The following morning, Evelyn was shocked awake by reveille. At first she thought the day before had all been a dream and the noise was little Frankie and his toy trumpet, but when she looked around at the other disoriented girls rubbing their eyes, or burrowing back into their cots, she smiled to herself. Jumping out of bed, Evelyn quickly stripped from her pajamas and pulled her rough beige tee shirt over her head, while Lena watched her from her own cot.
"How are you enjoying this?" She asked groggily.
Evelyn just shrugged as she laced up her puttees. A sharp knock came at the door. Most of the girls gasped and covered their bodies with their blankets.
"Rise and shine, ladies! I want to see you in the mess hall in five minutes!" Major Hartley called through the wooden door.
Lena grumbled and pulled off her pajamas while Evelyn made her bed.
"I hope it's not lima beans again." Evelyn said, tucking in her sheet corners. "They're the worst."
Evelyn stared at the off-white mass on her food tray before cautiously poking it with her spoon. The mass blubbed and collapsed.
"I take it back. I'd rather eat lima beans the rest of my life than whatever the hell this is." She said, pushing her tray away from her.
"It's grits and they ain't that bad." A southern accented voice came from behind Evelyn. A tall red headed nurse was standing there, tray in hand. "My name's Jenny. Jenny Murphy. Mind if I sit here?"
Evelyn scooted over on the bench, making enough room for Jenny to set her tray on the table.
"Evelyn Russo, that's Lena Manning. What are grits?" Evelyn and Lena shook Jenny's hand when she was settled.
"Or is it better we don't know?" Lena asked, picking up her coffee cup.
"It's just corn porridge, I grew up on the stuff. When I was little and felling sad about somethin', my momma would whip me up some grits and I'd be happy as a clam again." Jenny smiled.
Evelyn carefully put a spoonful of grits into her mouth.
"Though I do guess it just feels like a mouthful of vomit if you ain't used to 'em."
Evelyn spit her mouthful of grits back into her bowl and pushed her tray away.
"Alright, recruits! Meal time's over!" The booming voice of Sergeant Bellow echoed through the mess hall, which was met by grumbles of disappointment. "In the Marine Corps, you have twenty minutes to eat; not twenty-five and definitely not thirty! So next time, hurry your asses up and eat!"
There was a clamour of dishes as everyone hurried to return their trays of food to the kitchen before falling into sloppy ranks outside the mess hall. Sergeant Bellow paced back and forth in front of them, reminding Evelyn of Lucy the cat stalking mice in the garden. Major Hartley stood a little ways off, observing the scene; he smiled when he caught Evelyn's eye. She, along with half the recruits, jumped when Bellow began speaking again.
"For the next four weeks we will see who of you are Marine material. Ya'll've already gotten your haircuts, medical tests and uniforms; now we'll be testing your strength. This morning we are going to start with a one and a half mile run! Now change into your PT gear! Go! You have five minutes!" Bellow dismissed the recruits.
"One and a half miles?! Is he out of his mind?" Lena asked as they hurried back to their barracks to change.
"I don't think I've ever ran in my life." Evelyn said.
Once they were inside their barracks, the nurses hurried to change, all shyness gone in the pressure to get changed and back to mess hall within five minutes. Evelyn was regretting her choice to wear puttees when she got dressed that morning, as now her fingers were tangled in the laces and she had her shirt unbuttoned and trousers around her knees.
"You make quite the spectacle." Lena said, grabbing one of Evelyn's ankles to help her.
"Well I'm just glad one of us is enjoying themselves." She snapped back, finally free of her clothes.
She threw open her foot locker and grabbed the olive drab shorts, stuffing her other clothes on top and slamming it shut again. Evelyn redressed and retied her boots in record time, grabbing Lena's hand and hurrying back to the mess hall, where they were some of the first there. They fell back into ranks and stood silently, waiting for stragglers. Once the group was reformed, some sliding into place as Bellow counted down the last few seconds of the allotted five minutes, instructions were given.
Circling the centre field of the base, there was a gravel path; this was the quarter mile track the recruits would run.
"It'll be six laps; it don't matter how fast ya finish just as long as ya do finish." Bellow explained.
Evelyn reached for Lena's hand again, instead grabbing the hand of the man that was with them since their swearing in. Evelyn mumbled a string of apologies, quickly withdrawing her hand. The man simply offered her a slanted smile and turned back to Bellow.
"I'm over here." Lena whispered from Evelyn's other side, squeezing her hand.
"All right, recruits, off ya go!" Bellow shouted, and in unison the group began to move.
Some took off running as fast as they could, the rest at a more comfortable jog. As she ran, Evelyn tried to recall everything thing her brother George had said about Marine training. Breathe deeply, he had said, although Evelyn already felt winded and she hadn't even finished one lap. Keep your eye on the prize. What was the prize? she wondered. Not dying on a track on the first day of training? Or more realistically, finishing this lap, then the next, then the next. Evelyn was comforted by Lena puffing away beside her. As they approached the end of the first lap, Evelyn had found a rhythm and felt confident in her ability to finish the run. Halfway through the second lap, however, the muscles in her legs were burning and she had a stitch in her side, but Bellow's constant barking of threats of what would happen if they didn't finish drove her forward. By the end of the fourth lap, the entire group had slowed down; those who had jet off at the start were lying in the grass getting an earful from Bellow. Most of the other nurses had stopped running and were crowded around Hartley; some were crying.
"Kill…me…"Lena panted.
Evelyn's laugh was more like a wheeze.
"Just…two…more." She panted back.
Evelyn's lungs and legs were burning. The stitch in her side had grown across her abdomen, her head was pounding with the rhythm of her feet and she felt like she was going to throw up, but she didn't dare stop; not with Bellow screaming how they'd all be sent back home if they couldn't finish and recalling her mother's words from the night she left "you can forget about ever coming home". It was in that moment, with one lap left, that Evelyn realized she had nowhere else to go. The Marine Corps was her home now and she was going to do everything she could in order to stay. When Bellow called out that they had finished their one and a half mile run, Evelyn and Lena slowed to a stop and collapsed on the grass, breathing hard, with the rest of the recruits.
"Well done, ladies." Major Hartley said kindly, standing over them while Bellow shouted for everyone to get up and form ranks.
Evelyn groaned inwardly and sat up. A hand appeared in her face.
"Here, let me help you up." A winded voice said. Evelyn took the hand and was pulled up to meet the crooked smile of the man whose hand she'd grabbed earlier.
"I'm Bob. Bob Leckie." He said shaking her hand once she was standing.
"Evelyn Russo."
"I'm Lena Manning." Lena cut in, brushing her damp hair out of her face.
"Well, it's nice to meet you both." Bob said as they joined the other recruits awaiting Bellow's next set of orders.