by Modou Fye
Unaware of Jaden and the other troops seated on the steps of the building opposite headquarters but hidden behind a row of parked cars, Lieutenant Krappa decided to cut through the lawn.
“So much for leading by example,” remarked Jaden.
“That’s nothing new, sir. He’s Lieutenant Krappa. He’s above reproach. At least that’s what he thinks,” Sergeant Phil said.
A COUPLE OF DAYS LATER: While seated in the same place at the same time with more or less the same group as before, Jaden and his troops noticed one of Krappa’s soldiers furtively look around before deciding to cut through the grass. The lot of them laughed.
“That’s every one of us,” Jaden said. “I guess it just might be human nature to always want to take the easy way.”
The soldier was about half way through when Krappa walked out of headquarters. The pair made eye contact. The soldier knew trouble now came his way.
“Drop!” shouted Krappa as the doors closed behind him.
“I’m sorry-” the soldier started to say.
Krappa cut him off. “Front leaning rest position, move, soldier!” the Lieutenant barked.
The soldier lowered himself, assuming the push-up position with arms fully extended.
Jaden leapt to his feet and raced over to them. His soldiers followed suit. Standing beside the soldier being punished and looking Lieutenant Krappa in the eye, Jaden calmly said to the soldier, “Get up, Specialist McFarlane.”
Krappa frowned. The soldier remained as he was. “How dare you attempt to undermine my authority, especially with my own troops,” Krappa growled.
“I am not attempting to, I am undermining your authority,” Jaden said, still very calm. Then squatting beside the soldier, Jaden repeated himself. “Get up.”
Though calm in demeanor and speech, there was an authority in Jaden’s voice that McFarlane couldn’t help but obey. He stood up.
Krappa was fuming. “Soldier, you are disobeying a direct order – a lawful order!” Krappa shouted.
“The soldier has a rank and a name. It’s Specialist McFarlane! You fuck face!” Jaden said with raised voice. “And the so-called lawful order is far from one if only because nowhere is it written that we absolutely cannot walk across the grass, not to mention the circumstances under which it was issued.”
“Circumstances? What the hell are you talking about, Lieutenant?” demanded Krappa.
“Gentlemen!” said Jaden, “who here saw this same lieutenant cut across the grass a couple of days ago?”
Those that had been present all attested to it.
Krappa stormed off back into the building, livid.
LATER that day just as Jaden was on his way out of his office to see Sergeant Phil, his desk phone rang. “Hello!”
“Lieutenant Ramiel?” It was Krappa.
“What do you want, Lieutenant Krappa?” Jaden asked coldly.
“We need to talk,” said his fellow Lieutenant. “Would you mind coming up to my office?”
“Since I’m headed to the building anyway, sure, why not,” Jaden said then hung up the phone without regard for the guy on the other end.
Walking past Phil’s office, he told the sergeant that he’d be back to talk to him. Jaden climbed up the stairs, made a right, walked past Krappa’s office to that of the Commander’s. Captain Peterson wasn’t in. Good, thought Jaden. He backtracked to Krappa’s office and stepped in.
“Thanks for-” Krappa started to say before he was abruptly cut off.
“Listen, Krappa,” said Jaden, leaning over Krappa’s desk, resting his hands on it, “I can guarantee you that what happened today is bound to repeat itself again and again if you think that you are above the rules and can simply mistreat people as you please. I don’t care how well you know Pooper or Paitou but I’ll be damned if I’m going to idly stand by and watch you humiliate the troops for no reason at all, especially for perpetrations that you are just as guilty off. If the grass is off-limits to one, it’s off-limits to all.”
Lieutenant Krappa stared at him momentarily lost for words. He finally said, “Your relationship with the troops is too close. You are superior to them and should carry yourself accordingly, associating with them only when necessary” Krappa said. “I was discussing it with Lieutenant Colonel Poopko and she is just as concerned about your relationship with them as I am.”
“I can’t believe what I’m hearing! Are you fucking insane, guy? Status does not make you better. What is this? Are you of the gentry… no I’m sorry… nobility rather, and they of the peasantry, you bourgeois fuck? If Pooped-ass really feels so terribly about the dignity and respect with which I treat every soldier, why does she not come down here and personally address me; better yet, not just me but the entire company – even better yet still, the entire installation. I can guarantee you that if she were to see how not just my guys but every other soldier on Coleman Barracks looks up to me, not to mention across Mannheim, she’d be blown away…” He paused for a moment then continued. “Then again, maybe not. After all, rather than be impressed, you’re green with envy so Poop-slinger just might feel the same way. We all know that birds of a feather do flock together. Perhaps to say people of a similar name are of the same shitty character would better suit you and dump-master Pooper,” Jaden said, mocking Krappa’s name.
“Where do freaks like you come from? What the hell kind of names are those, anyway? Jesus Christ! Are you all from some cult that believes that the only way to make it into heaven is to have names that’ll give you hell on earth? No wonder you get along famously with them. Only you could get along with characters that even the devil would likely cower from. If by some serious misjudgment of character, Poop-maker and Paitou were to end up in heaven after kicking the bucket, God Almighty himself would seek refuge in hell.” Jaden then held his head in his hands as though trying to prevent it from exploding. “Isn’t it obvious that something is very wrong with you?” he asked, confounded that Krappa seemed to be oblivious to this. “You and I are the only two lieutenants in the company, one is loved and the other is despised, hated. It cannot be any more transparent that you are seriously fucked up, dude! Don’t take what I’m about to say as a threat in any way, shape, or form because your existence is too paltry to be of any significance to me…” he paused, lowered his hands then looked Krappa dead in the eye and said, “…we are in a state of war; sooner or later we’ll get the call to move out. Don’t be the ass whose soldiers end up fragging.”
Krappa was appalled. “Lieutenant Ramiel, do you comprehend the gravity of what you just said?” he asked, standing up. “I will be sure to inform the battalion commander that you and your soldiers are plotting against my life. You will be relieved of your post and stripped of your commission.”
“I find it interesting that you would bypass the company commander and go straight to Pooper,” Jaden retorted. “I wonder why that is?” he said, looking at Krappa while smiling wryly. “Could it be because maybe the company commander knows your true colors? He may have even already offered you the same advice… hmmm, I wonder. I really do. It wouldn’t surprise me in the least if he has. Plotting against your life? Dude, it was just some advice. If there are any plotting against your life, the best way for you to go about finding the culprit instigating it all is to look in the mirror, Krappa!” Jaden then walked out of the lieutenant’s office.
“So, how did it go, sir?” Phil asked as Jaden entered the sergeant’s office.
“I believe that Krappa and I now have a better understanding of each other,” Jaden said, taking a seat on the edge of the sergeant’s desk.
“I thought to come up there when I saw you headed up,” Sergeant Phil said.
“Oh yeah! Why?”
“Because I wasn’t sure if you could carry on a conversation with Lieutenant Krappa and successfully get your point across without opting to simply resort to trouncing him after enough stupid shit had come out of his mouth,” explained the Sergeant.
Jaden laughed.
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br /> “I heard you get a little loud but not enough for me to believe that a serious pummeling was about to occur.”
“Nah, I’m always cool, for the most part anyway. I may have a bark but I really don’t have much of a bite,” Jaden told him.
“I don’t know, sir… for some reason I think your bite is unimaginably worse than your bark.”
That sounded familiar. Jaden changed the subject. “Hey, do you still have Lydia’s number? I accidentally deleted it.”
“Roger. I’ll text it to you when I get back to my quarters. I forgot my phone at the barracks.”
“All right, thanks.”
27
A Presence Unknown
Lydia was lying in bed watching television when her phone buzzed. It was a text message without an originating number.
“Hi.”
“And who might you be?” she wrote back.
“A friend,” was the simple answer.
“Does this friend have a name?”
“Yes.”
“May I ask what it is?”
“You may.”
“Okay – what is it?”
“I said you may, I didn’t say that I’d say ☺”
“Okay, I’ll play along… for now. How did you come by my number?”
“I’ve always known it.”
“How?”
“Does it matter?”
“Yes, because I don’t know you.”
“Good answer!”
“It’s a crazy world; one can’t be too careful these days.”
“How right you are. You say it’s a crazy world yet you continue to write a stranger.”
“I don’t know why but I get the overwhelming feeling that I can trust this stranger.”
“Yes, you can. Your instincts have never failed you nor will they ever.”
“Still does not answer the question of how you came by my number.”
“I know everything about you and suffice it to say that you have always known me as well.”
“Then why not tell me who you are?”
“You will know in time.”
“You’re writing in German so you cannot be who I otherwise would have believed you to be.”
“I can just as easily write to you in the tongues of both your mother and father.”
“You speak both Spanish and Portuguese?”
“Si, eu falo Espanol y Portugues.”
“Who are you, really???”
“Time has kept us apart and will yet still but distance now favors us. I must go. Goodnight, beloved.”
“Are you still there?”There was no reply. Whoever it was, was now gone.
THE FOLLOWING DAY: Lydia and Cassandra couldn’t be any more content sitting in an ice cream parlor, each enjoying a cone, after having suffered through the scorching heat as they walked from bookstore to bookstore searching for the books they needed for the upcoming semester.
“Back to school in a couple of weeks already,” Cassandra cried. “Why do good things always come to an end?”
“C’est la vie, sweetie,” Lydia said smiling while thinking about how Cassandra, like many children, had disliked school as a child and still did as an adult. “At least we’ve got the books out of the way. I’m glad we beat the rush. Oh! I almost forgot to tell you. Last night someone was texting me.”
“Really? Who?” Cassandra asked.
“I have no idea.”
“Jaden maybe?” Cassandra suggested.
“Unless, in addition to English, Jaden can also speak and write in German, Spanish and Portuguese, it could not have been him.”
“How did whoever it was get your number?” a concerned Cassandra asked.
“Didn’t say.”
“Guy or girl?”
“I have no idea. I get the feeling that it was a guy though,” Lydia guessed.
“Did he say anything about himself?” Cassandra asked, now feeling very apprehensive.
“No, not really. He said that we both know each other but that was about it.”
“Did you try concealing your number and then calling back the number it came from a little later?”
“I couldn’t. It was as if he wasn’t using a phone, the internet, or anything else that I am aware of from which a message can be sent. The messages simply just showed up. The phone would buzz, I’d see the little message icon but then that was it, nothing more,” Lydia explained.
“This is creepy. I don’t like it!” said Cassandra.
“It kind of is,” Lydia assented.
“If he writes again, tell him to leave you alone. People are crazy these days,” Cassandra asked of her.
“I feel like I can trust him. I don’t know why.”
This really alarmed Cassandra. “I don’t like this at all! Please tell him to leave you alone if he writes again,” she besought.
“Don’t worry about it, Cassandra. I’ll be fine,” Lydia assured her. “It’s not like I’m going to meet with him or anything of the sort. And if he starts to sound crazy, I’ll stop. I’ll even change my number, okay?”
The reassurance allayed Cassandra’s fears. “Okay.” She thought of Phil. “Could Phil have given your number to someone other than Jaden?” she asked rhetorically.
“Jaden!” said Lydia, only now aware that he had her number. “You mentioned him earlier but it didn’t click in my mind until now that obviously he’d have to have my number for him to have been considered a possibility. The answer would seem obvious but does he have my number?”
“Yes,” Cassandra answered. “He didn’t believe that we had invited him to the get-together so Phil gave him your number so he could find out for himself if it was true or not. I guess because we had met only once before, he found it difficult to believe that we’d invite him when we barely know him,” Cassandra explained.
“Okay.”
Cassandra rummaged through her purse. She found what she was looking for.
“Who are you calling?” Lydia asked.
“Phil.”
“Why?”
“To ask him if he gave your number to anyone else?”
“Cassandra, it’s okay. Stop worrying. I don’t believe Phil would have given out my number to anyone else. If you’re going to call Phil, you might as well call Jaden while you’re at it. It could just as easily have been him, though I can’t imagine who else either one would want to give my number to, or why. Stop worrying, it’s okay. Besides, the person said we’ve known each other for some time and though I don’t know why, I’m really inclined to believe him.”
“I’m still going to call,” Cassandra insisted. “It’ll make me feel better to know that Phil didn’t give it out to anyone else. And if he did, he can let us know who before I then give him a piece of my mind for having done so.” Cassandra was quite upset.
“Amor, if calling makes you feel better you should call but don’t let yourself get worked up over something you don’t know for sure, okay?”
“Okay,” Cassandra consented.
Before Cassandra could call, Lydia asked, “If he says no then what?”
“I don’t know,” she admitted then called.
“Hello,” answered Phil.
“Phil!” Cassandra said, sounding troubled.
“Cassandra, are you okay?” he asked, troubled by Cassandra’s tone.
“Phil, did you give Lydia’s phone number to anyone?”
“No… yes, the lieutenant,” Phil said.
“Other than Jaden,” she asked as her mind wandered off to other possibilities if Phil were to say no.
“No,” came back Phil’s answer. “Why? Is everything okay?”
“Someone we don’t know has been texting Lydia. Do you know if Jaden might have given her number to anyone?”
“The lieutenant? No, not him. Are these threatening messages? Could it not be any of your friends?”
“No, it isn’t anything like that, at least not yet anyway… we’re just trying to figure out who it could be. It couldn’t b
e any of our friends either; none of them speak Portuguese or Spanish nor would they have reason to give our numbers to people that we don’t know.”
“Tell her to be careful, the world is full of psychotic people,” Phil cautioned.
“I’ve already let her know.”
“Good! You can never be too careful these days; just be sure to report this to the cops and the phone company if things start to get weird,” Phil advised.
“I know,” Cassandra agreed.
Feeling eased Phil changed the subject. “So, what are you two up to?”
“We’re at an ice cream parlor, taking a break from the sweltering heat. We just finished getting our books for school,” Cassandra said. “What are you up to?”
“Some of the guys and I plan on going out later and getting hammered.”
“Hammered? What do you mean? Are you working on something?” Cassandra asked, curious as to why Phil would be hammering anything.
He chuckled. “No, it’s just an expression meaning we’re going to get drunk.”
“Ach so!” she said.
“I’ll give you a call later, okay?” Phil said.
“Alles ist klar.”
“If you keep this up, it won’t be too long before I’m speaking German,” he joked.
“That’s the idea!” Cassandra said, giggling.
“Tschus,” he said, hoping that he, in fact, was saying bye in German and not anything mean.
“Very good!” Cassandra commended. “Tschus,” she said then lay the phone on the table.
“So, the mystery is no closer to being solved,” Lydia observed.
“No. Phil is certain that Jaden hasn’t given out your number to anyone. Have you told Mom and Dad?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Didn’t occur to me.”
“I know you say not to worry but whoever this person is, if he or she doesn’t let you know who it is you should tell the person to leave you alone.”