4. Who's Cub?
Once again at the mess our unit ate the slop in silence. But this time it wasn't out of tiredness but out of anger towards each other. I knew that they didn't want to do the mess duty. But I didn't see the problem. Dad had always given us chores around the house from when we started Oakfields at the age of eleven so washing and sweeping up didn't overly bother me. I knew dad could have afforded a cleaner but for some reason dad didn't like unknown people entering the house. I remember when I brought an unannounced friend home when I was ten.
I thought that dad was going to murder him. For some reason Matt never did revisit the house. Matt had always been a nervous boy. I had thought from the way dad was looking at him he was going to wet himself. Dad calmed down when he realised it was my friend. From that moment on I never invited someone without clearing it with dad (or whoever was looking after us at the time first). Mum had just passed I away I thought sadly so I had presumed that it was dad had been grieving in his own way.
But no matter what I had told myself then and now it seemed like dad had something to hide. But I convinced myself that I was wrong. That it was just dad being quirky as Helen liked to call it. But deep down some primal gut instinct told me I was wrong. But what could a banker have to hide? I didn't know and to be perfectly honest I didn't want to know. I wanted my dad to be like everyone else's parents even if at every parents evening I could see quite clearly how different dad was. It was the way he held himself and his eyes I had thought as a child.
While I was deliberating dad the other three members of B unit continued to glare at me. It was just cleaning. But from the way that they were acting it was as though they had been sentenced to torture. We were training to be in the SAS and not delinquent kids who couldn't face punishment. I just rolled my eyes and continued to eat the excuse for food. Then we were done and the other eight units had returned to their barracks. The last to leave was M Unit's red headed leader. But finally he too was gone.
'Dog and I will do the dishes. Bat, Tiger sweep the floor and clean the tables,' ordered Polar Bear gruffly. 'There are brushes and things in the cupboard over there,' Polar Bear pointed.
I just shook my head. I knew he was leader and all but did he have to order us about even when doing clean up duties. But none of us complained about it. Dog and Polar Bear left for the kitchen carrying the forty five metal dishes between them. I then looked around at the Mess Hall. Well mess was certainly right. How could it get so messy? It looked like we had just had a food fight. I sighed this was going to be a long night. Now I understood why no one wanted to be on clean up. I decided to start with the floor and pulled out two brushes.
One of which I handed to Bat. Bat took it in his hand tenderly. The fearful way in which he looked at it made me want to laugh at my team mate. But I didn't no matter how funny it was. It honestly looked like the soldier thought that the brush was going to come alive and eat him. I decided to ignore him and begun at the side closest to the kitchen. It was easy work but after five minutes and Bat still hadn't move I decided to confront him. I turned around to see Bat still observing the brush as though it was going to beat him.
'Come on Bat if we work together we'll be done in half the time and get to the showers,' I said.
'What do I do with it?' Bat asked.
I gawped at him. I knew it was rude but I couldn't help it. Okay I had been to a private school but I wasn't posh. Or at least I didn't think I was. But this was a whole new level that I had never experience before. I knew dad's form of parenting was rather unusual in many ways but we had learned how to look after ourselves. But Bat here obviously hadn't. For crying out loud he didn't even know how to sweep the floor. Had he never done so in the regular army? No wonder he looked so angry when we had ended up on clean up duty.
'You don't know how to sweep the floors?' I asked incredulously.
'No mother and father have servants,' replied Bat a little pompously.
'Did you never have to do the Mess Hall in the regular army?' I asked.
'The others did it for me,' replied Bat.
'Okay,' I sighed. 'You hold onto the brush and sweep not hard. You sweep it all into a big pile. And then sweep into a dustpan. Then tip it into the bin. Easy.'
'Alright,' Bat looked unconvinced.
I sighed and went back to work. But this time I was joined by Bat. After we had finished sweeping the floor I turned to Bat who actually seemed to have done not to bad all things considered. Bat was wearing a proud grin akin to getting knighted. I didn't say anything at this knowing that he had never done any cleaning before. But the tables were still a mess. I went back to cupboard and soaked some cloths in soapy water. I handed one to Bat. This time I didn't just leave him there guessing he would have no idea what to do.
'Do you know how to wipe down tables?' I asked trying not to sound annoyed.
'Not really, no,' muttered Bat.
I sighed once again, 'again it's easy. You just scrub the tables careful to catch any crumbs in the cloth and place it in the bin.'
That man was impossible. He seemed to know a lot about some things like technology but seemed to be failing miserably at simple things like cleaning. How he was going to survive our barracks being inspected I did not know. But leaving thoughts of Bat aside I scrubbed down the tables. After I was done I checked Bat's tables which were done fine. At this moment Polar Bear and Dog exited the kitchen having finished their jobs. Then the sergeant entered. He checked the two rooms and then turned back to us.
'B unit dismissed,' he ordered.
'Yes sergeant,' the four soldiers said.
We then headed out of the barracks in silence. I was thinking about how I would possibly confront Polar Bear about the mysterious Cub so didn't say anything. Dog and Bat were speaking about musical choices. It seemed they both liked Carbon Leaf and had both been to see him at Wembley. That left Polar Bear at the front and I trailing behind the other two. I was exhausted! If this was the first day of training I had no idea how I would last the fourteen weeks of training. We were heading to the showers.
Once at the showers we realised that everyone else had finished and was back in the barracks. So we had the showers to ourselves. They were cold. Nobody had seen fit to include hot water in the base. I felt the mud coating my body being washed from by body. I realised that I wasn't the only one who had scars. I only had a few old burns on my arms practically nothing compared to Polar Bear who seemed to be nothing but scars; burns and knife wounds. I wondered if that was why he was so gruff and unapproachable.
'What happened to you?' demanded the medic.
'F*** off,' growled Polar Bear.
'I'm your medic,' retorted Dog.
'You're not trained,' snarled Polar Bear.
'I've got a degree in medicine and I've been on the field for a few years,' Dog sounded outraged.
'Not SAS,' growled Polar Bear.
'That's not the point,' retorted the medic. 'What if something happened?'
'We're not on the field yet,' snapped Polar Bear.
'What about here?' demanded Dog.
'The infirmary has my medical files,' snapped Polar Bear.
Polar then grabbed a towel drying himself quickly and pulling on his white vest top and combats stormed off. The three unit members in their twenties stared after him before exchanging looks. I could see that Dog was seething. That was when I noticed a bullet wound on his right calf. It seemed that Bat was the only one who had not managed to get himself injured at some point in the course of their service. There was no more talking and soon they were back in the barracks. I was just in my boxers and white shirt as that seemed to be the best thing to sleep in.
Dog and Bat weren't yet in the bed where they were playing cards. Polar Bear was reading the SAS manual but seemed to be fuming at them. I was in the bed under the covers. I had to say I missed my bed at home. It was had a hard mattress and scratchy, bug infested bed clothes. But I knew better than to complain to my superior. I decided while Dog and Bat were busy to attempt to make conversation with Polar Bear. I knew that getting anything out of Polar Bear considering his mood and disposition was going to be difficult if not impossible.
'He was just trying to help,' I said quietly. 'He's been hurt too.'
'Newbie,' snorted Polar Bear.
'He's got a gunshot wound in his leg,' I said.
Polar Bear didn't say anything but I knew he had heard me. I supposed he couldn't think of anything to say to that. The old proverb was "if you can't say something nice, don't say anything" had somehow been turned around in Polar Bear's mind. So now it read if you can say something nice, don't say anything. And he obviously had no way to make it sound bad about Dog. I wondered again what had happened to make Polar Bear like this. Where had he got all those scars? What had he seen?
'Who's Cub?' I asked.
'What's it to do with you?' demanded Polar Bear.
'Nothing,' I frowned, 'just seems familiar that's all.'
Polar Bear seemed to be scrutinising him before he finally said, 'nobody knows.'
'But you know something?' I asked hopefully.
'No facts,' growled Polar Bear.
'What do you know?' I asked.
'Rumours,' growled Polar Bear.
'Which are?' I prompted.
'Why are you so interested?' demanded Polar Bear.
'The sergeant said I fought like him. I wanted to know if it was a good thing or not,' I admitted.
Polar Bear gave a harsh life, 'good?' demanded Polar Bear. 'It's more than good. It's a bloody amazing thing to be told.'
'Really?' I asked.
'Cub is the stuff of legends,' growled Polar Bear.
'How come?' I asked when Polar Bear didn't elaborate.
'They say he was really young when he first came,' Polar Bear said simply not expanding.
'How young?' I prompted
'Like sixteen or something,' Polar Bear growled. 'Mind you it was about thirty years ago.'
'And people still talk about him?' I asked.
'The sergeant trained with him,' growled Polar Bear.
'He must have been good to have earned the sergeant's approval,' I commented.
'I've heard he's better than the sergeant,' growled Polar Bear.
'Better?' I squeaked.
Polar Bear just grunted.
'Where is he now?' I asked.
'Spy,' grunted Polar Bear.
'Good?' I asked.
'Best,' grunted Polar Bear.
'Wow,' I breathed. 'Have you ever met him?' I asked.
'Last time I was here…' then he trailed off.
He obviously did not want to admit to being here before. I presumed it was because he had failed last time. I let the matter slide not wanting to alienate my Unit Leader. I looked at Dog and Bat. Dog seemed to be unaware of our conversation but I could tell that Bat was listening to everything. I glanced at Polar Bear who was looking at Bat and Dog. It seemed he too had realised that Bat had heard what he had said. I could see that Polar Bear wasn't happy about this. But I still tried to get more out of him.
'What was he like?' I asked.
Polar didn't answer. It was obvious that the conversation was over. I sighed. I would have to listen and see if anyone else knew anything about this Cub person. He must be good. Better than the sergeant. And the sergeant had said I fought like him. This made me very happy. I could feel a smile tugging at my lips as I lay down and fell to sleep with dreams on teenaged spies. I couldn't help but wonder what that would be like. But I decided I'd prefer to have a childhood first before devoting my life to war.