Biting down on her lip, Dallin took in a deep breath.
With the sun beating down on her skin, she took off into a sprint. Dallin felt her bare feet slam against the wooden surface, she could hear her pounding footsteps and her racing heart. Her arms and hands pushed her faster towards the end. And once reaching the end of the line, she jumped into the air.
Soon, her body was engulfed in cool water. Opening her eyes, she could feel the cold sting but could see life before her. Fish rushed away from her floating limps, while she tried to keep her body under the water for that little bit longer. Air bubbles floated up to the surface.
When her lungs needed to breathe, Dallin kicked her legs and swam to the surface.
Letting out the breath she had been holding, she was breathing in fresh air once again. Dallin could feel the water roll down her face. With a smile, she moved onto her back and floated. She could hear Shifty and Kiehn somewhere behind her, laughing and joking around. It was their last day in Clinchco and Shifty wanted to take them to the lake for a refreshing dip in the cool water.
Dallin reached the shore and left the water to join Shifty and Kiehn. Sitting down on a blanket, she wrapped a towel around her body, hoping to gather some heat, while the sun hid behind a thick cloud. Kiehn was sorting out a fishing rod, Mr Powers let him borrow his rod. Grabbing a worm from a can, Kiehn pierced the hook through the worm and got onto his feet;
"I'm 'gonna catch us some lunch".
Shifty grinned;
"good luck, Bill".
Dallin lit up a cigarette and lay down on the blanket. Kiehn had sat himself down on the dock and tossed his line out into the lake, hoping for a good catch. Shifty watched his friend for a few silent moments before he looked down at Dallin. She had her eyes closed because the cloud moved away from the sun and the bright light forced her eyes to shut.
She smoked and Shifty stared at her.
He might have thought Dallin was the most beautiful creation on God's green earth. But things were getting serious and Shifty didn't think it was the best time to tell Dallin how beautiful she was. However, Shifty couldn't deny this connection they shared with each other. He had only ever told Popeye and McClung, that Dallin made his days brighter. Of course, his friends teased him a lot. But Shifty wasn't embarrassed because it wasn't some random girl he liked, it was Dallin. A person he respected an awful lot. He'd be very proud to call Dallin his girl.
Eyes still closed, Dallin mumbled;
"I feel you stare, Shifty".
With a soft smile, Shifty shrugged;
"so?"
Her lips twitched.
"Does that work on every girl?"
Shifty huffed out a tiny laugh.
Shaking his head, he mumbled;
"you think I got a girl here in Clinchco?"
"If you have…you keep her quiet".
Leaning forward, Shifty picked up his pack of cigarettes and brought one out;
"well, I don't". He told her, "you got a fella back in London?"
"No". Dallin mumbled, "no one".
Cigarette between his lips, he flicked on his lighter.
Once his smoke was lit, Shifty looked back down at Dallin;
"ever had a fella?"
She snorted;
"no…Abba had ideas for me".
"He did?"
"Yes…he wanted me to marry good Israelian boy". She mumbled, "a Jew, yes? But Abba knew I wouldn't".
Shifty shrugged;
"mama and dad just wants me to marry a nice girl".
"What is…nice girl?"
Shifty sighed;
"well…I ain't 'gonna say, Dallin".
Eyebrows twitching, she asked;
"why not?"
"I GOT ONE!" Kiehn exclaimed, breaking up their conversation.
Dallin sat up, while Shifty looked over at his friend.
On the end of Kiehn's line, was a fat trout.
He grinned and faced his friends;
"who's ready for lunch, huh?"
While Kiehn and Shifty tended to the trout, Dallin went off in search of firewood. She headed into the woods, picking up dry branches and small twigs. After Kiehn caught the trout, he managed to catch another one. And the three of them decided to spend the night under the stars, right by the lake. They had brought along enough supplies to spend the night outside.
Shifty and Kiehn began to gut out the fish, a task they were both used to and had the stomach for.
"You did good, Bill". Shifty complimented softly, "these here are fine trouts".
Kiehn smiled;
"thanks, Shift. You know, this has been a great week".
"It has". He agreed, "you like it here?"
"Yeah, you got yourself a good little town, Shift". Kiehn mumbled. "Wonder if Dallin went off to grab us some wood 'cause she ain't used to gutting out fish".
Shifty smiled a little;
"well, she never went hunting. Neither did her daddy. They'd buy everything from the store and butchers".
"I didn't do much of hunting either". Kiehn said, "but I loved to fish and chase rabbits".
Shifty smiled;
"hell, so did Lipton. He told me he'd chase rabbits as a boy".
"You camp out here before, Shift?"
"Yeah, with Pete and a few fellas". Shifty told him, "sure is a good spot, huh? Waters fresh too".
Kiehn smiled and looked content;
"I do like it here…really do, Shift".
Twenty minutes later, the three friends were sat by a fire and eating cooked trout. Dallin went for another swim after lunch, while Shifty and Kiehn went out to hunt for a squirrel or two for supper. She swam for around an hour, Shifty and Kiehn were still out hunting. When the sun hid behind some clouds, Dallin decided to get out of the water. Swimming to where she could stand, Dallin, walked to shore.
There came a sudden sharp pain in her foot and Dallin gasped and lifted her leg. Something sharp had pierced into her skin, irritating her flesh. She hopped back to shore and limped towards the fire. Sitting down on a blanket, Dallin wrapped a towel around her and looked at her foot. Sure enough, there was a cut and her foot was bleeding.
"Shit". She whispered.
Dallin lifted her head when she heard Shifty and Kiehn return from their hunting trip with two squirrels. They both seemed happy with their results, especially Kiehn, who had shot his first squirrel. She was glad to see they were going to eat a good supper. And before Shifty could tell the tale of how they hunted down two squirrels, he noticed the blood and the cut on her foot.
Frowning, he put his squirrel down and got on his knees in front of her.
Carefully grabbing her ankle, Shifty took a look at her foot;
"I leave you for an hour, Dallin…and you're all cut up".
"It is fine, Shifty". Dallin assured him quietly.
Sighing, Shifty let go of her ankle and reached into his duffel bag;
"it hurting?"
"Not really".
He brought out a bandage with a tiny smile;
"always come prepared, huh? Sure glad I brought this along".
Before he wrapped the bandage around her food, Shifty gave her cut a good clean. Which hurt at first but soon began to tickle. Dallin laughed and tried to take her foot back. Shifty looked at her, eyebrow raised.
"Now, Dallin…I ain't 'gonna get nothing done with you moving around like that".
She grinned;
"stop tickling me then".
A tiny smirk met his lips;
"I'll try".
Dallin was relieved when her foot was wrapped up in a bandage. And once her foot was safely covered up, she pulled on her shirt and hiked up her trousers. The squirrel meat was cooking nicely above the fire, Shifty knew what he was doing. And supper was ready when it was starting to get dark. There was no turning back now, the friends had to camp outside. Supper was good, Shifty did a fine job at cooking the meat. With their bellies full, warm and happy, they settled down around the fire.
"Ya'll ever heard of the vanishing hitchhiker?" Shifty asked them.
Kiehn sighed;
"take it this is 'gonna be some scary story?"
Smoking his cigarette, Shifty told them;
"this fella was driving along a road, ten-years ago this was. 1933 this happened, you know. So, he's going down a road and see's this old woman stick her thumb out. The fella stops and picks this old looking woman up and she slips into the backseat of the car. The fellas asking where she's going, and she gives him the address. It's way out, you know. He's 'gotta take all sorts of turns and head up narrow dirt paths. He gets lost a few times and the woman's just sitting in the back of his car, giving him directions to her house. It's getting dark but he drives up to this address, you know. And he stops the car and just stares out, eyes as wide as plates. Cause there ain't nothing there but a beat-up house, which was all destroyed from a fire. No one's living in that house. So, the fella turns around to ask this woman if they got the right address but…well, she ain't there no more. It's like she disappeared".
Dallin raised her eyebrow;
"the woman was…ghost, yes?"
Shifty shrugged;
"supposedly".
Kiehn chuckled;
"I bet that guy don't trust no one on the roads now".
Shifty smiled;
"yeah…he probably floors it when he sees someone looking for a ride".
Shaking her head, Dallin mumbled;
"we don't need ghost stories…we already live in horror story".
The smiles fell from Shifty and Kiehn's faces.
After a brief pause of silence, Kiehn asked;
"can you…what's it like out there, Dallin?"
"I do not know what battlefield is like". She said, "just occupied Poland. But the Germans…they turn our country into…very scary place to live. And not just for Jews but for everyone. When we arrive, the Germans were building a place for Jews to live, a ghetto they called it. All Jews had to register themselves and their families in big office. They could no longer own business. And property now because they have other place to live, yes? The ghettos. The worst I saw was on Christmas Eve…Gestapo round up family of Jews and tie them to large pine tree…they light the family on fire".
Their eyes widened.
"Shit…". Shifty whispered.
"Yes". Dallin agreed, very quietly, "I hear them scream, I smell their flesh when it burns off their bones. Gestapo cheer, laugh. They are drunk and enjoy themselves. But I scream into the snow. And I cry…and beg for it to stop. The Gestapo do not hear me. They hear nothing but their own enjoyment".
The three were left in silence.
Kiehn and Shifty, both in a small state of shock, while Dallin's eyes stared into the flames of their own fire, where she could hear the screams and smell the burning flesh. Picking up a stick, Dallin poked at the fire.
"Why?" Kiehn eventually asked, "why did they…do that?"
"Because they can". She whispered, "and they get away with it. They can do anything they want to us. And Germany will be on their side".
Shifty shook his head;
"we should be jumping into Poland".
Dallin huffed;
"nie…they will never jump into my country. It's broken, they don't want to fix it. We are forgotten about, Shifty. No one saves us but our own people will try". With a tiny sigh, she then added, "they will…try to save France. Because France is very important to the allies. They have Paris, yes? Big cities. Lots of money. Poland will be last to be saved. Britain hoped that if Germany had our country, Germans would not attack France or Britain. But they declare war on Germans anyway…and Germans invade France. And Germans bomb allied cities. Poland will be forgotten about until this war ends".
It felt heavy after that conversation. And eventually, they began to drift off. With the blankets wrapped around them, they stayed close to the fire for warmth. Kiehn was the first to fall asleep, he had a few swigs of whiskey to help him along the way. Dallin rolled onto her side and faced Shifty, who was staring up at the clear night's sky. The stars were bright, and the moon was large and round. It was a beautiful night. But instead of admiring the sky, Dallin admired the side of Shifty's face. She felt lucky to be lying next to him.
"Who is nice girl, Shifty?" She asked him again, going back to their conversation earlier.
His lips twitched.
"You". Shifty whispered.
Licking her bottom lip, Dallin tried to hide a smile.
She was very happy that was his answer.
With a stomach filled with butterflies, Dallin closed her eyes.
And fell asleep, with a smile on her face, for the first time in years.
Because she liked Shifty and she liked being around him.
…
After their furlough, the 506th had new orders. They were leaving Fort Bragg and ended up in Camp Shanks, situated in New York, right by the Atlantic. Camp Shanks was had another name; "Last Stop USA". The men were leaving America and they were going to fight the Germans in Europe.
They didn't have to say it, Dallin knew the men were already starting to feel homesick. Even Dallin felt sad to be leaving America, a country she felt safe in and a country where she had met some of the best people in the world.
They spent two weeks in Shanks, going over drills, some PT and target practice. Sobel kept his men sharp with inspections, seeing as there wasn't much else to do. They had hoped for a pass into the city, but they weren't granted. The men were stuck in the camp until they sailed across the Atlantic.
It was strange to think that it had almost been a year since Dallin joined Easy. Or that she now was twenty. Dallin hadn't been home in five years. She wasn't sure if she'd ever see home again. But it didn't seem to bother her as much because she felt so welcomed into Easy Company.
"Sergeant Johnny Martin?"
"Just call me Johnny". Martin said to her, with a tiny grin. "What can I do you for? Your watch broken? I could get you one before we set sail".
They were standing outside the barracks, it was morning. The sky was overcast with rain clouds and the sun remained hidden.
"Word has it…that Lieutenant Winters just came back from Philadelphia with whiskey for the officers". Dallin stated, "how much do I pay you, to get some for us?"
Smiling, Martin told her;
"don't pay me anything, Dallin. I'll get us some whiskey the night before we set sail. How about it? A proper send-off".
Nodding, Dallin shook his hand;
"very well…Johnny".
She didn't question how or who managed to get a hold of a cache of whiskey. Dallin only knew that Johnny Martin was behind it. Because a lot of young men were only just turning twenty-one, they only ever knew the taste and effects of beer. Watching her friends become lightweights in the space of two hours, was amusing at first. But soon enough, she was helping Bull, Toye and a few others break-up fights. And soon after the aggression had worn off, men were hugging the toilets and passing out.
Taking her last swig of whiskey, Dallin handed the bottle to Guarnere.
Shaking her head, she mumbled;
"they drink too much".
Guarnere sighed;
"they just 'wanna forget what they're about to do, Dallin. Can you blame them?"
She shook her head again;
"no…I don't blame the men".
Bringing out her tin, Dallin told him;
"I had dream last night…we were inside village and trapped in a bar. Germans were trying to break into the bar with big tanks and guns. We did not have weapons".
He snorted;
"you know that was a dream, cause there ain't no chance we're going into combat without fucking weapons, Dallin".
Her lips twitched;
"yes…not very realistic dream".
Guarnere looked at her, with a tiny smirk;
"nervous about combat?"
Dallin shook her head;
"no…not nervous. Very strange feelings thinking about combat".
He hummed, with a nod of his head.
Taking another swig of whiskey, Guarnere muttered;
"just let me at those fucking Krauts".
Puffing on her cigarette, Dallin looked at Guarnere and noticed a grin.
With that grin, he asked her;
"seeing as we're heading for the Limey's…what's London like?"
Her lips twitched;
"madhouse, Bill…you will…like it very much".
"What about the girls?"
She huffed;
"well…there is big warehouse, you pay for a girl".
"Shit…really?" Guarnere asked, eyebrow raised.
Dallin nodded;
"yes…do you like snow?"
He pulled a face;
"snow? Like the fucking weather, snow?"
Dallin chuckled.
Shaking her head, she mumbled;
"you are very…young, Bill".
Guarnere handed her the whiskey;
"so, what's fucking snow then?"
Dallin took another swig of whiskey;
"cocaine". She replied, "very used drug…they sell cocaine like cigarettes in London".
He shook his head;
"I ain't touching that shit, Dallin. But I'll pop into that warehouse".
Dallin smiled a little;
"yes…London is very different city, you will find. There are many nightclubs. You will enjoy, I think. If you wish to have wild time".
He nodded slowly;
"we're all for cutting loose before a jump into combat, Dallin".
…
Coffee and doughnuts were handed to the hungover men the next morning before they lined up to board the ship. They wandered around the pier, taking in those precious moments of land before they sailed across the Atlantic. The pier had a strong smell of rope and creosote. Creosote was a dark tar which covered wood, so the saltwater couldn't rot the wood. It was a strong smell, which wasn't sitting well with Shifty. Dallin happened to be walking along the pier with Shifty and Popeye. She was surprised to hear Shifty hadn't been on a ship before or had seen one as large as the SS Samaria.
Dallin tossed her last piece of doughnut to the seagulls.
Popeye warned her;
"they're 'gonna be looking to you for more, Dallin".
Shaking her head, she mumbled;
"I could not finish…".
"What's it like sailing across that wide-open ocean?" Popeye asked.
Dallin suppressed a shiver;
"depends on the weather". She mumbled, "when it is windy…the ship rocks. A lot. It feels like you are going upside down".
Popeye pulled a face;
"that don't sound like fun…but I heard, if you suck on a lemon, it'll make you feel better".
Looking at him, Dallin's eyebrows twitched;
"interesting…".
Shifty suddenly turned very pale and he sprinted towards the side of the pier, hand going over his mouth. He dropped onto his knees, just as Popeye and Dallin finally caught up with him. With a groan, Shifty whispered;
"Dallin…don't look".
Shaking her head, she knelt down beside him, hand going on his back;
"I will stay with you and help".
Shifty didn't get the chance to argue before he was vomiting. Dallin rubbed his back, while Popeye stood behind them as if keeping guard. Her stomach twisted with sympathy while she rubbed his back and watched him get rid of the coffee and doughnuts he had just consumed.
"Poor, bubala". She mumbled sadly, with a frown.
Popeye turned around and looked down at his friend;
"you okay?"
Dallin reached into her pocket and brought out a napkin. She leaned over and wiped the sides of Shifty's mouth as if she was mothering him. He cleared his throat and gave Dallin a tiny smile, before gently taking the napkin off her, to wipe the rest.
"Yeah". Shifty replied to Popeye's question, "maybe I shouldn't have eaten that second doughnut".
"Nah". Popeye said, "it's good to have something in your stomach. Comes up easier that way".
Shifty soon had a canteen pressed to his lips.
Dallin tipped the canteen, so some water poured into his mouth;
"take drink, tak? You will be very sick and thirsty if you don't drink water, Shifty".
Popeye chuckled;
"Dallin's a sweetheart, Shift".
Shifty took a few sips of water and then smiled small after;
"yeah…thank you, Dallin".
By the time Shifty got onto his feet, the 506th was ready to start boarding the ship. Lugging their barrack bags and weapons, they hiked up the gangplank. It was going to take a while to get five thousand odd men onto a ship, that was only meant to carry one thousand. Dallin was given a number, like the rest of the men and was then placed onto the ship. They casually made their way up on deck and leaned against the railings, to wave at the people below on the pier, who were there to see the troopers off.
It was the fifth of September. One year earlier, Dallin would have docked at Boston. She was having a hard time wrapping her head around the fact that one year had gone by. And that it was over a year since she escaped capture.
The people of America saved her.
Dallin's eyes started to tear-up.
She felt a hand on her shoulder and looked up.
"Will you miss home, Uncle Skip?"
With a sad sort of smile, Skip nodded;
"hell of a lot, Dallin". He said, "it's a good thing my family are here with me on this ship, huh?"
Nodding, a tiny smile met her lips.
"Yes…it is".
When the sun began to set, little tugboats strained at the ropes and the ship was towed from her berth. In silence, the men watched, while the ship steamed past the Statue of Liberty. She slowly started to slip by and in time, they would see nothing but open water.
There, they wouldn't see home for a long time.
And some would never see home again.