by Mac Hyman
So then it looked like they was all going to make a break for it, but I managed to stop them all right, though. I grabbed the first one that got to the door by the shoulder and swung him around and busted him a pretty good one, harder than I meant to, so that he kind of sailed across the room and banged up against the wall and slid down and set there for a while. And about that time one of them climbed on my back so that I just jumped up in the air and come down on top of him and heered all the air gush out of him, and then I seen old Irvin getting back up again. So I stepped past the others real quick and swung one at his jaw, but not as hard as I had the other one because I didnt want him to be just laying there the whole time; he went backward and flipped over one of the bowls and ended up in pretty much the same position he had the first time.
So after that everybody joined in just as spunky as you could ask and it turned out to be a pretty good fight after all. I went around with the others a little bit and finally hemmed a couple of them up in the corner and acted like I was going to hit one that had his face covered up with his hands, but dodged aside and hit the other one instead, and then had to chase the other one for the door again. I grabbed him by the foot and give it a snatch and he went up and banged down on his stomach and I picked him up and tried to see how far I could chunk him and managed to hit the wall on the other side of the room. But that busted one of the mirrors and made a good bit of noise, and things kind of dwindled off a bit after that. Irvin got up one more time before it was over and then another fellow got up, but there warnt much else to it, except for Lucky over in the corner and little Ben had him all by himself. He was setting right astraddle of him and was doing pretty good, so I didnt bother with it none. I set down and rolled a cigarette and smoked it until Ben had finished up with Lucky, and then both of us set around waiting for them to get up again. Little ole Ben was kind of prancing around all that time too, doing his fist in and out and taking deep breaths and things, and he had this big grin on his face, so it did make me feel a lot better. I said, “How you doing, Ben?”
And he kind of flexed his muscles, or what he had of them, and said, “Fine. Fine,” and it really made me feel good to watch it. It had been a lot of trouble and some of them might be mad with me for a few days, and the place was a mess with cards and glass and cigarettes and matches all over the floor, but it seemed like it was worth it. Ben was prancing around like he was a new man; he was just as proud as he could be and strutted around like a little bantam rooster.
Anyhow, we set around for them to get up and then opened the door and let them all go to bed, all except Irvin who still hadnt come to real good. I told a couple of them to go back and help him along, but they warnt quite up to it, so me and Ben finally had to do it ourselves. Ben warnt able to handle much more than one foot, but he done a good job with that, and we got him to bed all right. We tucked him in and then got in bed ourselves, and I felt real comfortable and a lot better, and knowed I would sleep pretty good. I hadnt had no exercise to speak of for the last day or two and it was right good to feel wore out for a change. I turned over and guess I was asleep in four or five seconds at the outside.
7
Anyhow, it turned out that everybody was pretty nice the next morning, and not really mad at all. I got up early, before Ben did, and went down to the latrine, and there was several of them in there and they acted real polite to me. They was kind of shy at first, though. When I first come in, this fellow stopped shaving and stared at me, and I nodded “Good morning,” but he just stood there with the razor in his hand and his mouth open. So I reached up to give him a pat on the back to be friendly, but time I got my arm up, he give a jump and ducked his head and dived past me, rolling up in the corner and setting there with the soap still on his face, holding onto the razor. So I seen he was right shy and eased back away from him and stepped over to one of the bowls to wash up, but then I seen this rag already there and this fat fellow by the name of Pete standing there watching me, and I said, “Oh, was this one yourn? I didnt mean to take it.”
And he jumped and said, “You go ahead. I aint in any hurry.”
“No, I’ll wait until you finish.”
“I aint in any hurry,” he said.
But I stepped back and let him go ahead, and he acted mighty nice about it. He didnt take long at all, only leaned over and splashed some water on his face and grabbed up his stuff real quick and said, “There you go. I’m all done. Thanks a lot.”
“Much obliged to you,” I said.
So they all acted real shy and polite like that, and as friendly as you could ask. One time I mentioned something about the cards all over the floor, and before I got it half out of my mouth, there was four of them scurrying around and picking them up and straightening up the place.
Anyhow, I went ahead washing and begun whistling a little bit, and after a while some of the others sidled up next to me and took to washing too; and then I finished and went back to get Ben up. But he seemed to be sleeping mighty hard and when I shook him, he only grunted and didnt move. So I decided to let him rest a little longer and went over to get Irvin up; and when I got over there, I seen he didnt look so good. The side of his face was about the color of coal dust and his lip was swoll up a pretty good bit, but I knowed he would feel better if he got something to eat, so I shook him until his eyes opened. I said, “You best get up, Irvin, or you might miss breakfast,” and for a minute there, I thought he was right mad with me because he just kept staring at me, and then give a little moan and closed his eyes up real tight and wouldnt even look at me except to peep out of the corner every once in a while. He didnt move until I had gone back over to get Ben up, and then he got up right quick and headed for the latrine, going right fast.
Anyhow, I kept shaking Ben and telling him he was going to be late for breakfast, but he only grunted at me. I shook him and said, “Come on, Ben. The chicken’s done crowed and wants to water,” and then he opened his eyes and frowned a little bit and kind of looked toward the ceiling.
“Come on,” I said, because he didnt make any move to get up, just kept laying there.
“What’s the matter with you?” I asked, because then I started getting worried one of them had hurt him last night. “We got to get going. It’s late.”
And then he rolled his head over and pushed back the covers and set up, his eyes kind of blank-looking and his hair hanging down in his face, and said, “All right. All right, I’m getting up,” and climbed out of the bed without saying another word to me.
And it kind of bothered me the way he acted—the thing was, Ben warnt usually slow-moving like that. I mean usually he was running around polishing things and straightening things, so it didnt seem natural to him. He clumb out of the bed and begun putting on his shoes, moving as slow as I ever seen him; and then stood there on one foot wobbling as he put on his pants; and then picked up his soap and towel and headed back for the latrine, just kind of dragging himself along.
And he stayed back there until we was already outside getting lined up ready to go for breakfast. I kept watching the door waiting for him until I got right fidgety about it; so finally I went back inside to get him, and when I got there, he was standing back by his bunk, putting on his shirt like he had all the time in the world.
“Boy, we better get going if you want some breakfast,” I told him. “I never seen you so slow.”
He kept putting on his shirt, buttoning it up one little button at the time. Then he yawned and said, “I didnt sleep much last night.”
“I slept good,” I said. “I aint slept so good in a long time.”
“I did too at first, but then I waked up and got to thinking and didnt go back to sleep for a while.”
“You did?” I said. “How come you done that?”
“I dont know,” he said. “I just did.” Then he was about ready to say something else, but we heered them outside ready to march off about that time, and we had to start running to catch up with them.
Anyhow, we had a
good breakfast and I et more than I had in a long time. I et what they give me and then Irvin couldnt do nothing but drink his coffee on account of his jaw, and I et his, and then I et some of Lucky’s too that he couldnt get down, so I had a pretty good breakfast for a change. But Ben didnt hardly eat a thing. He just picked at it with his fork and busted the yellow of his egg and stirred his coffee a lot, and all the time kept staring at his plate like it made him mad even to be there. And in a minute, he got up and took his tray and left the mess hall without saying a word to me, and went back to the barracks all by himself.
And when I got back, he was laying up in the bunk staring at the ceiling again. So I set down and didnt bother him none about it; but after a while it begun to grind at me, and when everybody had gone down to the orderly room to sign some papers, I lit a cigarette and puffed on it a bit, and then I asked him straight out what it was that was bothering him.
He kind of twisted around and said, “It aint nothing. I just didnt get much sleep.”
“Did any of them hurt you last night?”
“No. No, it aint that . . . It’s . . .” But then he just said, “Awww . . .” and turned his head the other way. So I waited a bit, and then he set up real quick and looked at me and said, “Will, you shouldnt have done it. You shouldnt . . .” and then stopped again, and said, “Awww . . .” and laid back down again.
“What? I shouldnt have done what?” But he kept shaking his head back and forth. “What is it I shouldnt have done, Ben? You just tell me, I’ll . . .”
“It aint no use. It warnt your fault.”
“I bet it was, too. I bet it was all my fault. What is it, Ben?”
“You wouldnt understand. It warnt your fault because you just didnt know any better and I didnt help none. I didnt . . . Awwww . . .”
“You tell me, Ben,” I said. “I’ll fix it. You tell me.”
“Awww . . .” he said. “You . . .” and then he bounced up again and slapped his hand on the bed and said, “Dog it, Will. Dog it,” which sounded pretty powerful coming from Ben and made me jump. He said, “Dog it, Will, it might have messed up everything. Here I done come up here and kept my mouth shut and aint done a thing to nobody, and then I figgered that you and me . . . well, I didnt have no right to think it, but I thought you might be willing and I got bad eyes and thought I had it all fixed up and now . . . Will, they are bound to hear about it. They are just bound to.”
“They what? Who?”
“Somebody’s bound to tell them about last night and then what? Then what? You think they want folks in the Infantry that acts like that, Will. No sir, they dont want to have anything to do with them. They want folks what can take it and keep their mouths shut, the way a man ought to do. Oh, it warnt your fault. I done just like you did, once it got started. But it warnt right, Will, it warnt . . . A soldier dont do things like that, Will. A soldier . . . you see, a soldier, well, he dont have to go around getting in little fusses in latrines with anybody that comes along cause he just got off the battlefield where there’s real fighting and what does he care about some little ole fight in a latrine when . . . See, that kind of thing’s peanuts to him, Will, cause he’s just been on the battlefield and he dont have to go around strutting and fussing . . . Dont you see, Will?”
“Well, not quite,” I said. “We aint been on no . . .”
“Awww, I knowed you wouldnt understand,” Ben said. “But just listen now, Will, and try. You see, they dont want little folks like that in the Infantry, and I . . . Listen, my great-grandpa was under Stonewall Jackson in the Battle of Chancellorsville and he even knowed him and Stonewall give him a medal one time that I still got at home, and his brother was with Forrest, and my Dad, Will, my Dad was in the Rainbow Division, and I had two brothers in the last war and all of them was in the Infantry, and now suppose I dont make it because of last night. They dont want soldiers what blow up like that, you see? Now a sailor can come in in his little ole white pants and fight in latrines and act real little, but he hadnt just come off no battlefield, Will; and a man in the Air Force, he aint been right down in it and it dont make no difference with him, but a soldier, a real honest Infantry soldier that’s been in real fighting on the battlefield . . . Look, Will, you see what I mean? You see?”
“Kind of,” I said. “Except this about the battlefield, Ben . . . That dont make right good sense to me because . . .”
“I knowed you wouldnt understand. Dog it, listen, Will. Listen,” and he leaned way over and looked at me and said, “They might put us in the navy and we’d have to wear them little white uniforms, or they might even put us in the Coast Guard or the Air Force . . . Will, do you know what they call men in the Air Force?”
“No, I dont think I heered say.”
“They call ’em . . .” and he waited a minute and kind of twisted his face and said, “They call ’em airmen. By dog, Will, dont you see? How’d you like to be called an airman?”
“By God, I just dont think I’d stand for it . . .”
“You’d have to!” Ben said. “That’s what you would be!” He was leaning so far over the side of the bed by that time that he might near fell off and caught himself just in time, but that kind of quieted him down a little bit. He set back and said, “That’s what I mean, Will. They’re bound to hear about what happened last night, and we wont get in the Infantry at all. One of them will let it slip and then . . .”
“No, they wont, Ben. If one of them says anything, I’ll take him back and whomp him good and . . .”
“Now there you go again, Will! Didnt I just tell you? Besides that, it might be somebody else and they might have already told, because there was a whole barracks full of them that know it by now. There aint nothing that you can do and there aint nothing I can do. We’ll just have to wait and see.”
“Well, I dont think they will. I wouldnt worry about it none.”
“Well, I just want you to know one thing. I aint blaming you for it because I was in it just as much as you was. But it does look like to me . . .” and he kind of turned his head away. “It does look like with me having bad eyes and all that they would take me, dont it? I mean, it does look like they wouldnt hold a little something like that against you, dont it, when you got bad eyes and things, just like they want in the Infantry . . .”
“Sho,” I said. “I dont see how they could do that to you.”
“Well, we’ll just have to wait and see,” he said.
“Well, I wouldnt worry about it none.”
“I aint,” he said. “I’ll just wait and see,” but he set there studying his fingernails and picking at a string hanging down from his sleeve, and I knowed he was going to worry because he was real stubborn that way when he got set on something, and was going to worry no matter what anybody said.
8
So we laid around in the barracks doing nothing for the next two days, and it was the hardest waiting I ever done in my life. Ben got worse and worse about it as time passed and I waited pretty hard myself, but I would forget and ease up every once in a while and get to talking to somebody or playing cards, because we was getting along fine with the others by then, and not even think about it until I turned around and saw Ben laying there on the bunk. But then I would quit and go lay down and wait myself, and it got to be pretty wearing. They kept posting assignments on the bulletin board outside the orderly room, and every once in a while somebody would come in and say, “There’s another list up,” and everybody would run out to look at it. Then sometimes they would come back and one of them would be grinning because he got in the Coast Guard or something, and there might be another one in the Air Force, and he’d whoop and holler, and then we would sit around some more, waiting for the lists.
And I waited as hard as I could, but sometimes I would get out my harp and play a few tunes on it, though I usually tried not to play nothing lively, only once in a while I forgot and did. I usually done “Mother Aint Dead, She’s Only Sleeping,” and those like that, which were quiet enoug
h, only I would sometimes get to sparking it up some when I warnt thinking; and the second afternoon this fellow come in whooping and hollering because his name had been posted on a list for the navy, and I played “Tennessee Shuffle Dance,” for him while he done a right good buck dance, and I think I could have enjoyed it ifn it hadnt of been for Ben, laying there staring at the ceiling that way. But later we went down to see the list and Irvin’s and Pete’s names was on it for the Air Force and they banged each other on the back for a while, and then Ben began feeling some better about things because they still hadnt posted one for the Infantry, and there warnt many of us left. He looked at the list and give a sigh, so I give one back at him; and then we went back to the barracks and waited for another one to go up. There really warnt much sense in everybody going down except that somebody might think you couldnt read if you didnt, but we all went down because everybody was getting right anxious by that time. And then they posted two more Air Force lists, and it got to be right fun with everybody whooping and hollering and going on, just like a party or something.
So we hung around the barracks all that afternoon and in a little while it was nearly four o’clock and they still hadnt posted an Infantry list, and Ben began to perk up a good bit. He begun pacing around some and at four-thirty we went outside to watch them close down the office for the day; and then Ben looked at me and kind of shook his head, grinning a little bit. So I whopped him a good one on the back and he whopped at me too, and we went back inside where everybody was talking about where they were going. They hadnt knowed each other moren five days, some of them, but they got each other’s addresses and said how they would write and all like that, and it was good being amongst them, even though by that time me and Ben figgered we’d never see none of them no more because we would be in the Infantry.