"Wake up" said Chad. he nudged me with his elbow and my drunken mind registered the situation.
The two of us were on leave from the base and had been drinking. Heavily. We were walking back to barracks. Two locals sat on their parked car near the side of the road and had been waiting for some of us pseudo-military types to walk by. They were looking for a fight.
I held up my hands and looked off to the side. "We're not looking for a fight. just wanna go home." One of them called me a chicken**** and bluff charged me a couple of times.
Chad was not being so diplomatic. I looked over and saw him pushing the other fellow into the ditch. Chad was getting ready to start pounding him. I looked back to the fellow facing me in time for his foot to scrape my face in a lame attempt at a jumping kick. It didn't end up leaving a mark.
"Chad!" I ignored my opponent and moved over to the other two. Chad had him down and was wrestling his way on top of him, pinning him with his knees so his hands would be free. I grabbed him by the scruff of the neck and pulled him off. We started walking toward base.
They called us all sorts of horrible names. Chad yelled back a few times. I just kept pulling him on toward barracks and safety.
The next day was a work day. 4am, garbage cans being pounded with sticks as a standard wake-up call, run, eat in 5 minutes, run some more, clean your boots... that kind of stuff. there was a moment when we were all sitting and cleaning something or other in traditional army style. Chad was telling the story to our section commander.
"...They jumped us and this one guy, he tried to wrestle me down. I was pretty drunk but..."
"What were you doing?" the corporal asked me.
"Trying not to get into a fight. I hauled Chad and we got out of there. No sense getting hauled away by cops over local drunk kids."
My section commander grew tense. Angry. He spoke very quietly and looked at me with complete disdain.
"Officially, you stay out of trouble. But if someone jumps you... you f***ing tune em. Christ, what is wrong with you?"
I was never a very good soldier.
2 comments:
I like this one, especially.
Good story. When is your next one?
P.S. Is there a writing group in your general area? I was invited to one in mine, since I also enjoy writing stories, but haven't gone to the meeting. It sounds like it could be a good environment to express your words and get even more feedback.:)
Post a Comment