Lucky
Page 6
Drill Sgt. Farmer studied the schedule and nodded with satisfaction. He then asked if anyone had any questions. Sam looked around and then raised her hand. Drill Sgt. Farmer indicated with a nod to go ahead and she asked, “What about KP, shouldn’t we have a schedule for that too?” She got some dirty looks from the other squad leaders but SSgt Fisher looked at her and nodded in approval. Drill Sgt. Farmer’s look was one of surprise, he said “You are right! I didn’t think of that”. He started making a schedule using the same straight rotation and Sam interrupted him, “Drill Sgt, can I make a suggestion for the KP schedule?” Sam had always loved these types of things, to her they were puzzles and she liked to make them balance as best as she could.
She suggested that he start the KP schedule by skipping the last team at the end of that day's schedule putting the next three teams down for Breakfast, Lunch and dinner. That way they would never work KP and guard duty on the same day and by skipping a team it wouldn’t put the late-night team on KP the day before. He looked at the schedule he was writing and realized that some of the KP’s did interfere with guard duty, he scrunched his old weathered face up and mumbled something about garbage, then he passed the legal pad to her and said, “Here show me.”
Sam tore off the top page and then neatly drew times and boxes and listed out the guard duty roster and the KP roster as she thought it should be:
Guard Duty
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day 4
Day 5
Day 6
Day 7
00:00-04:00
Team 1
Team 7
Team 2
Team 8
Team 3
Team 9
Team 4
04:00-08:00
Team 2
Team 8
Team 3
Team 9
Team 4
Team 10
Team 5
08:00-12:00
Team 3
Team 9
Team 4
Team 10
Team 5
Team 11
Team 6
12:00-16:00
Team 4
Team 10
Team 5
Team 11
Team 6
Team 1
Team 7
16:00-20:00
Team 5
Team 11
Team 6
Team 1
Team 7
Team 2
Team 8
20:00-00:00
Team 6
Team 1
Team 7
Team 2
Team 8
Team 3
Team 9
KP Duty
Breakfast 7 am
Team 8
Team 3
Team 9
Team 4
Team 10
Team 5
Team 11
Lunch 12 pm
Team 9
Team 4
Team 10
Team 5
Team 11
Team 6
Team 1
Dinner 7 pm
Team 10
Team 5
Team 11
Team 6
Team 1
Team 7
Team 2
Drill Sgt. Farmer looked at the neat schedule and then looked at the paper she had torn off. He squinted his eyes, putting on his mean face and said, “Soldier, did I say you could tear paper off my note pad?” Sam was trying hard not to laugh because she knew Drill Sgt. Farmer wasn’t being serious. Trying to keep her face straight she replied, “But Drill Sgt, I thought you said it was garbage!” SSgt Fisher let out a deep laugh and said “Well she’s got you there! I heard it too!” They all laughed and the other squad leaders looked at the schedule and they agreed that it was a fair schedule. Drill Sgt. Farmer handed the legal pad back to Sam and said, “Well 1st Squad leader, it looks like you have a new job. I want you to print out the teams in your neat handwriting, because we all know no one would be able to read mine anyway! And from now forward you will be responsible for posting the weekly Roster.” Sam moaned and lightly banged her head on the table and the other squad leaders laughed and looked at each other, glad it wasn’t them. Sam really didn’t mind the duty but she didn’t want the other squad leaders to know that. Plus, she couldn’t stand to look at some of the others sloppy handwriting, so she was happy to do it herself. Drill Sgt. Farmer told her that when she was done there was tape in the office and she could post it on the wall between the bathrooms.
Drill Sgt. Farmer had SSgt Fisher and the other squad leaders go with him so they would get the guard stations set up and determine what equipment the Green Beret unit had and what would be useful where. Sam was already working on printing out the list of Teams that was scribbled on the other paper and she glanced up as they walked away. The Green-eyed Beret was looking at her and she blushed slightly but not sure why. Suddenly she felt self-conscious about being in her t-shirt, panties and socks and remembered his knee brushes. She shrugged it off and when the list was done she went to the office where she found tape and some document sleeves that she could tape on the wall and just slip the Rosters in and out.
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17 December 2020 – Kittens 2 days old
Douglasville, GA
The next morning Sam woke up feeling even better than she had in months. Just a few days of decent food and rest was making a difference. She didn’t realize how tired and weak she was until now. Before she was just moving forward on stress and adrenaline. She decided she would make some coffee today and the thought really excited her. She was about to push the covers back and jump out of bed when she realized there was something pressing up against the back of her legs. She looked down and saw Lucky curled up, peacefully sleeping. Sam reached down and gently stroked her soft fur which woke Lucky up and she rolled over and stretched out pushing her legs out and up. Sam smiled and rubbed her belly, almost expecting her to grab her hand and bite her for the audacity of touching her stomach. But she seemed to enjoy it and started purring. Lucky’s nipples were exposed from the kitten’s suckling and she could tell that her milk was coming in good. She was still too skinny and needed better nutrition. Sam decided she might take a trip out today and see if she could find some cat food in one of the neighbor’s houses.
She got up and stretched and then grabbed the coffee pot and went to the bathroom to relieve herself and fill the pot up with fresh water. Careful to only fill it up to the water line she carried it back and inserted the tube that went in the center and the cup that holds the coffee that she had already filled with six scoops of coffee. She wasn’t sure about the amount of coffee needed in the cup but hoped it was right. She put the lid on the coffee container and lid on the pot and put it on the camp stove to percolate. After lighting the stove, she pulled up a corner of the window covering and pushed the window open a few inches to allow the fumes to vent.
She peeked outside the window while she was waiting and it looked like it was going to be another beautiful day. It was still early morning but she wasn’t sure how early since she couldn’t see the sun. She had always used her phone as a watch before N-Day and afterward she just asked Tom. She missed knowing what time it was. Funny how those little things made a difference when you no longer had them. Looking over at her stock of food she saw the box of breakfast bars and decided that would go good with coffee and she opened the box and took one out and laid it down on the table. Next, she took another can of tuna out and opened it up for Lucky and sat it down next to the table. Lucky must have smelled the tuna because she came running in from the closet and started chowing down.
The coffee was starting to percolate and she knew she needed to wait a few minutes for it to brew. She had never drunk the coffee when she went camping with her dad, but she had watched him make it many times for himself. She got out the canister of sugar and creamer and a cup and spoon. After a few minutes she turn
ed the burner off and let the coffee sit while she scooped several spoons of sugar and creamer in the cup, then she added two more scoops of creamer because she liked it sweet and creamy. She carefully opened the pot and removed the coffee basket and set it off to the side in a bowl. She would dump the grounds out when it had cooled down some. Pouring the coffee in the cup she breathed in the wonderful scent. She was so excited to have a cup of coffee it was almost ridiculous!
She opened her breakfast bar and took a bite then took a sip of coffee. She was glad she had added the extra creamer. The coffee was weak and bitter, next time she would add more grounds. But at least it smelled good and it was hot! She finished her breakfast bar and then made a second cup of coffee, she wouldn’t waste it even if it was weak. She straitened up the room and dumped the used coffee grounds in the garbage while she drank her second cup. She then decided to go to the kid's rooms and look through them and see if she could find anything useful in there, specifically she was looking for another bag, duffel bag or back pack would do.
Entering the boys’ room, she opened the curtains and blinds. There were bushes blocking the window so she didn’t have to worry about anyone seeing her inside the room, and she needed the light. There was a desk on one wall and a closet door next to it and a single bed on the other side of the room with a headboard full of books and model airplanes. At the end of the bed was a chest of drawers with more model airplanes on top. On the desk sat a newer model PC with a gaming mouse and keyboard. It was the fancy type of PC with a glass side where you could see inside of the casing. Sam thought what a waste, now all that thing as good for was a giant paperweight. There were a few clothes thrown on the floor and she noticed drawers under the bed as well. She pulled open one of the drawers and started looking through it. Well no surprise here, a few dirty magazines stuck in with some comic books and some old action figures. The other drawer was more useless stuff like model plane parts and glue.
Moving on to the closet she saw shoes on the floor and boxes from model planes and jeans and shirts. Sam noticed a few flannel shirts and thought they might actually fit her too. She took a new green one out and tried it on and it almost fit her perfect. She rolled the sleeves up and pulled out a few more shirts and t-shirts and threw them all on the bed. Next, she looked at his jeans and they looked like they probably would fit her current narrow frame better than the women's jeans she was wearing now and she tried them on and found they fit better but were much longer. She decided longer would be better than baggy. She pulled several pairs of jeans out as well, finding that a couple of them had the fashionable tears that some teenagers wore and she threw those off to the side because that was just not practical these days.
Looking up on the shelf above the clothes she saw a couple of bags tucked up on the shelf, she pulled them down and discovered there were several different bags; a dark blue back pack, a big green duffel bag and a small brown sack that was labeled CamelBak. She was very happy to find the CamelBak, it was a hydration pack! This one was nicer than the Army one she had had, it was perfect! She could fill this up with water and drink without having to open the canteen. She decided the duffel was too big and she threw that back in the bottom of the closet, but the dark blue back pack would be perfect to replace her assault pack that was gone.
She found what she came to look for but decided to quickly go through the drawers in the dresser just in case. From what she saw he seemed to be the typical teenage boy. From his clothes and the things in his room she was guessing that he must be around 16 or 17. Sam had just turned 22 and she felt like she was going on 42. She never went through a rebellious stage as a teenager and growing up she was always told that she acted older than whatever her age was at the time, even as a young child. Looking through the drawers starting from the top she didn’t find anything else useful except a few pairs of socks, until she got to the bottom drawer. Stuffed in the back behind some shorts was a box of chocolate bars. The type of bars they sold at school to raise money.
Sam pulled the box out and sure enough the box read, 52 bars Fundraising Assortment and written across the top in black marker was Douglasville High School Band. She didn’t know this boy and she didn’t want to think bad of him, but why would he have a whole box hidden? Well they were hers now, so whatever offense he might have committed no longer mattered. For all she knew maybe he bought the whole box. She opened the box and saw there were a few missing but most were still there, she counted: 6 Reese's cups, 8 Hershey’s bars, 8 Hershey’s bars with almonds, 9 Kit Kat bars, and 8 Twizzlers, which were her favorite candy. She looked at the Kit Kat bars and thought how happy Tom would have been, they were his favorite.
The Twizzlers were open and a piece shoved in her mouth before she could think twice. She closed the box back up and gathered the clothes and bags and headed back to the Master bedroom. She dumped everything on the bed and went back to the boy's room and decided to look through the books in his headboard before closing the curtains. She sat on his bed and ate the Twizzlers while she picked out a few books. Maybe she could read a bit at night before going to sleep...she did have some time to kill while she gained her strength back and waiting for the kittens to get bigger. She knew that she couldn’t take a kitten away from Lucky until it was at least 6 weeks old. But after she left how would Lucky and the other kittens survive? She decided that was something she would put off worrying about until the time came. She closed the blinds and curtain took the books back to the Master bedroom.
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Chapter 6
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10 July 2020 N-Day (Continued)
Fort Jackson, SC
When everyone saw the roster for Guard duty and KP there was a bit of groaning but it needed to be done. After Drill Sgt. Davis had everyone grouped in their teams he asked if anyone had any questions. PFC Green, 3rd squad leader, asked how would they know what time it was? All of the clocks had stopped working. Sam hadn't even thought of that, she looked around the hall and saw the clocks on the wall were all frozen with both hands almost on the 9, wow that was going to be a constant reminder to her that the EMP had gone off at almost 8:45 am. SSgt Fisher raised his hand and pointed to his watch. It was a very nice watch and Sam looked closely and could tell that the hands were still moving! He explained that his watch was mechanical and not electric. It was a self-winding watch based on movement and didn’t need a battery. The team leaders would wear it and pass it on to the next team leader at change over. It would be the team leader's responsibility to keep track of time for everyone.
The cardboard was a lousy substitute for a bed but they didn’t really have much choice. At least it designated a personal area for each person. Drill Sgt Davis had everyone divide into their teams and set up sleeping areas together as a group. So they wouldn’t have to go around waking up people in different areas in the middle of the night and early morning. A lot of people grumbled about this because they wanted to sleep near their friends.
Sam was a little leery about the arrangement because it spread all of the females out and mixed them in with the males. The females were outnumbered 3:1, not including the kitchen staff...but all of the kitchen staff was sleeping together since they weren’t on a team. They had divided the teams so there was a female on each team and with exactly 11 female soldiers that had worked out perfect. But at the time Sam didn’t know they were going to separate them for sleeping.
Sam was on SSgt. Fisher’s team. It had surprised her and pleased her that she ended up with him as her team leader, she just hoped that didn’t cause problems later. She was arranging her cardboard on the floor trying to get it to lay flat and not overlap in the wrong places. They had their clothes back that were now clean and she had her ACU jacket rolled up as a pillow.
She heard one of the girls from 4th squad start to hum from across the room and she knew what was coming. PFC Jackson and she didn’t always get along but she had to admit the girl had an amazing voice. She
sat down and looked toward Rebecca, she also knew what was about to happen and she looked around the room at the other girls and they were all setting down getting ready too.
Jackson’s smooth soulful voice floated across the room and everyone got quiet as she started to sing, “Sometimes in our lives, we all have pain, we all have sorrow. But if we are wise, we know that there’s always tomorrow”. Sam couldn’t help but think how appropriate this song was now. They sang it almost every night since the begging of boot camp right before lights out. They always knew when it was time by her humming.
All of the women joined in for the main verse, it always made Sam feel connected with them and her heart felt full with their sisterhood. Not to mention that all of their voices together had made a beautiful sound. The Drill Sgt’s never complained about it either.
They all sang together, “Lean on me, when you’re not strong, and I’ll be your friend, I’ll help you carry on. For it won’t be long, ‘til I’m gonna need somebody to lean on.” Sam had closed her eyes when she started singing and was lost in the sound of the combined voices. She forgot her problems and the days troubles while she swayed to the sound. The next verse was taken up by Alexis Brown of 2nd squad and she was just a few spaces over from Sam and her clear high voice filled the empty space.
“Please swallow your pride, if I have things you need to borrow. For no one can fill those of your needs that you won’t let show.” Sam loved this next part, they all started clapping rhythmically along with her singing as she harmonized with Jackson, “You just call on me brother, when you need a hand, we all need somebody to lean on. I just might have a problem that you’ll understand. We all need somebody to lean on.”
The chorus was coming up and she heard several male voices joining in this time and was shocked when she realized one was coming from right in front of her. She opened her eyes up and saw Green eyed Beret sitting right in front of her, not two feet away, singing in a deep pleasant voice. “Lean on me, when you’re not strong, and I’ll be your friend, I’ll help you carry on. For it won’t be long, ‘til I’m gonna need somebody to lean on.” They all continued singing while clapping this time, “You just call on me brother, when you need a hand, we all need somebody to lean on. I just might have a problem that you’ll understand. We all need somebody to lean on”