by Mac Hyman
“Well, that was my fault,” I said. “I was the one that got us on the bus and all.”
“Rightfully, it aint,” Ben said. “If I’m in charge, I have to take full responsibility for everything you do.”
Anyhow, it was a right good plan once you thought on it a while. Myself, I couldnt see why we couldnt just walk up to the gate and say, “Here we is,” but Ben had worked that out too. He said if we done that, they would know we had been off the base and could get us for being AWOL because we didnt have no passes. But if we climbed over the fence and sneaked in, they wouldnt even know we had been off the base. “As far as they would know,” he said, “we might have just been wandering around the base all the time, out by the plane or somewheres. They wouldnt have no way of knowing we had been off the base at all; then they couldnt get us for being AWOL, at least. And I think that would be fair because we didnt really mean to go AWOL—not that that’s much of an excuse, though. Anyhow, dont that make sense to you, Will?”
And once I thought on it some more, I guess it did all right. The way he had figgered it and wiggled it around, it seemed about the only thing to do, so it really was a good plan once you understood it. So I said I was all for it and told him how glad I was that he was in charge because I never would have thought up nothing like that, and he got to feeling some better about things. He said, “Well, I guess we had better get at it then. We cant just sit around here in the park all day talking about it. If we’re going to hide out until dark, we had better get started with it.”
And he couldnt have picked no better time to get started with it because just about time he said it, I looked up and seen these two APs headed right for us. I punched Ben right quick and started to tell him that it looked like we was going to be caught even before we got started, but then he started making all these motions for me to shut up, which I done right quick, and then he started doing some more quick planning. He held his lips real tight so they wouldnt move and said to me without looking, “Just act casual, Will. Dont say nothing or do nothing until I give the word, and act real casual.”
And then he kind of leaned back on the bench like he was real lazy and everything, and begun acting real casual and all. And he really done a job on it too. The APs was headed right for us when I heered this noise and looked around and seen that Ben was humming to himself, and humming real loud too. I started to shush him, but then I seen he was acting casual, so I just tried to do like he done, only I never was able to come nowheres close to the way Ben was doing. He had leaned back and flung one arm over the side of the bench and propped his foot up on the side of it, and then he took to stretching and yawning and things like that until I thought he was going to fall off the bench. And then he said to me, real loud so the APs could hear, half-yawning when he said it, “Well, I guess we had better head on for town, Thompson,” and then he got up and stretched some more. So I got up and done the same, and then we headed on down the walk to the left of the APs, not right at them or away from them, but just a little to the left of them, and both of us just kind of strolled along, like we was just sauntering, so to speak. Ben whispered to me, “Just dont look at them now. Just keep on with me,” and then he yawned some more and a lot of other things like that. I guess it was about the best job of acting casual I ever seen in my life, and I think the APs must have thought so too because both of them stopped after a bit, and watched us all the rest of the way out of the park.
Anyhow, we got out all right that way and headed toward town, sticking to the back streets, and I took on a good bit about the way Ben had done. I said, “You really put it over on them fine, Ben. You really done a job that time,” and stuff like that, but Ben said, “Yeah, but the day aint over yet, you remember. We’ve got a long ways to go yet.”
So we went on down the street and kind of dodged in buildings every once in a while and come out on the other side, and things like that. We would be walking along and Ben would say, “Cross here,” and we’d cross real quick and get to the other side, and then head back in the direction we was coming from. We done a lot of things like that, in and out of stores and crossing streets and changing directions, and went on that way until I was getting right wore out from it, and Ben was too. So then Ben got the idea of hiding out somewhere and resting a bit, which sounded right good to me until he started explaining how it would be best to go out somewhere and find a house and crawl up under it for the rest of the day, and I really warnt too much for that because it seemed too hot for something like that the rest of the day. I said, “Why dont we just go to a restaurant or a drugstore or something like that, where they got fans?”
But Ben said, “You cant hide in a place like that.”
“Well, I dont think it would be taking too much of a chance, Ben. We aint even seen an AP for the past two hours now, and it seems like to me . . .”
“This way,” Ben said, starting off, “I’ll be thinking about it as we move along. You dont want to just stand here and talk about it.”
So we went on up another street and crossed back and then started down an alley where there was a lot of these big tin garbage cans setting around, and the first thing I knowed, Ben was eyeing them right hard. And that kind of bothered me because I didnt care a thing about spending the afternoon in one of them cans as hot as it was, so I got to saying right quick that it was about the hottest day I ever seen, and all like that, but he kept on eyeing them; and I guess before it was over, that’s where we would have hid out all right if we hadnt of come out of that alley just where we did. But then he looked up and pointed across the street and said all of a sudden, “That’s it, Will. A picture show. It’ll be dark and cool in there and we can move from seat to seat, and nobody would ever think to pick us up there. I dont know why I didnt think of that before.”
“Me neither,” I said. “And that’s what I call real hiding out. A picture show . . .”
So we went in and had a right nice time there. It was cool and they had candy and popcorn in the lobby and a machine where you could get drinks and things, and the seats was comfortable enough to nod in, and besides that, they had this dogged good movie on about the Air Force and things. It was about these folks that was all out to conquer the air and it showed them zooming off in these planes every few minutes, talking over the interphones and sweating and calling out to each other about fuel valves and cowl flaps and a lot of stuff like that. And there was this woman in it who was in the tower talking to the pilot over the radio and she kept yelling about cowl flaps and things like that too, but then he went into this steep dive anyhow while everybody stood around talking about the landing gear and fuel valves and things, but he pulled out of it all right and zoomed around some more, and then he landed and walked kind of slow up toward the tower, and this woman, she done a good job of not crying no more, and then he reached up and took this cigarette out of his mouth and flipped it away and give a little salute with his hand, and this woman kept holding her lips tight together and all like that while they kept walking right head on at each other; and after that they had this comedy about Popeye and it was mighty good too.
So we hid out there for the rest of the afternoon, changing seats every once in a while, so as not to stay in any one place too long, and every once in a while we went out to the lobby to get something to eat, and it was one of the best hideout places I ever seen.
20
We stayed there until about eight o’clock when Ben decided that it was time to go. “It’ll be about time they’re changing guards,” he said. “And who’ll ever think about somebody slipping in at eight o’clock at night? We’ll get them by surprise.”
So then we headed back for the field. Ben didnt want to take a bus or a taxi or nothing because we had to slip in, so we had to walk it. Only Ben didnt want to go down the sidewalk, so we went up and down alleys and through back yards and across lawns until we finally made it to the outside of town. But then we didnt know where we was and couldnt get ourselves located, and finally had to go ask so
mebody; we found out then that we was on the wrong side of town, so we caught a taxi and went back to the middle and started all over again.
By that time, it was about ten o’clock, but Ben still wanted to go back through the alleys again, so we done that, only this time we kept the main road in sight so that we wouldnt get lost any more. We got to the end of town and then headed out across some fields toward the beacon light that swung around and made flashes in the sky. We stayed away from the highway so that it made it right hard going as the fields was covered with bushes and this high wire grass that come up to about my waist. But we creeped along that way real easy, trying to be quiet and all; but that was right hard to do in that grass as there was holes in the ground that we stumbled in every once in a while so that sometimes Ben’s head would go right out of sight when he went down in one; and the grass was right thick so you had to fight your way through it some of the time. We went along about a mile like that, though, with Ben whispering, “Easy now. Easy and quiet,” and thrashing around in the grass trying to get through tangles of it, making so much noise most of the time that I couldnt even hear him whispering to me.
Anyhow, we was still about two miles from the field so all you could see of it was the beacon light and the barracks lights and things, but he still wanted it quiet, and we thrashed along like that for a while longer until we got close enough for the beacon light to flash on us as it went by. It would come swinging around at us, getting brighter and brighter, and then Ben would hiss at me, “Watch it!” and we’d stoop down in the grass and let it swing by us, going for another round again. And after that, we’d stoop down each time it come around, then get up and make some headway, then stoop back down again; and we bobbed up and down like that for about another mile, I guess, until I was getting right wore out with it and Ben was too.
And by that time, Ben decided that we was so close now that we had better stay stooped over all the rest of the way and just crawl along. So we done that for a while, but that was a little too wearing on both of us, so Ben decided that we could bob up and down some more, and try to make time whenever the beacon passed over our heads. It would come by and go over us and then we’d start thrashing along again, and then have to fall flat when it come back. But we kept that up until we made this one dash for it that took us within about fifty yards of the fence, and Ben dived and hit in the grass next to me and was so wore out he couldnt get up for the next dash at all. He set there panting and puffing in the grass, and I done the same, letting the beacon go around a few times without even moving. Along the highway on the side, you could see the cars going along the road with their headlights stuck out, and over the fence you could see the barracks lighted up; but where we was, it was dark and quiet, and I was kind of enjoying resting there a little bit.
And Ben was too; he kept puffing and panting and taking on, and said, “Dogged if I aint about done for. I dont know whether I can make it over that fence, or not.”
“Well, maybe you wont have to climb over it,” I said. “If I can just pull up the wire on the bottom, you can just crawl under.”
But Ben said, “No, we’ll have to go one at a time. It’ll be safer that way. First, though, one of us ought to sneak along the edge of the fence and see where they got the guards posted.”
“I’ll do that,” I said. “You just rest.”
So I got up and started down there, but then I heered Ben hissing at me again and went back; and he said I couldnt just go walking up to the fence that way, that I had to crawl to keep from being seen. So I told him I just forgot, and then I got down and started crawling through the grass again. I crawled about a hundred yards down on one side, right close up to the fence, and didnt see a soul nowhere, and then I crawled back to Ben and told him there warnt nobody around even within shouting distance. But he said, “Yeah, but how about on the other side?” so then I crawled back down that way a bit and still didnt see a guard nowhere, and by that time my knees was about wore out, so I finally just got up and walked back toward where Ben was, but I seen him waving at me so frantic that I finally got back down and crawled some more. But when I got back, I told him there warnt nobody around and started to roll myself a cigarette, but he said, “Hey, dont do that. You strike a match out here and we’re done for. It might mess everything up. We got to be careful.”
So I opened the pouch up and put the tobacco back, and we set there a while longer until Ben said, “I guess we can make a run for it now. We’ll have to time that light just right and then skeedaddle, and I dont mean maybe.” He was squatted down, peering over the top of the grass this way and that. “I’ll go first,” he said. “If I make it, you follow me, and if I dont make it, you take off and go around the other side of the field and try it there. Dont bother with me if I get caught. You just take off on your own.”
“Why, Ben, I wouldnt do that. I . . .”
“That’s the way it is,” Ben said. “If they get me, I’ll cause enough trouble so they wont notice you, and you might be able to make it all right. You understand that now? You just take off and forget about me.”
“Now, Ben, I aint going to do nothing like that! I dont . . .”
But Ben snapped out at me, “That’s enough. Those are my orders.”
So I seen then that he was having a right big time of it, so I begun to join in a little bit. I got down and peered this way and that like he was doing, and I done a lot of whispering, and all that kind of stuff. And then I made out all sorts of things—I made out I could hear the guards talking right close up, and Ben listened and thought he heered them too. He said, “Duck!” and fell down flat, and I did too; then he come raising up real slow listening again; and then I made out I heered them behind us, and Ben listened hard and whispered, “Take it easy now,” and stuff like that; and then I made out I heered hound dogs barking and people yelling and guns shooting and a lot of things like that, but he didnt like that too much; he said, “Will, what’s the matter with you? You dont hear all that stuff and you know it!”
So I said I must have been mistaken, and after a little bit, Ben got up ready to make his run for it. I said, “Ben, you sho you dont want me to come along and pull up the wire and just let you climb under?” but he shushed me again. He squatted and peered around, ducking his head when the light come over, and then he started running for it. I set there in the grass watching him; I seen him go thrashing through the grass and get to the fence and give a lunge at it and go scampering up it like a cat going up a tree. Then the light went around and I couldnt see him no more, and then the light come back and I seen him up near the top of the fence with one foot caught in the wire, snatching at it trying to get it loose. Then the light went around again and I couldnt see him for a while, only hear him pulling and snatching, and when it come by the next time, he was right on the top of the fence and had somehow managed to get both feet hung in the wire. So I heered all kinds of racket as he snatched this way and that, and then I seen him outlined against the sky just about the time he lost his balance—both hands flew straight up over his head and one foot come loose and went slinging out in the air like he was kicking at something; then the light was gone and I couldnt see him no more. But I could hear him right clear when he fell because when he hit it sounded something like a big tree coming down out in the woods somewhere.
Anyhow, he was out like a light when I got to him; he had fell right on the back of his neck and warnt stirring at all. He was still breathing all right, though, and I couldnt find nothing broke nowhere; he was just out for a while and that was all.
So I figgered with him out that way, that put me in charge and I had to use my plan, only I didnt have much of one, and the only thing I could think of was to pick him up and start toward the highway. I flagged down a taxi going along and told him Ben was drunk and to take us to the train station; and when we got there, I took Ben in the rest room and went through his pockets, getting all our money together, which come to only eleven dollars and fifty-five cents. And then I went up t
o the window to get the tickets back, only I didnt have anywhere near enough money, so finally I just told the fellow to give me two tickets in that direction, so we could at least get started anyhow. Then I went back and splashed some water on Ben’s face to wake him up, and told him what I had done, but he didnt have much to say about it. He had been knocked out twice that day, though, so I guess he warnt much up to thinking about it by then.
So finally I helped him out to one of the benches in the waiting room and he set there rubbing at his neck, still not feeling too good. We had only thirty cents left after the tickets, but I finally decided it was best I go ahead and spend some on some coffee for him so he could get his head cleared back up again. So I brought it back to him and he set there sipping it; and I waited for his head to clear back up again so he could do some more thinking, and be back in charge again.
21
But Ben was still right dazed for a while after we got on the train, and he was right miserable too about everything, I think. I got him a seat next to the window and he set there rubbing his neck and not saying anything because he was right down on things by then—he wanted things done right and he didnt like them done no other way, and there warnt no in-between for him. Either it was done correct for Ben or it warnt done correct, there warnt no four or five ways about it. But he was too wore out with everything by then to even get upset over it; he tried some but finally he just laid his head over against the window, and the next thing I knowed, he was dead asleep again, his mouth open, snoring, his head drooped down on his chest.