Part Two

He wakes in the morning to George snoring in his ear and snow falling softly on his face. He has no idea what time it is, but is able to discern a slight lightening of the clouds overhead; dawn must be near.

Yawning, he shifts a little bit trying to stretch without waking George.

"Another day," he thinks. "Wonder how many more like it we'll have to suffer through."

It's tempting to go back asleep as he's fairly certain there are very few others up, perhaps just Lipton and Winters making their rounds, most others still drifting in the sweet clutches of their dreams. However, he could feel himself becoming too restless to stay still and with a sigh, realized he was up for the day with nothing to do but watch the line. And think some more.

He really wasn't sure which was the worse choice, but at least thinking took his mind off being cold.

Thinking back to when they'd jumped into Holland, he couldn't help but marvel at how far they had come since then. Hell, he'd never even expected to live this long, though he was certainly glad he had.

He remembered the evening after they came through Eindhoven; how he and Webster had settled down against a haystack in some farmer's field, relieved they weren't being shot at for the moment. He'd been close to Webster, had considered the man one of his best friends in the company, which was why when he'd been wounded and evacuated to a hospital he'd felt a little lost.

It wasn't as if he didn't get along with others in Easy, that was far from the case. It was just that men had formed certain groups within the company which had existed for months and months on end. For example, there was hardly a time when one saw Muck without Skip, Guarnere without Babe, Winters without Nixon…the list went on and on. And for a while, it was he and Webster who'd had the closest friendship, unlikely as it may have seemed.

Webster had fascinated him right from the beginning for some unknown reason. He appeared to be so sure of himself without coming off as cocky. And he was smart, too. Janovec could listen for hours on end while Webster discussed the merits and downfalls of the great modern wirters. And even though Janovec had never done a great deal of reading outside of what the teachers at his high school had made him do, he was captivated; he felt as if some of Webster's intelligence and charisma was rubbing off on him, a feeling which made him quite happy.

Boy, how he missed those long talks now. He could only imagine what Webster would have to say about their current situation; in fact, it brought a slight smile to his lips even thinking about it. And for something to make him smile in a time like this, you know it had to have been good.

He'd never thought of himself as the type cut out for any fancy schooling, but hanging around Webster had forced him to reexamine that notion. In fact, when he made it back home, he may just take some of the money he'd been saving and take a class or two at the state college, just to see what it was like. Just to say he'd done it. The more he thought about it, the more the idea appealed to him, and he found himself actually having something after the war to look forward to.

Luz sifted against him once more, mumbling something about General Taylor and three days in his sleep.

He heard someone approaching their position and twisted to the left to better see who it was.

"Hey, boy, how're doing?"

It was Lipton, right on time, making his morning rounds, checking on all the men, making sure they'd made it through the night okay.

"I'm alright, Sarge. Just sittin' and thinkin'."

Lipton smiled at him.

"Not a bad thing to be doing, Janovec. Hell of a sight better than waiting for the Krauts to do something."

"You can say that again, Sarge," he replied.

"Well, you be careful now and keep an eye out. Wiggle your toes, too. As much as Doc would probably love to have a case not involving blood, I doubt he wants any more patients at the moment, so stay on his good side."

"You got it," he nodded.

"Alright then. Watch out."

"See ya, Sarge," he called as Lipton moved on down the line.

He didn't know how Lipton managed to do what he did; how he managed to keep up the morale of the men in light of such terrible conditions. But, somehow, he managed to do so.

Now Lieutenant Dike, on the other hand, was an entirely different matter. Just thinking about the officer filled him with conflicting emotions of anger and amusement. The man's inability to effectively lead those under him, his inability to make decisions, and his blatant display of indifference when it came to the well being of his soldiers were all reasons Janovec had no real respect for the man. However, it was pretty funny to watch him wander about the company, issuing orders here and there thinking he was important, only to be ignored by the NCO's who never let on what they were doing. Yeah, they were doing alright, even with Dike as their CO. Still, he couldn't help but miss having Winters as Easy's commander; with him you always felt like you'd make it through alright, that he wouldn't put you in harms way without a real good reason.

Geez, he thought, I'm turning into Webster. Should write all this stuff down, might make a good story someday.