Circles in the Sand

by D. Sallen

  Elsas returned before supper time to say he was certain he could get the decon vehicle operational, “if I can scrounge a few more parts from the Army.” Clint said to keep at it. Then he took Elsas and Werner aside to discuss Alcocke and Kline. Elsas said, “That’s bullshit. Unbelievable. How’d they come up with a story like that?”

  Lance said, “Sure…it does sound like baloney, but they arrived white faced and out of breath. If they were faking it, they sure did a good job.”

  Clint said, “Yeah, and admittedly they were very nervous when putting the stake in a second time.”

  “When you guys looked around, did you see any signs of a burial ground?”

  “No.” Clint said. “Mainly we looked for tracks, or any sign of an Indian. Well, it’s decision time. I can’t afford to lose two bodies to action at Grand Eclipse. I’ll have a serious talk with those two, and let them off the hook. We need to keep an eye on them for any other peculiar behavior in the future.”

  “Hey, Elsas, did you check out the WACs and the club over at Ft. Peck?” Lance asked.

  “Yeah, I saw a couple of WAC Sergeants but not close enough to talk too. They have a combined enlisted club with a separate lounge for NCOs…a lot of civilians over there, not so many military. We can use their club if we are members of a club at our home base.”

  “Sounds good.” Clint said.

  When he saw Dorris after supper Clint said, “I haven’t seen any social activity around here other than Chet’s place, oh and I suppose the mysterious Boar Pen.”

  “Well, I hope that remains a mystery to you.” She laughed. “No, apart from occasional church socials, there’s not much to do in West Layover. We have a population of only about two hundred and forty. Glasgow is our teeming metropolis, all of four thousand or so souls…as many as eight thousand in the past. I believe they often have dances over there on Saturday nights.”

  “I’ve got to find some entertainment for our troops. Maybe between the club at Ft. Peck and Glasgow there’s enough to keep ‘em busy on weekends. ‘Course they might not be off on weekends for a while.”

  “Clint, you sound like such a slave driver. Don’t you have any sympathy for those young kids? Weren’t you a young troop once?” She laughed.

  “You’ve got a point. Just hope I can keep ‘em out of trouble. So what do you do for excitement, Dorris?”

  “Well, between this place and Lorena, I don’t need any more.”

  “I can’t believe that. Supposing you and I take in a dance over at Glasgow?”

  Dorris blushed. She welcomed the invitation, which surprised her. She hemmed a bit and then said, “That does sound like fun. Yes I’d be delighted to go to a dance with you.”

  “Good. Between now and Saturday, I’ll find out what’s going on over there, and we’ll make it a date. We’ll even go first class…in my truck instead of that Jeep.”

  “I’ll be ready.” Thinking about Clint’s truck with the camper on it, she wondered if she was doing the right thing. Probably a bed in it. Was it his mobile trysting place? If he tries to seduce me, what will I do? She couldn’t answer her own question.

  The next day a two-and-a-half ton truck with Air Force markings stopped in front of the sheriff’s office. Tommy Kerns directed the occupants out to Quonset one. Seeing the truck pull up, the whole crew went out to meet it.

  Looking at the Technical Sergeant driver, Clint said, “What do we have here, Buddy?”

  The driver stepped down and stuck out his hand, “Deuce and a half, supplies and two bodies, Rodger Patton and that’s Ervin Hooper.”

  Clint introduced them to everyone. “What’s your field?” he asked Patton.

  “Construction, from civil engineers. Ervin here is a an admin clerk.”

  “We’re sure glad to see both of you. With your back ground, I’m appointing you chief construction engineer. We can sure use you here. I’ve got half-assed plans of what we have to do, but no one with any construction experience.”

  “Corporal Hooper, I’m not sure what you do in admin, but, for sure, we have work for you.”

  Kline mumbled, “You’ll be sorry…”

  Looking at all the equipment and supplies in the back of the truck, Clint said, “Lance, take Jewel, Kline and Alcocke. Get Quonset two cleaned out. We need more storage room before we unload the truck. I’ll take Patton and Hooper back into town…get them squared away with a bunk.” Since Elsas and Priebe had gone back to Ft Peck in the Jeep, Clint took the carry-all. On the way he clued Patton in on the local situation. “We don’t have any lumber to build towers, so in the mean time I want to at least layout the target areas…If we can locate them.”

  Once back at Quonset one, Clint laid out the site plan for Patton. “Looks simple enough, except there are no boundary markers on this piece of earth to correlate with these target locations.”

  Patton said, “I’ve never done any surveying either. Looks to me like you might have to make some command decisions…like this is the spot, right here.”

  “I’m afraid of that. But if somebody doesn’t like it, they can send some one here who knows what they’re doing.”

  They walked over to Q-2 to see how the cleaning job was proceeding. “Can you get a window from Q-3 to replace the broken one back there?” Clint asked.

  “I’ve already checked,” Lance said. “We used them for Q-1.”

  “Okay, until we can get it fixed, we’ll just have to store things at the front of the hut. As soon as you’re finished in here, we need to unload the truck.”

  Outside again, the NCOs heard the noise of loud aircraft engines. Searching they sky they saw a huge four-engine plane approaching from the west. It passed overhead and then began circling to lose altitude.”

  “Is he going to land here?” Patton asked.

  “Looks like it, but why? That’s a B-50 bomber,” Clint said.

  On one of its passes, the bomber flew low over the town before straightening out and climbing into a normal landing pattern. “Sure looks like he intends to land here.” The noise brought everyone outside. Before it landed, Sheriff Radecker and Tommy Kerns pulled up near Q-1. Everyone watched the huge bomber approach like they’d never seen a bomber land before, and none of them had. It touched down at the near end of the runway, using most of it before it stopped. With two engines shut down it returned on the taxiway like a ponderous elephant.

  Marie-Elena Gomez with the other two girls in her convertible pulled up near Q-1. Shouting to make her voice heard, she asked, “WHAT IS IT?”

  Losing interest in the bomber, Lance strode over to enlighten the ladies.

  The B-50 stopped opposite the buildings and shut down the other two engines. While the crowd watched, an NCO climbed out of the plane. He walked forward to where the pilots could see him and waved. Then he walked toward the rear.

  The rear bomb bay opened. Bundles of two by fours tumbled out onto the taxiway. There were so many they piled up almost back into the bomb bay. Now the NCO walked to the front of the bomber and waved at the pilots again. Shortly the front bomb bay opened. Bundles of aluminum sheets crashed onto the taxiway. They didn’t pile as high as the wood had. The NCO climbed back into the bomber. He hardly disappeared inside when another human came hurtling out. He was followed by a B-4 bag.

  That individual picked the bag up and walked toward the spectators. Clint went out to meet him. Before Clint could say any thing, Second Lieutenant Rupert Byers, in civilian clothes said, “The pilot wants you to get a forklift out here and haul this stuff away… before he can take off.” Byers headed for the huts.

  “Oh great. I doubt there’s a fork lift within forty miles.”

  Clint hollered back to the crowd. “Okay, all you Air Force men, on the double, we’ve got to move this stuff out from under the plane…and off the taxiway. He can’t take off until al
l of it is out of the way.” Moving the heavy bundles took a lot of effort and time. Before long the NCO from the aircraft came out to talk to Clint. “The pilots are having a fit up there. What’s the problem. Why don’t you have a couple of forklifts out here?”

  “Are you kidding? There’s not a forklift around here closer than Fort Peck.” He pointed to the struggling airmen. “There’s a hundred percent of my lifting power. If your pilots are in such a damn hurry, we’ll let officers haul wood too…How many airmen you got inside there?”

  “Five enlisted.”

  “Well we could move this stuff faster with some help. How about your troops lending a hand, if not the officers?”

  “I’ll check with the pilot.”

  “Hey, ain’t you the crew chief? Don’t you have some authority with the airmen?”

  “Not enough for what you want, but I’ll ask.” He disappeared inside the plane. Five minutes later, three airmen in flight suits dropped out of the front bomb bay. A buck sergeant said, “We’ll give you a hand. Just tell us what you want done.”

  Clint said, “well, grab a hold of any of that stuff. You can’t leave till it’s all out of the way.”

  A few minutes later the crew chief came back with a message from the pilot. “He wants to find out if those dolls in the convertible want a tour of a long-range bomber.”

  “I thought he was in a hurry.”

  “It’s gonna take a while longer anyway, right?”

  “Yeah, well hell, I’ve got enough to do here. Let the hero come down and ask them himself. By the way, what’s with a second louie in civilian clothes bailing out of your plane?”

  “He busted up an airplane and got grounded. I believe he’s been assigned here.”

  He walked over to the convertible. Shortly he returned with Marie-Elena, Tawny and Sheree skipping along behind him. All three wore skimpy sun dresses. Chagrinned Lance watched them go. Damn! Just when we were getting friendly. The crew chief boosted the girls into the plane, one at a time, not too careful the way he handled them. They didn’t seem to mind. Every man in sight simmered with jealousy. When the back-breaking labor was finished, the pilot was in no hurry to leave. The crew chief sent his men back aboard. Finally the crew chief returned to lift the three girls out of the forward bomb bay. When the engines started, they walked back away from danger and waved to the pilots as the plane began to move.

  Fritz Deutsch, attracted into town by the bomber flying overhead, watched from his pick-up at the back of the crowd. Seeing the crew chief man-handle Marie-Elena pissed him off no end. The longer she stayed in the plane the hotter he got. He pulled up beside her car as she got in. “I hope you weren’t foolish enough to set up a date with any of those flyboys.”

  “Go to hell, Fritz. You don’t own me and I’ll date anyone I feel like.”

  “You damn sure better not. I told you before and I’ll tell you again, anybody but me gets in your pants and he’s gonna loose his nuts.”

  “Know what’s the matter with you, Fritz? You’re NUTS! You’re just plan crazy!” She threw a finger at him and drove off.

  Tawny said to her, “What’s he gonna do if he finds out about all the college boys you screw?”

  “He probably never will, but what’s he gonna do? Castrate all of them. The first one gets him thrown in jail for a long time.”

  “He might be crazy enough not to care.”

  “That’s his problem.”

  Tawny and Sheree were classmates of Marie-Elena in college. Since they screwed college boys for nothing, she persuaded them to come work for her mother during summer break. “Instead of giving it away, why not make money from your fun…help pay for your tuition.” They not only liked their work, they made so much money, Sheree considered moving to a big city and going professional full time.

  “Don’t do that,” Marie said. “Mom has a more or less controlled environment. You don’t know what you’d get into in a strange place.”

  With the plane out of the way, Clint said, “Take a break, guys. That stuff will have to be moved again, but not this instant. I haven’t figured out where to put it yet.” He went looking for Lt. Byers. He wasn’t at the Quonset huts. Now where the hell did he get to? Taking the carry-all, he drove into town. Byers was nowhere in sight so Clint pulled up in front of Chet’s. Inside he found Byers hunched over a beer. “Afternoon, Sir. Have you come to take charge of this detachment?”

  “Hell no, I have not! I’m just here. Verbally reassigned. No orders to do anything.”

  “I don’t understand, Sir. I was sure hoping I had a new boss. We sure need an officer.”

  “Bullshit, Sergeant. Now go away and let me enjoy my beer.”

  “Yes Sir. If that’s what you want.”

  Byers glowered at him so Clint walked out. Balls. Got enough troubles without taking on his. What a bucket of dead worms this place is. When he got back to Q-1, Patton had a question for him, “Can’t we get telephones out here?”

  “Oh man, I thought of every thing else. I’ll get on it.”

  Lance said, “I think he’s too fond of using Dorris’ phone. More fun b-essing her than hanging out here.””Aw, sometimes you think too much Lance. Why didn’t you think of phones out here yourself… before now?”

  “And spoil your fun at the hotel? Come off it.”

  “Yeah, come to think of it. I’ll have to use her phone to order our phones. Thanks, Lance.”

  “Hey Clint. The sheriff’s got a phone too.”

  “Hell with him.”

  In his office, Sheriff Radecker entertained Fritz Deutsh. “Fritz, I don’t have any legal way to stop them from building a bomb site. What do you expect me to do?”

  “Well damn it! Find an illegal way then!”

  “Oh sure. I thought you were going to take it up with Congressman Hichaire.”

  “Yeah, I talked to the old wind bag. He’ll look into it. I talked to the Governor too. Says his hands are tied, because putting some troops in here is good for the county. He did say I could try to get a court to put in an injunction to stop the Air Force.”

  “No lawyers around here. I reckon the nearest is in Glasgow.”

  “Yeah, like I need a lawyer to screw things up.”

  “Seeing a bomber drop off all that stuff, means the Air Force is really serious about their bomb site. You may not like lawyers, but if you don’t find a way soon, your steers could be dodging bombs.”

  “Like hell they will. I’ll figure something out.” He strode out of the Sheriff’s office. At Chet’s he ordered a beer, nodding toward Byers he said, “Who’s the stranger?”

  Chet said, “Sergeant Greybull came in a while back and addressed him as Sir. They didn’t seem to be getting along. Guy looks too young to be in the Air Force, much less an officer.”

  “Yeah, looks like a kid. Let me know if you hear anything interesting.” He swallowed his beer and left.

  At Gilman’s Clint used the phone to call Milk River Telephone Co. and ordered phone service into Q-1. Once again he got the ‘we’ve got to send a line man first story,’ but couldn’t be given a firm date on when that person would show up. I’m going apeshit if I don’t get some radios. What a way to run an Air Force. Back at Q-1 he said, “You guys have busted your asses enough for one day. First round at Chet’s is on me.”

  When they got to the bar, Byers remained morosely nursing a beer. Although the men had seen Byers arrive from the B-50, they didn’t know who he was, and Clint hadn’t mentioned him to anyone. Everyone’s interest perked up when they heard Clint say, “Mind if I join you, Lieutenant?”

  “Sit down. This is no O club.”

  Clint pulled up a chair. “As long as you’re staying here, you’ll need a bunk. All our billeting is at Gilman’s hotel and restaurant, meals too. When you’re ready, I’ll give you a ri
de down there. Get you fixed up.”

  Byers glowered at him. “Yeah, yeah, when I’m ready.”

  Clint got up and paid Chet for the first round, then sat down with the other three NCOs.

  Lance said, “Lieutenant? Is that our new commander?”

  “He says not. I don’t know what’s going on with him. I’ll tell you more later. We’ll just tread lightly until I know what the score is.”

  When Byers finally had enough beer, Clint took him to Gilman’s to get a room. While Byers was off with Dorris getting settled, Lorena spoke to Clint, “Did you know the preacher’s brother is buzzing around Mom again?”

  “Oh? I didn’t know that. Buzzing around, huh. Is he after honey? Does your Mom keep bees too? I like honey on pancakes.”

  “NO, that’s not what I mean. Don’t be so slow…Or you’re going to lose out!” She flounced off to the dining room before he could answer.

  At supper when Lorena brought him coffee, he said, “Gee, Lorena, you say things that worry me. Now that the preacher’s brother is coming around, I reckon your Mom will cancel our dancing date Saturday night.”

  Lorena’s eyes bugged and her mouth dropped open. “Ohh, I didn’t know. She better not.” Red-faced she hurried back to the kitchen. Clint chuckled to himself. I wonder if she thinks I’m step-father material.

  The next morning, the whole Air Force crew was sitting around finishing breakfast, when Sheriff Radecker and Tommy Kerns strode into the room. “Now fellows, I don’t want any trouble with you, but you’re all under arrest.”

  Clint stood up. Radecker put his hand on his holstered pistol. “What are you talking about sheriff? We damn sure haven’t done anything to be arrested!”