Chapter 10
(South Philly- Christmas Day, Seven Years Previously )
"Mom, could you pass the potatoes?" My brother, Andy, shouted.
"Yes,
of course Sweetheart," My mother replied happily, searching the
table for the plate and finding it empty. "Who ate the last of the
potatoes?" "Douglas!" My father cried, looking at my
youngest brother, who had a big mound of mash on his plate and was
feeding it all to the dog.
I burst out laughing, but eager to keep the "potato" peace. "Don't worry, we made extra. I'll go get them!"
I walked into the kitchen and started scooping out more mash. Suddenly three quick taps came from the kitchen window.
"Psssst!" A voice sounded.
I walked over and opened it. "James?! Did you climb up the fire escape?"
"Yeah,"
He smiled, proudly. "I had to get away for a bit, dad drank all of
the sherry for the Christmas pudding got really drunk. Mom started
crying and when I left my Grandfather was challenging my dad to a
bare-knuckle fight. I figured that was my cue to leave." "Merry
Christmas, huh?" I said, chucking him on the arm. "You wanna come
eat with us?" "Your parents wouldn't mind?" He asked,
worriedly.
"MOM!" I shouted through to the dining room. "JAMES CLIMBED UP THE FIRE ESCAPE AND HIS FAMILY ARE FIGHTING AGAIN! CAN HE EAT WITH US?"
"Of course!" My mother called. "Hurry up with the potatoes!"
He
climbed into the kitchen, taking the bowl of potatoes from me and
setting it on the table. He presented me with some mistletoe. "Do
me a favour, would ya?" I rolled my eyes. "James, I don't
like you in that way." "So?" He asked, rolling his own
eyes. "I don't like you in that way either. Hell I'd rather be
kissing Cynthia Warner under the mistletoe, as you well know! But
she's going with Adam Hiller. So I'm thinking if she finds out I
kissed someone then she'll get jealous and want me."
I
stared at him incredulously. "There is no logic to that
whatsoever." "What are you talking about?" He asked. "It
totally makes sense!"
"No it doesn't….oh, ok whatever!" I said, giving him a few-second peck on the lips.
"Thank You, I owe you one," He said, taking the potatoes through to the dining room. I followed, pondering the fact that my best friend had just given me my first ever kiss.
………….
I sat alone in my foxhole as the snow pounded down around me on Christmas Morning, reflecting on that particular Christmas day. Everything seemed so much easier back than and everyone was so happy, blissfully unaware of the horrors that the future held for us. I tried to shake of the bitter disappointment of not being able to be with my family, stuffing ourselves with food around the table. Then I felt awful for my parents, having to spend their Christmas Day alone, worrying about their children who were separated and scattered throughout the world in dangerous war zones. These were sentiments that I'm sure all of the other members of Easy were feeling that morning. As they began to emerge from their foxholes, I heard someone sobbing loudly from within their hole, clearly throwing away all embarrassment for whoever might hear him.
"Merry Christmas!" Luz said, attempting to be cheerful as he offered me a hand out of my foxhole.
"Right back at ya," I said, taking his hand and jumping onto the ground.
"Coffee?" He offered, passing me his cup. I took it, gratefully. "So did Santa bring you everything you wanted this year?"
"Geez, I may have been a bad girl this year but whatever happened to just getting a lump of coal in my stocking?" I replied, sarcastically. Luz laughed. "Actually, scratch that. I wish I'd gotten a lump of coal in my stocking…that way I could burn and get some damn heat into my bones!"
"Tell me about it," He sympathised. "I'm kicking myself now for wishing so hard for a White Christmas every year! Give me the sunny tropics, any day!"
……..
The day passed more or less quietly, which in a way made the mood in the camp even worse. Having nothing to do meant more time to think about all of the festivities we were missing out on back home. However this only lasted until dinnertime, when Colonel Sink showed up and told us the story of General McAuliffe responding to a German ultimatum for surrender simply with the word "Nuts!". After this spirits lifted considerably within the camp, a reminder of what we were here fighting for spurring us on.
With this in mind, assuming the night would be quite and attack-free, a few of us found ourselves sitting around in a circle playing Truth or Dare (mature, I know…).
"Ok, Malarkey, Truth or Dare?" Liebgott asked.
"Truth," He replied.
Liebgott thought for a minute. "Okay, I got one. Did you spend any of the money you won at crabs or poker games in 'Lulu's' back in France?"
"Uh…," Malarkey stuttered, looking at the ground.
"I think we can take that a firm "yes"," Babe laughed.
"Urgh Malarkey…can you say "venereal disease"?" I laughed, looking at him disapprovingly.
"Well I'm a man…I have needs," He tried to defend himself.
"You needed a venereal disease?" I asked, jokingly.
"I don't have a venereal disease, Fiona," He replied. "Don't embarrass me…and why aren't any of you guys defending me? I could name a few other names who spent money there!"
"Moving swiftly on…," Liebgott said, rather hurriedly. "Malarkey your turn."
Ok…," He said, scanning the circle and landing his eyes on me menacingly. Payback. "Fiona, truth or dare?"
I sighed. "Truth."
"I'm so damn cold," Lieutenant Welsh interjected, before getting up and walking away. "Fuck it, I'm going to build a fire. I've had enough of not being able to feel my feet!"
"Truth. Ok, now let's think…," Malarkey said, rubbing his chin suggestively, before his eyes lit up. "Okay. Okay I have a good revenge one. Fiona…exactly how far have you gone with good old Sergeant Guarnere over there?"
My face went berry-red. "I…I don't know what you're talking about."
Muck burst out laughing. "Now, not to offend you or anything, as I know you're a lady…but that's total bullshit. It's not exactly a secret that you two like each other and don't think we haven't noticed that you two sleep in each others' foxholes every night."
"That's true. Sometimes I'm only pretending to be asleep and you two get pretty snugly!" Toye backed him up, laughing until Bill, who was sitting next to him, dug him hard in the ribs.
I looked at Bill and then at the ground, embarrassed and not really knowing what to say. "Well, I…"
Suddenly, we were interrupted by shells flying overhead. We all dove for cover. I lay on the ground until I heard Lieutenant Welsh screaming from a few feet away. Scrambling to my feet, I ran over to find him surrounded by Captains Winters and Nixon. I saw he had a bad burn to the leg. Scrambling around in my pack for the necessary equipment, my attention was diverted by the sound of another scream coming from across the camp. I looked over in that direction, worriedly, and then looking back, catching eyes with Captain Winters.
"Go," He ordered me, indicating to the direction of the source of the noise with his eyes. "Roe's coming."
Suddenly I was on my feet, ambling as fast as I could to the other side of the camp where I found a young soldier whose name I didn't know (replacement, probably) with a graze in his arm. I studied it quickly, and realised it was just a light cut.
"It hurts," He sobbed.
"It's okay, it's okay," I comforted him, taking out a sachet of power. "It's just a light wound, should heal in a few days."
I started to tend to his arm, when more shells exploded overhead. I threw myself over the soldier, covering my head as the ground exploded around me. When all was clear, I bandaged him up. I put my pack back on over my head and lay down on the ground, trying to get my breath back…
……………………
After I'd helped the replacement into his foxhole, I trudged wearily back to my own. Lifting up the canopy and climbing in, I was a bit surprised to find Bill there, given the game earlier and everything…. We were silent for a few seconds, both of us looking everywhere else but not at each other.
"Hi," He stated after a while.
"Did you, uh…hear how Welsh is?" I asked.
"I'm not sure. I saw the Doc loading him onto a jeep. I think he'll be okay," He replied.
"Oh," I said. A short silence followed again. "So…why did you come here, Bill?"
"Because we always sleep together," He said, trying to be nonchalant but then realising how it sounded. "I mean…not in that way but…oh, you know what I mean."
"It's just I thought you might feel awkward after the game earlier…you know, with what the other guys asked me," I said, pointedly.
He looked at the ground. "Yeah, those guys. Real kidders."
"I looked at him, almost hurt. He was totally going to dodge the issue. Suddenly I snapped. "What are we doing here, Bill? Are you ever going to kiss me? Or have I, like, totally misread the situation? Because I get the impression that we…"
"…I think about kissing you all the time," He cut in, earnestly, too embarrassed to look into my eyes.
"You…you do?" I asked.
"Yes," He said, looking into my eyes for a second before his eyes went back to the floor. "But it wouldn't be right."
My face fell. "Why not?"
"Fiona, I haven't been straight with you. There's something I need to…," He started, but was cut off by more shelling exploding in the night sky. Instinctively, he through himself over the top of me, covering both of our heads with his arms. I buried my head into his neck as explosion after explosion hit sounded through the air. When it was over, we stayed where we were for a few seconds that seemed like long minutes to me.
I cleared my throat, moving my head away slightly so that I could look him in the eye. I tried to talk, but it only came out in a whisper. "You…you wanted to tell me something?"
"Yeah I have to tell you some-" He wiped a tendril of hair away from my eyes and frowned, sighing. "Fuck it."
Upon saying those words, his mouth came crashing down on top of mine, pulling me into a deep, surging kiss that made me tingle all the way from my head to my toes. We stayed that way all through the night, acting out months worth of repressed passion on each others' lips. Words suddenly became irrelevant, and our lips did all of the talking that needed to be done. Merry Christmas.