Post by smitten on Jul 21, 2009 19:15:16 GMT 1
OK, I've been busy, and now I'm ready for comments. This comes in 3 chapters, the first is the longest.
Small Print
Chapter 1
The following takes place on Friday evening, 8pm
The room into which Private Bauer and Sgt Willis marched was clean and tidy, as would be expected from a captain’s office. White-washed walls were decorated with framed photographs of uniformed men, some in black-and-white, some in colour, one particularly large photo of the captain shaking the hand of a foreign dignitary, and a few certificates. A bookshelf along one side of the room housed manuals on history, military strategy, protocols and the like. A desk sat in the centre of the room, with telephone, a few papers and pens as well as a bottle of bourbon and two glasses.
Captain Hill sat behind the desk. The man was short and wiry with specked black and grey hair, and eyes that gave little away. Some officers, when they got older, were all of fat. Others were all muscle. Hill was neither, Jack thought. This man was pure, 100% sinew. He gave the impression of always being ready to pounce. Jack had had few dealings with the boss since he had joined the unit, but had heard that the man was firm but fair. Like Jack, he now wore green-brown fatigues, but unlike Jack’s, the captain’s were clean and pressed.
Both Bauer and Willis saluted.
‘Wait outside please, sergeant,’ Said Captain Hill.
Willis saluted once more and exited.
‘At ease, private, take a seat,’ said Hill gesturing to one of two chairs in front of his desk. Captain Hill himself got up from behind the desk, to sit next to Jack.
He reached for the bottle on the desk.
‘Bourbon?’
Jack froze in his seat. ‘Thankyou sir, but no,’
Hill filled both glass and offered one to Jack. Jack noticed how his hand moved involuntarily to accept the glass.
The older man surveyed Jack for a moment, and sipped from his glass.
‘I suppose you’re wondering why I asked you here.’
Jack could think of several reasons why he would be summoned to his CO’s office. None of them were good. He kept his counsel.
‘There is a training course coming up. It only runs once a year. It’s tough. Fifty percent fail rate. It’s physical, and it’s mental. Would prepare you for dark ops. This course runs only once per year, and you can do it before officer training. I’m recommending two soldiers from this unit to be trialled for it. You’re one of them. Are you in?’
The captain watched the cogs turning behind Jack’s eyes.
‘Can I still do the degree?’
‘Yes. We want you to study. Oh, that reminds me. We got you a place on the Russian language course. So that will run concurrently.’
‘That’s good. Yessir, I’m in.’
The captain allowed himself a small smile. He had not expected Jack to argue – not yet. He handed Jack a clip-board and pen.
‘Sign.’
Jack’s eyes scanned the paper. He signed, still balancing his full glass in one hand, and returned the board.
Captain Hill breathed deeply and drained his glass. He refilled it, and topped up Jack’s.
‘Now. A couple other things.’
Jack swallowed hard.
‘Your request for leave – four days?’ He handled another sheet of paper Jack recognised as filled with his own hand-writing.
Jack forced his voice to remain even. ‘Yessir, I believe that’s the normal amount.’
Hill’s eyed Jack over top of the form. ‘The normal amount for what?’
‘It says on the form, sir,’ Jack replied, and immediately wished he hadn’t. Only now did he begin to suspect he was walking into a trap. There was no way back. Only on.
‘I know what it says on the form. I want you say it.’
‘For getting married, sir. In peacetime,’ Jack added, as if to make sure Hill understood he had read the regulations carefully.
‘You want to get married?’
‘Yessir.’
‘To who?’
‘To my girlfriend, sir.’ Realising how ridiculous this sounded, he added, ‘her name is Teri Simmons.’
‘How old are you, Bauer?’
Jack hesitated. He doubted very much that the CO was unaware of his age.
‘I’ll be nineteen next month, sir.’
Hill looked him straight in the eye. ‘You are an eighteen year old boy, and you feel ready to make a life-long commitment to this, Teri.’
‘Yessir.’
‘Next you’re going to tell me you love her?’
‘Yessir.’
‘Ever had girlfriends before?’
‘Yessir.’
‘Did you love them too?’
Jack hesitated, but could see no way out. ‘Yessir,’ he said.
‘And what happened? You marry them too?’
Jack face burned.
‘I know what you’re thinking. It’s private. He has no right asking me. It’s none of his goddam business. Well, you can get that thought out of your head right now! Anything, ANYTHING that interferes with your ability to serve your country is absolutely my business. Take it from someone older and wiser, there is nothing, NOTHING that interferes with a man’s ability to serve his country more than his love life.’ Hill was shouting now, ‘So answer the goddam question, and tell me WHAT, at the grand age of eighteen, makes you think you can decide that THIS is the girl you want to marry, and not one of the other ones?’
Jack took a moment to regain himself. It had been bad enough telling his father – worse telling Teri’s father. But he hadn’t expected this from the CO.
‘It’s more complicated than that, sir.’
‘I’m listening.’
‘Teri’s pregnant, sir.’
Hill’s demeanour changed instantly.
‘Is that what this is all about?’ he smiled, and sipped from his glass. ‘Jack, you should have come to me sooner. You think you’re the first one to end up in trouble? Because you’re not. So tell me, how far on is she?’
‘Sir?’
‘In the pregnancy. How many weeks? How many months?’
Jack had never taken in such detail about a female matter, and he could only shrug.
‘Is she big already? Would you know, just from looking at her?’
‘No, no sir. I suppose that means it’s early yet.’
‘That’s right, Jack, now, listen. Listen up good.’
He drained his glass a second time and set it down, leaning toward Jack, and placing a hand on his knee.
‘I can help you. There are ways round this, you know. You think you’re being noble, and that’s very commendable, but there are other options. You don’t need to get married, just because of this.’
‘Sir, Teri and I did discuss this, and what you’re suggesting, we don’t think it’s an option.’
‘We or she?’
‘She,’ admitted Jack.
‘Look, Jack. This is the army. We have medical facilities. We can take care of this. I can get her seen in a clinic anywhere – a hundred miles from here – where no-one will know her. Her comfort and her privacy will be top priority. You won’t even pay a penny. All you need to do, is talk to her. You’re good at persuading people, I’ve seen you in action. You can do this, Jack.’
‘Sir,’ Jack replied, ‘She has very strong feelings on the subject. This is a battle I can’t win. Something my father says, sometimes you have to choose your battles.’
‘OK, OK’. Hill sighed. ‘Dammit, Bauer, have you never heard of birth control? Sorry, look, forget I said that. Now, let me ask you something else. Did you force her?’
There was a moment’s silence before Jack’s bourbon dropped to the floor. Startled by his own clumsiness, he jumped to his feet and began to mutter an apology.
Hill waved him into silence. ‘Forget it, not important. So, I take it this was consensual then?’
‘Yessir.’
‘Right. Then did it occur to you that she is as much to blame as you? Did you think she might be using this to get to you? Get your attention?’
Hill had succeeded in disorienting Jack enough that he found the question difficult to grasp, let alone answer.
‘I’m sorry, sir, I don’t follow.’
‘Could she be trapping you?’
‘No!’ Startled by the vehemence of his own response, Jack added, ‘Sir,’
‘Bauer, women think in strange ways. I have seen them twist grown men round their little fingers. You need to be careful.’
‘That’s not what is happening. I would know if it was, sir, I would know.’
‘OK,’ Hill leaned back. Time to engage Plan B. ‘I’m going to ask you something different. Do you really think you are such a good catch? For her, I mean. Or do you think, maybe she deserves someone better?’
Jack had no answer to this one.
‘Sorry,’ Hill continued, ‘that wasn’t quite the right word. Maybe just someone more suited to family life. Someone who can be there in the evenings for her, help her at night.’
‘Jack, you’re trained for combat. What I need to know, is that in an active situation, you will act according to your training. We both know what that means. You’ve not experienced that yet, Jack, but I have, and I can tell you, until you’re there, you don’t know what it’s like. I need to know that you won’t let the team down because she has been filling your head with sentimental nonsense about protecting yourself above all others. And that is a hard concept for a woman to take on board. Especially a woman with child. It’s only natural. She will want you to come home. Have you discussed this with her? What you’ve signed up for?’
‘Sir, I’ve not kept anything secret,’ said Jack.
‘Oh, I’m sure you haven’t, but still, she might not realise. She might not have really thought about it. She’s all hormones and emotions, she can’t think straight. She needs you to do the thinking for her. You have logic on your side, Bauer, look at it like this. If you leave her now, bear with me, Bauer. If you leave her now, it won’t be nearly so bad as if you walk out on her in ten year’s time. By the time you’ve got more kids, and a life together, it’ll be much harder on her. Is she pretty? Young?
Jack squirmed. ‘Yessir.’
‘You see, if she’s pretty, she’ll find someone else. She will now, even with a kid. But if she waits till she’s older, well, you never know. You see, you think you’re being kind, but you could do her a real favour by splitting now.
Hill’s logic stunned Jack into silence.
‘Look, let me put it to you differently. Here, take these two forms,’ said Hill, handing Jack his leave request and the recently-signed Black-ops course form.
‘Look carefully. Notice anything?’
Jack’s eyes continued to scan.
‘Look at the dates.’
Upon realisation, Jack felt his stomach lurch and his eyes found the floor.
‘Well?’
‘The dates conflict,’ Jack murmured.
‘Louder.’
Jack forced his eyes up and took a deep breath. ‘Sir, the dates conflict. I can’t do both.’
‘That’s right, you can’t do both.’ Hill explained calmly. ‘You see, normally, when a man is planning a wedding, he has the date firmly fixed in his mind. Anything comes up, he thinks to himself, is this before? Or after? Not you, no. I tell you about the course, and you have only one question – can you still go to college. That’s all that matters to you. College. I gave you the form, you signed up, you didn’t check the dates.’
Only now did Jack realise how deep was the trap he had walked into. He half-wondered whether the course was real, but felt it would be dangerous to ask.
Hill seemed to read his mind. ‘Gotta tell you, if you fail that course, I will flay you alive.’
Jack nodded. ‘I screwed up.’
‘You did. Now, don’t think for a moment that I care, said Hill, taking the leave request form out of Jack’s hand and ripping it into tiny pieces. But what do you think your Teri is going to say when you tell her? Eh? How is she going to react?’
Jack stared at his signature on the Black-ops course form, then handed it over to his CO. ‘She is going to be pissed.’
‘I would say so.’
‘Now you look at me again, and you tell me that you deserve her.’
Jack could only reply with silence. Hill got up and walked round his desk to face Jack from behind it.
‘There remains the issue of the recent violation. The bourbon in the barracks. Of course, I don’t think for a minute you were the only guilty party. You were just the one unlucky enough to be caught. If you tell me which parties were involved, your sentence would be reduced.
Jack remained silent.
‘As I expected. Your home leave is cancelled this weekend and next. You will spend next weekend in the kitchens. This weekend you will spend in the cells. You need some time alone to consider your options.’ Then he shouted, ‘Sergeant!’
The door opened and Sgt Willis appeared.
‘Take Bauer to the cells. I want him in solitary until I call for him personally on Sunday night. You’ll need to search him – thoroughly. He may have substances on his person. Oh, and put him on half-rations. I don’t want him getting too comfortable in there.’
Sgt Willis eyed Jack greedily. Rarely was he given so many opportunities to be unpleasant, all in the one evening. ‘Should we cut his water too, sir?’ he asked.
‘Hell, yeah,’ replied Hill casually, ‘Give him half.’
And then to Jack, he said, ‘Bauer, I want you to spend this time thinking very carefully about what I said.’
Jack nodded. ‘Sir, my family is expecting me tonight. Can I make a call?’
‘Negative. I’ll contact your folks. Meantime, tell me what you are going to be doing.’
‘I’ll be thinking carefully about what you said, sir.’
‘That’s right, you will.’ And with a flick of Hill’s hand, ‘Dismissed. Take him.’
Jack remembered little about the short march to the cell block. He was only vaguely aware of Sgt Willis shouting in his ear, and cared little whether his actions matched the commands given issued. He remembered only ending up in a grimy holding room, with Willis and another older, female sergeant who was to assist Willis in processing him. He remembered Willis donning a glove on his right hand, and grinning from ear to ear.
‘Right, Bauer, you know the drill.’
Small Print
Chapter 1
The following takes place on Friday evening, 8pm
The room into which Private Bauer and Sgt Willis marched was clean and tidy, as would be expected from a captain’s office. White-washed walls were decorated with framed photographs of uniformed men, some in black-and-white, some in colour, one particularly large photo of the captain shaking the hand of a foreign dignitary, and a few certificates. A bookshelf along one side of the room housed manuals on history, military strategy, protocols and the like. A desk sat in the centre of the room, with telephone, a few papers and pens as well as a bottle of bourbon and two glasses.
Captain Hill sat behind the desk. The man was short and wiry with specked black and grey hair, and eyes that gave little away. Some officers, when they got older, were all of fat. Others were all muscle. Hill was neither, Jack thought. This man was pure, 100% sinew. He gave the impression of always being ready to pounce. Jack had had few dealings with the boss since he had joined the unit, but had heard that the man was firm but fair. Like Jack, he now wore green-brown fatigues, but unlike Jack’s, the captain’s were clean and pressed.
Both Bauer and Willis saluted.
‘Wait outside please, sergeant,’ Said Captain Hill.
Willis saluted once more and exited.
‘At ease, private, take a seat,’ said Hill gesturing to one of two chairs in front of his desk. Captain Hill himself got up from behind the desk, to sit next to Jack.
He reached for the bottle on the desk.
‘Bourbon?’
Jack froze in his seat. ‘Thankyou sir, but no,’
Hill filled both glass and offered one to Jack. Jack noticed how his hand moved involuntarily to accept the glass.
The older man surveyed Jack for a moment, and sipped from his glass.
‘I suppose you’re wondering why I asked you here.’
Jack could think of several reasons why he would be summoned to his CO’s office. None of them were good. He kept his counsel.
‘There is a training course coming up. It only runs once a year. It’s tough. Fifty percent fail rate. It’s physical, and it’s mental. Would prepare you for dark ops. This course runs only once per year, and you can do it before officer training. I’m recommending two soldiers from this unit to be trialled for it. You’re one of them. Are you in?’
The captain watched the cogs turning behind Jack’s eyes.
‘Can I still do the degree?’
‘Yes. We want you to study. Oh, that reminds me. We got you a place on the Russian language course. So that will run concurrently.’
‘That’s good. Yessir, I’m in.’
The captain allowed himself a small smile. He had not expected Jack to argue – not yet. He handed Jack a clip-board and pen.
‘Sign.’
Jack’s eyes scanned the paper. He signed, still balancing his full glass in one hand, and returned the board.
Captain Hill breathed deeply and drained his glass. He refilled it, and topped up Jack’s.
‘Now. A couple other things.’
Jack swallowed hard.
‘Your request for leave – four days?’ He handled another sheet of paper Jack recognised as filled with his own hand-writing.
Jack forced his voice to remain even. ‘Yessir, I believe that’s the normal amount.’
Hill’s eyed Jack over top of the form. ‘The normal amount for what?’
‘It says on the form, sir,’ Jack replied, and immediately wished he hadn’t. Only now did he begin to suspect he was walking into a trap. There was no way back. Only on.
‘I know what it says on the form. I want you say it.’
‘For getting married, sir. In peacetime,’ Jack added, as if to make sure Hill understood he had read the regulations carefully.
‘You want to get married?’
‘Yessir.’
‘To who?’
‘To my girlfriend, sir.’ Realising how ridiculous this sounded, he added, ‘her name is Teri Simmons.’
‘How old are you, Bauer?’
Jack hesitated. He doubted very much that the CO was unaware of his age.
‘I’ll be nineteen next month, sir.’
Hill looked him straight in the eye. ‘You are an eighteen year old boy, and you feel ready to make a life-long commitment to this, Teri.’
‘Yessir.’
‘Next you’re going to tell me you love her?’
‘Yessir.’
‘Ever had girlfriends before?’
‘Yessir.’
‘Did you love them too?’
Jack hesitated, but could see no way out. ‘Yessir,’ he said.
‘And what happened? You marry them too?’
Jack face burned.
‘I know what you’re thinking. It’s private. He has no right asking me. It’s none of his goddam business. Well, you can get that thought out of your head right now! Anything, ANYTHING that interferes with your ability to serve your country is absolutely my business. Take it from someone older and wiser, there is nothing, NOTHING that interferes with a man’s ability to serve his country more than his love life.’ Hill was shouting now, ‘So answer the goddam question, and tell me WHAT, at the grand age of eighteen, makes you think you can decide that THIS is the girl you want to marry, and not one of the other ones?’
Jack took a moment to regain himself. It had been bad enough telling his father – worse telling Teri’s father. But he hadn’t expected this from the CO.
‘It’s more complicated than that, sir.’
‘I’m listening.’
‘Teri’s pregnant, sir.’
Hill’s demeanour changed instantly.
‘Is that what this is all about?’ he smiled, and sipped from his glass. ‘Jack, you should have come to me sooner. You think you’re the first one to end up in trouble? Because you’re not. So tell me, how far on is she?’
‘Sir?’
‘In the pregnancy. How many weeks? How many months?’
Jack had never taken in such detail about a female matter, and he could only shrug.
‘Is she big already? Would you know, just from looking at her?’
‘No, no sir. I suppose that means it’s early yet.’
‘That’s right, Jack, now, listen. Listen up good.’
He drained his glass a second time and set it down, leaning toward Jack, and placing a hand on his knee.
‘I can help you. There are ways round this, you know. You think you’re being noble, and that’s very commendable, but there are other options. You don’t need to get married, just because of this.’
‘Sir, Teri and I did discuss this, and what you’re suggesting, we don’t think it’s an option.’
‘We or she?’
‘She,’ admitted Jack.
‘Look, Jack. This is the army. We have medical facilities. We can take care of this. I can get her seen in a clinic anywhere – a hundred miles from here – where no-one will know her. Her comfort and her privacy will be top priority. You won’t even pay a penny. All you need to do, is talk to her. You’re good at persuading people, I’ve seen you in action. You can do this, Jack.’
‘Sir,’ Jack replied, ‘She has very strong feelings on the subject. This is a battle I can’t win. Something my father says, sometimes you have to choose your battles.’
‘OK, OK’. Hill sighed. ‘Dammit, Bauer, have you never heard of birth control? Sorry, look, forget I said that. Now, let me ask you something else. Did you force her?’
There was a moment’s silence before Jack’s bourbon dropped to the floor. Startled by his own clumsiness, he jumped to his feet and began to mutter an apology.
Hill waved him into silence. ‘Forget it, not important. So, I take it this was consensual then?’
‘Yessir.’
‘Right. Then did it occur to you that she is as much to blame as you? Did you think she might be using this to get to you? Get your attention?’
Hill had succeeded in disorienting Jack enough that he found the question difficult to grasp, let alone answer.
‘I’m sorry, sir, I don’t follow.’
‘Could she be trapping you?’
‘No!’ Startled by the vehemence of his own response, Jack added, ‘Sir,’
‘Bauer, women think in strange ways. I have seen them twist grown men round their little fingers. You need to be careful.’
‘That’s not what is happening. I would know if it was, sir, I would know.’
‘OK,’ Hill leaned back. Time to engage Plan B. ‘I’m going to ask you something different. Do you really think you are such a good catch? For her, I mean. Or do you think, maybe she deserves someone better?’
Jack had no answer to this one.
‘Sorry,’ Hill continued, ‘that wasn’t quite the right word. Maybe just someone more suited to family life. Someone who can be there in the evenings for her, help her at night.’
‘Jack, you’re trained for combat. What I need to know, is that in an active situation, you will act according to your training. We both know what that means. You’ve not experienced that yet, Jack, but I have, and I can tell you, until you’re there, you don’t know what it’s like. I need to know that you won’t let the team down because she has been filling your head with sentimental nonsense about protecting yourself above all others. And that is a hard concept for a woman to take on board. Especially a woman with child. It’s only natural. She will want you to come home. Have you discussed this with her? What you’ve signed up for?’
‘Sir, I’ve not kept anything secret,’ said Jack.
‘Oh, I’m sure you haven’t, but still, she might not realise. She might not have really thought about it. She’s all hormones and emotions, she can’t think straight. She needs you to do the thinking for her. You have logic on your side, Bauer, look at it like this. If you leave her now, bear with me, Bauer. If you leave her now, it won’t be nearly so bad as if you walk out on her in ten year’s time. By the time you’ve got more kids, and a life together, it’ll be much harder on her. Is she pretty? Young?
Jack squirmed. ‘Yessir.’
‘You see, if she’s pretty, she’ll find someone else. She will now, even with a kid. But if she waits till she’s older, well, you never know. You see, you think you’re being kind, but you could do her a real favour by splitting now.
Hill’s logic stunned Jack into silence.
‘Look, let me put it to you differently. Here, take these two forms,’ said Hill, handing Jack his leave request and the recently-signed Black-ops course form.
‘Look carefully. Notice anything?’
Jack’s eyes continued to scan.
‘Look at the dates.’
Upon realisation, Jack felt his stomach lurch and his eyes found the floor.
‘Well?’
‘The dates conflict,’ Jack murmured.
‘Louder.’
Jack forced his eyes up and took a deep breath. ‘Sir, the dates conflict. I can’t do both.’
‘That’s right, you can’t do both.’ Hill explained calmly. ‘You see, normally, when a man is planning a wedding, he has the date firmly fixed in his mind. Anything comes up, he thinks to himself, is this before? Or after? Not you, no. I tell you about the course, and you have only one question – can you still go to college. That’s all that matters to you. College. I gave you the form, you signed up, you didn’t check the dates.’
Only now did Jack realise how deep was the trap he had walked into. He half-wondered whether the course was real, but felt it would be dangerous to ask.
Hill seemed to read his mind. ‘Gotta tell you, if you fail that course, I will flay you alive.’
Jack nodded. ‘I screwed up.’
‘You did. Now, don’t think for a moment that I care, said Hill, taking the leave request form out of Jack’s hand and ripping it into tiny pieces. But what do you think your Teri is going to say when you tell her? Eh? How is she going to react?’
Jack stared at his signature on the Black-ops course form, then handed it over to his CO. ‘She is going to be pissed.’
‘I would say so.’
‘Now you look at me again, and you tell me that you deserve her.’
Jack could only reply with silence. Hill got up and walked round his desk to face Jack from behind it.
‘There remains the issue of the recent violation. The bourbon in the barracks. Of course, I don’t think for a minute you were the only guilty party. You were just the one unlucky enough to be caught. If you tell me which parties were involved, your sentence would be reduced.
Jack remained silent.
‘As I expected. Your home leave is cancelled this weekend and next. You will spend next weekend in the kitchens. This weekend you will spend in the cells. You need some time alone to consider your options.’ Then he shouted, ‘Sergeant!’
The door opened and Sgt Willis appeared.
‘Take Bauer to the cells. I want him in solitary until I call for him personally on Sunday night. You’ll need to search him – thoroughly. He may have substances on his person. Oh, and put him on half-rations. I don’t want him getting too comfortable in there.’
Sgt Willis eyed Jack greedily. Rarely was he given so many opportunities to be unpleasant, all in the one evening. ‘Should we cut his water too, sir?’ he asked.
‘Hell, yeah,’ replied Hill casually, ‘Give him half.’
And then to Jack, he said, ‘Bauer, I want you to spend this time thinking very carefully about what I said.’
Jack nodded. ‘Sir, my family is expecting me tonight. Can I make a call?’
‘Negative. I’ll contact your folks. Meantime, tell me what you are going to be doing.’
‘I’ll be thinking carefully about what you said, sir.’
‘That’s right, you will.’ And with a flick of Hill’s hand, ‘Dismissed. Take him.’
Jack remembered little about the short march to the cell block. He was only vaguely aware of Sgt Willis shouting in his ear, and cared little whether his actions matched the commands given issued. He remembered only ending up in a grimy holding room, with Willis and another older, female sergeant who was to assist Willis in processing him. He remembered Willis donning a glove on his right hand, and grinning from ear to ear.
‘Right, Bauer, you know the drill.’