...
Walking up the stairs inside the schoolhouse, Nora felt her stomach twist with nerves as she neared Captain Sobel's office. It had been an odd start to the day because training was cancelled. Nora found out the training day was already over that morning, upon arriving outside the Nissan huts to meet Lieutenant Welsh. And a few moments later, Sobel sent a runner to bring her to his office inside the schoolhouse. Since Winters was sent to Battalion mess while his court martial was being arranged, Sobel hadn't been running his Company properly. If it was bad before with all the conflict between Sobel and his men, it was ten times worse now. Nora was dreading her meeting with Sobel…
…However, upon entering the Captain's office, she was offered an iced bun and a chair to sit on. Taking the seat and the bun, Nora thanked Sobel and began eating her sweet treat. Sobel sat on the other side of his desk; hands clasped together against the wooden surface with a fake smile spread across his lips.
"The men seem to think I'm too hard on them, Clopper". Sobel began to say, "I'm sure you've heard it all before…".
Nora took a few thoughtful moments to chew on her bite of the iced bun. It was clear Sobel didn't offer her the treat from the goodness of his heart. He wanted information. Nora's mind began developing her own plan. "Sorry, sir?" She asked, faking confusion.
"The men, Clopper…". Sobel tried not to sigh with impatience at having to repeat himself. "They must think I'm too hard on them, right?"
Finishing off her iced bun, Nora licked the leftover ice off her fingers. And then asked, "Do you have any more iced buns, sir?"
"No". Sobel replied, voice sounding bored. He sighed. "Just…tell me, Clopper".
Nora replied, "I don't discuss such matters with the men, sir".
"You don't discuss me at all?" Sobel didn't believe her. "Don't lie to me, Clopper. My ears are constantly burning…".
Nora mentioned, "They are, sir? Have you spoken to the Regimental Doctor?"
Sobel sighed again. He raised his hand, gesturing toward the door. "Get out, Clopper". And with a final sigh, Sobel lowered his hand against the desk. He noticed Nora hadn't moved. Sobel wanted to send the girl a threatening glare, but he frowned instead. "What? What do you want?"
Nora admitted, "I was nervous to see you, sir".
Sobel snorted. "Most are".
"I don't like feeling nervous…". She said, "It makes me sweat and feel sick".
Sobel decided to humour the girl. He had time, seeing as he had cancelled training for the day. "Do you get nervous a lot?"
Nora faintly nodded. "I used to feel it every second of the day, sir…but it's since calmed".
"What made you nervous?"
Nora answered, "Letting my brother down, sir". She said, "Even now. I cannot let him down".
Sobel cleared his throat, clearly uncomfortable with the conversation. He said, "You shouldn't feel so nervous, you're a Paratrooper. I can't afford to have nervous Officers in my Company".
Nora thought that was extremely hypocritical of Sobel to say, seeing as he was often nervous during training exercises. But she bit her tongue and asked, "Why did you cancel training, sir?"
There was a pause. Sobel gathered his thoughts and asked, "Are you close with the NCO's?"
"Not really, sir". Nora replied. "I don't have a lot of friends".
"So, you heard nothing?" It sounded as if Sobel didn't believe her. "You heard nothing at all?"
Nora frowned. "Sir…I don't know what you're talking about".
When Sobel slammed his fist against the desk, Nora almost jumped right out of the chair from fright. His arms were shaking, he was angry. Very angry. "They've conspired against me!" Sobel roared. "All of them!" He continued to yell. "I look like a damn idiot!"
Nora froze on the chair. Her jaw wired shut and she felt her eyes widen slightly. With her heart hammering against her chest, Nora was sure it was about to burst out of her skin. Sobel knew. He knew about the Sergeant's letters to Colonel Sink. With a grunt, Sobel rose to his feet and ventured toward the window. Staring outside, Nora could no longer see his face, but she noticed the man's shoulders slowly beginning to sink. Sitting sideways on the chair, Nora's eyes burned into the back of Sobel's head.
Sobel sighed and uttered quietly, "Just leave, Clopper". He ran a hand down his face. "Get out of my office".
Nora got up from the chair and continued to stare at the back of Sobel's head. Sobel wasn't a terrible leader. He got Easy Company into peak physical condition, and he made sure to push his men hard in order to create the best soldiers. Nora wasn't around for Toccoa or the other camps in America but she could tell Colonel Sink still held Sobel in high regard for his amazing efforts in physical training. If Sink didn't hold Sobel in such high regard, the Colonel would've given Sobel the boot long ago…
"It's hard to watch good men die". Nora said to Sobel quietly. "It's scary to lose them, sir". And Nora thought Sobel might've been scared to lose his men. Maybe that's why Sobel was so nervous and jumpy during field exercises. However, with the way Sobel acted, he was sure to get many of his men killed. Some Officers weren't meant to lead men in combat, Sobel was one of them…
…When the somewhat tense meeting ended, Nora walked into the grassy field where the Nissan huts were kept. With Winters in Battalion mess and Easy Company taking the day off training, Nora had nothing to do.
"Hey, Nora!" Guarnere called Nora over, who was standing with Joe Toye. "Come here a sec!"
Moving away from the Nissan huts, Nora wandered toward the two Sergeants, who both stood close to the gate. They looked relaxed, almost relieved. Both stood with a cigarette hanging from their mouths around a smile. "Hey". She greeted.
"We're headed to the Blue Boar…you in?" Toye asked while giving Nora's hair a ruffle.
She shrugged. "Yeah, okay". Nora had nothing else to do with her day.
Guarnere offered Nora a cigarette, on the off chance she'd accepted. But Guarnere put his smoke away when Nora declined the offer. He asked, "Where was 'ya?"
"With Captain Sobel". Nora replied while walking between the two Sergeants. Unknown to her, both Sergeants shared a look with each other over the top of Nora's head.
"Forget about that asshole". Guarnere said, "We're celebrating".
Nora asked, "What are we celebrating?"
Toye grinned. "None of us got shot".
Nora came to a standstill. When the two men halted, she frowned up at them. "Shot?" She asked, clearly confused.
Guarnere smirked and assured her, "We'll fill 'ya in over a beer".
…
Nora was impressed. The Sergeants from Easy Company saw wrong and decided to make a stand and make it right. It could've cost them their position in Easy, or perhaps their lives, but only two men suffered from their courageous act. Sergeant Ranney was demoted to Private and Sergeant Harris was transferred to another Regiment. Together, the Sergeants wrote a letter and signed it. The contents inside briefly stated they would hand in their stripes if Sobel continued to lead Easy Company. Nora was impressed the Sergeants actually went through with it…
"Will it work?" Nora asked before taking a drink of warm beer.
Toye shrugged. "Guess we'll find out sometime, huh?"
"It'll work". Guarnere sounded confident. "It's a damn good idea. They've 'gotta be idiots if they decide to keep that lump of shit around".
Nora's lips twitched at Guarnere's colourful comment. Setting her pint down, she decided to address another important issue. "And Lieutenant Winters? Did you mention him?"
"No". Toye replied. "But I figure we'd be fine if Sobel goes".
Nora disagreed. "We need Lieutenant Winters". She softly stressed. "You don't understand, I…". She felt safe around him, enjoyed his company and couldn't see going to war without Winters to follow around…
"Jesus, kid". Guarnere snorted, amused. "Are you in love with the fella or something?"
Toye rolled his eyes. "Oh, God…that's just what we fucking need…".
"No". Nora replied with a shake of her head. "He is a lot older than me…Lieutenant Winters is my friend, and I wish to go to combat with my friend".
Toye said, "Don't worry about it, alright? We'll figure it out".
Guarnere smirked, "Nora's probably got a fella back home anyway, Joe…ain't that right, kid?"
Nora huffed out a faint laugh. Lowering her head, she shook it and grabbed a hold of her pint of beer again. "No…I don't". She lightened her voice to joke, "Have you seen my hair? It's very bad".
Both Toye and Guarnere chuckled. Toye assured her, "It'll grow, huh? Hair grows back".
Guarnere said, "You remember that Sergeant, Johnny Martin? The fella that was puking his fucking guts up outside of this joint, Nora?"
"Yeah, a little". Nora replied. "Why?"
Guarnere thumbed his chest. "I was best man at his wedding back in the States…he married a skirt named Patty. Crazy kids got hitched before we've made the damn jump".
Toye shrugged. "A lot of fellas do that, Bill".
"Yeah?" He snorted. "I think it's fucking nuts". Guarnere said, "Anyway…you're what? Seventeen? You've got plenty of time to fall for some dope and get hitched, Nora". He added, "You ain't 'gonna get any pressure from your old Uncle Bill here, that's for sure".
While Nora faintly smiled, Toye peered into Guarnere's glass. "You ain't even finished your damn drink and you're already giving out advice?" He smirked. "Did you finally get your period?"
Guarnere cracked a grin. "Hey…fuck you, Joe".
Smiling small at the two Sergeants' interaction, Nora took another drink of her warm beer. It was quiet inside the Blue Boar, save for a few locals. Mostly old men were sat on stools at the bar, talking amongst each other over a pint of beer. Nora was used to English pubs by now, she was familiar with the repeated setting of old men sitting on stools and talking about the war, football, or how rude the youths of today are. The old complained about how easy Nora's generation had it, but that was far from the truth…
"I miss vodka". Guarnere commented while giving their bucket of warm beer a glare. "I don't think I'll ever like this shit".
"I'm a whiskey man". Toye said, "Irish whiskey".
"That's cause you're Irish". Guarnere placed a cigarette between his lips. "You ever had Limoncella? That's what us Italians drink".
"Nah…I ain't had that, Bill".
…Every generation has its troubles. Nora's generation was unfortunate enough to have a second war. Before that, there was the Spanish flu and the Great War. And before that, was the Irish famine, more war, and the slave trade. No one had it easy. The world was always there to make life difficult. Nora didn't think it would stop after her generation. She was sure more troubles would present themselves, long after she had died…
"What the fuck are you thinking about?" Guarnere gave Nora's side a nudge. "Christ, your heads 'gonna explode with all that thinking, kid".
Blinking out of her thoughts, Nora stared up at Guarnere and cast him a faint smile. Shaking her head, she grabbed a hold of her empty glass and filled it up with warm beer. Nora would keep her thoughts to herself. It wasn't in her nature to burst someone's bubble; it wasn't her place to destroy someone's reality. Everyone had their own reason to fight and keep on living, and Nora would much rather hear that because that was always worth mentioning.
"Did I tell you about Franny?" Guarnere was already pulling a photo out of his jacket pocket to show Nora his girl from back home. "My South Philly diamond…ain't she something?"
Nora looked at the photograph of the young woman dressed in a skirt made from leaves. A smile met Nora's lips. Franny truly was beautiful. With a nod, Nora said, "Very nice, Bill".
"Thanks, kid". Guarnere placed his precious photo back inside his jacket pocket. "'Soon as I get home, I'm 'gonna marry her". He said, "But until then…I'm 'gonna raise Cain".
Nora asked without thinking, "Why did you leave her?"
Guarnere didn't sound mad when he answered Nora, "Someone's 'gotta keep those Kraut bastards from crossing the Atlantic Ocean". He said, "The sooner this shit ends, the safer we're 'gonna be".
Nora admitted quietly, "I'd never leave".
Guarnere shrugged. "Hell, I miss her like crazy sometimes…but I'm 'gonna see her again one day, kid. Once this shit's over, and we put the world back together…we can all go back home. You can't continue to live your life as normal when the world's so damn broken, Nora".
Toye raised his glass, "Amen to that, Bill".
Nora said, "Even if you die…".
"Even if I fucking die, Nora". Guarnere cut her off with a tiny smile. "Us fellas, we like to fix things that are broken, you know? We see a leaking faucet, we're 'gonna fix it…we see a car abandoned on the side of the road, we're 'gonna fix it…we see a short little bastard, with a stupid fucking moustache that's invading other countries…we're 'gonna fix it".
Toye added, "Kill him…we're 'gonna bring him down".
Nora asked, "What about your own country? Doesn't that need fixing?"
Guarnere snorted. "What? And yours is so fucking perfect, kid? No country's perfect".
"No, you're right". Nora said, "But we could all be kinder".
Guarnere rolled his eyes with a smirk and gently ruffled Nora's hair. "You sound like a preacher, Nora…or a Quaker, like Winters".
Nora frowned softly. "A Quaker?"
Toye sighed. "For Christ's sake, Bill…Winters ain't a damn Quaker".
Nora decided to move away from the topic of Winters and whatever a Quaker was. "I already knew about the letter". She said, "I am impressed you went through with it".
Guarnere asked, "Did he question you about it all?"
"I think he wanted to, yeah". Nora said, "But I played dumb".
"Good". Guarnere approved. "You don't 'wanna get sucked into this shit, Nora".
"Yeah…". Casting her a smirk first, Toye then gently clapped the back of Nora's neck. "You keep that head of yours down, kid".
Guarnere stubbed out the end of his cigarette into an ashtray and peered into their bucket of beer. For just the three of them, they had made a large dent into the bucket in such a short space of time. "Christ…we must've been thirsty". He remarked with a tiny snort.
"Not me". Toye said, "You two have done most of the damage".
Guarnere sent Nora a grin. "I never thought I'd meet someone who could drink as fast as me, kid. Expect Nixon – that man can put it away, huh?"
"What about Johnny?" Nora questioned.
Guarnere huffed out a laugh. "The fella gives it his best. But his head always ends up down the toilet after a night out with me". He added, "What 'am saying is…you're always welcome to come out and raise Cain with me, kid".
Toye teased, "Yeah…'cause this is what raising Cain looks like, huh?"
Taking in the quiet scenery around them, their eyes landed on the old men at the bar. The three Paratroopers let out tiny sniggers. It was impossible to raise any sort of Hell in Aldbourne…
Guarnere said, "We'll save Cain for London. You ever been to London, Nora?"
She gave a nod and said, "But not for a night out".
Guarnere promised her, "On our next weekend pass, you're coming to London with your old Uncle Bill and the gang".
Nora smiled small. "Deal". She agreed.