"Roseanna, if you hadn't held that man's artery for me, he would've bled to death before I'd had the chance to even attempt to help him, understand?" Renée reassured.
"Thanks," she smiled, realising just maybe she was right.
"Well feel good about yourself then," Renée warned, laughing.
Despite the fact the nurse was joking, Roseanna did actually feel vaguely proud of what she'd helped to do in there. Maybe that man would live now. She pushed a tendril of hair behind her hair and smiled at Renée. "You know, I think this Christmas Day hasn't actually turned out to be as bad as I…."
She didn't get to finish that sentence, her eyes alerted to the night sky by the sound of planes overhead. She stared at them at first, mesmerised as they flew over the town. So mesmerised was she that she didn't notice people starting to run around her in a blind panic. When she finally did take notice, her entire body pricked with goosebumps (the bad kind of goosebumps). She turned to Renée, panicked. "Are those American?!"
"No," Renée grabbed her arm, roughly, trying to pull her back into the building. "It's the Luftwaffe!"
"It can't be," Roseanna yelled, wanting so desperately not to believe it.
The sound of the first dropping bombs filled the night air with whizzing noises.
"Does that answer your question?" Renée yelled, pulling her arm even more roughly. "We have to move!"
Piercing screams filled the air as the German bombs began to take their evil action upon the population of Bastogne and the US army personnel. No matter how much the nurse pulled on her arm, Roseanna felt rooted to the spot, unable to take in the danger of it all. The dropping of the whizz bombs sounded like fireworks being sent up into the night sky…but these weren't fireworks. Suddenly, they became the targets of German rage as a bomb exploded to the side of the church, shattering the windows and a good chunk of the building, sending both girls flying back through the entrance. It was such an impact that it sent Roseanna flying all the way down the stairs into the main hospital base room. She could feel the pain of every single step that she rolled down. The whole way down the sounds of screams, whizzes, explosions and crying invaded her ears, until she made contact with the cold, hard ground, debris falling in tiny morsels around her. Everything went black.
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