Pappa Zulu – Chapter 10
“Being in the army is like being in the Boy Scouts, except that the Boy Scouts have adult supervision.”
-Blake Clark
It was undeniable. Despite the arrival of fresh barbeque, fires, and a generous helping of beer, the mood was still a little cool. Braun couldn’t help but think that their hosts were visiting every courtesy on them, but it seemed a little obligatory. Few people from town had chosen to walk amongst them and join in the festivities, and most seemed to be supervised.
Luckily, a few beers managed to drown most of that sentiment. And the bbq’d wings, thighs and ribs were a lovely accompaniment, rubbed down with some kind of spice paste that gave it a real kick, and then served up in tinfoil. The townspeople were kind enough to throw in some half-corn on the cobs and a little dressing just to be especially nice.
Settled in the compound where they had parked their vehicles, there was scarcely a grunt around who wasn’t enjoying themselves. But the few Taos residents who had shown up to distribute the food didn’t seem too happy to be here. She almost like the woman who served her was looking at her with contempt when she came to their vehicle earlier.
If they knew about the deal the Mayor and the LT had struck this morning, would they treat us any different, she wondered.
She looked across the compound and spotted second squad’s Humvee, where one of his riflemen was showing his rifle to one of the townspeople’s kids. The clip was removed, but that didn’t rule out one in the chamber. Like everyone else, the Private in question had had a couple beers. What’s more, she didn’t see the kids parent anywhere, no one standing nearby raising a fuss or watching with a burning look of anxiety in their eyes.
She jumped off the hood of her Humvee and sets her boots into the cobbled ground, heading over to talk some sense into the man. She was quick to seize the weapon as soon as she was within range, and ripped it from the child’s grip.
“What the hell are you doing?”
“Relax, ma’am, it’s unloaded,” he said, too casually.
She checked the chamber, and out came a .556, clattering to the ground with a tiny, deafening ping. The Private closed his eyes and took a deep breath, knowing he was right fucked. The child began to cry as well, possibly due to the fact that Saunders had whipped the gun from his hands so suddenly. She ignored the child as best she could and focused on the grunt.
“What the hell’s your name, Private?”
“Baker…” he muttered. He looked to the child, who was growing louder and winced.
“Well, Baker, where’s your NCO?”
“Uh…” he had to raise his voice over the sound of the child screaming now. Saunders plugged her one ear and tried to separate the low sound of voice from the background screeching that had become the child’s wailing.
“Sergeant Tate, ma’am… think he was over getting seconds…”
She raised her finger to him. “One sec. Where is this goddamned child’s mother!”
“Liam!” a voice yelled from their side. A woman ran up to the crate Baker had been sitting on, the boy next to him, and snatched him away. She began running her fingers through the boy’s blonde hair, then turned her baleful eyes on Saunders. “What did you do to him?”
“Nothing, ma’am, your son was just looking at this man’s rifle. I was trying to make sure it was -”
“How can you people let a child touch your weapons? Are you that careless?”
Saunders felt her cheeks go warm. Perhaps it was the beer, but she felt a sudden spike of anger that prompted her to respond.
“Ma’am, he’s your child. Why are you letting him wander around unsupervised?”
That made the woman become ever more baleful. “I was asked to make sure you and your lot here were served, I didn’t ask to be here. I also didn’t ask to lose my husband and my older son in the fields last year. It’s because of that I can’t leave Liam here at home. Where were you people then, hmm? Aren’t you supposed to be protecting us?”
Saunders felt a sudden pang of regret, not to mention an overwhelming desire to end the conversation. She raised a hand and began to plead for silence.
“Ma’am, please… please…” But it was not to be. Holding her child close to her breast, she began looking around the compound, tilting her sharp nose at everything and everyone.
“You act like you’re here keeping us safe and we have to open our homes to you for it, but where were you when those monsters were taking our families from us? Why should we be welcoming you when all we do is fend for ourselves?”
She felt boots come up from behind. She turned quickly and was surprised to see Braun standing there, startling and flustering her a little.
“Sergeant, is there a problem over here?”
She quietly cleared her throat and dredged up the righteous mad she’d been working with before his sudden arrival. She only needed to speak the words to get it smouldering again, and when she was finished, it was back to a good solid burn.
“I was in the course of disciplining the private here over inproper weapon safety, sir. This boy’s mother heard me talking to him and came to retrieve him…” She wasn’t sure how to explain the rest. “Then… we had a bit of a misunderstanding.”
“I see…” he replied with a nod. Clearly, he grasped the subtext of the situation. And like a good officer, he stepped in to deal with it. “Ma’am, is your boy alright?”
The lady scoffed and turned her sharp nose to him. “Yes, no thanks to your people, here!”
“Ma’am, I can assure you, the Sergeant had the best intentions. And the Private here, he’s just had a few and might have been temporarily negligent. I assure you, it won’t happen again.”
“You’re right!” she said with a huff. “Because I’m going home. You’re men can serve themselves. And you can expect the Town Council will be hearing of this.”
She quickly stormed out of the compound. She was followed closed behind by several of the other people who had come by to distribute their meal. They did not appear to walking off in solidarity as much as following her to find out what was wrong. She doubted they would be coming back though. As for those who had stayed, she doubted they would be around much longer. If she thought it seemed chilly before, it would be downright glacial now.
Speaking of which, Braun turned to her and looked less than pleased. He took one look at Baker, who still looked like a man who knew he was about to be shit on.
“So… now that that’s taken care of, could someone explain to me what happened… from the beginning?”
“Sir, I-” Baker started. Braun quickly cut him off.
“Zip it, Private! You’ll get your turn.”
Baker promptly shut up. Braun looked at Saunders again, his eyes cool and hard. Saunders began again, and was sure to include all the salient points.
“Sir, the Private was showing the child his weapon. He had removed the mag, but I suspect he forgot to check the chamber. I confiscated his rifle and checked for myself.”
Braun looked that ground. She suspected he already saw the round at her feet, sitting there between the cracks of two stones. Still, he asked.
“Was there a round in it?”
Saunders considered lying for a second. He already knew, but for the sake of Baker… was there anything to be gained in humiliating him further?
“I’m not sure, sir. The lady interrupted us before I could complete the inspection.”
“I see,” he said. He looked to the rifle, lying up against the Humvee and took it in hand. A quick click-clack determined that the chamber was empty, and he handed it to Saunders.
“Where is the Private’s squad leader?”
“Also undetermined, sir.”
Braun bristled. The cool look in his eyes gave way to flames. Turning his head slightly, he addressed the Private without looking.
“Private Baker, you are restricting to your bunk for the remainder of the evening. You ever do anything as dumb as let a child handle your weapon, loaded or not, I will personally fuck you in the eye!”
Baker stood and came to attention. “Yes, sir.”
“Dismissed!”
Baker held his rigid poise, desperately trying to overcompensate for the way his body wanted to sag. Plodding away, he made his way out of the compound and into the hostel, where he would stay for the night, forced to listen as his squad mates partied and enjoyed hot food and cold drink. For a moment, Saunders and Braun just stood there, not a word passing between them. She worried he was waiting to direct the balance of his ire at her. But until he dismissed her, she couldn’t leave.
“Sir, I -”
“Thank you, Sergeant,” he said. “I might have need of you later, but for now, you are dismissed.”
He was very cool in how he said, but she knew what he meant and suppressed a smile. Good to know he wasn’t terribly pissed at her at any rate.
“Yes, sir.”
“Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to find a certain Sergeant Tate and tear his head off.”
“Yes, sir,” she said again. They snapped out salutes and she turned to leave, making her way back to 1st squad’s Humvee and her foil wrap of half-eaten chicken and beef.
As she approached, she caught sight of Mill sitting on the roof. Majorca and Whitman sat below and waved to her when they saw her approaching.
“Eh, boss lady!” said Whitman, raising his beer. “Where’d you get off to there?”
“Yeah, looked like there was some kind of drama that way. We in the shitter with the LT?”
She looked at Mill and shook her head. “Minor misunderstanding with one of the townsfolk. One of 2nd squad’s goons fucked up.”
“Oh, the retard squad!” Whitman yelled, loud enough to be heard. He caught sight of a finger from across the courtyard and waved back to them.
“Nothing the LT won’t fix,” she went on. “But we might be getting a chillier reception when we walk the wall tomorrow.”
“Fucking people,” said Whitman. “What the hell do they want from us anyway? Did you see the way they looked at us when we came rolling in? It’s like that look people give cops. You know what I mean? It’s like, ‘you’re never here when we need you, but when you do show up, we do nothing but bitch and complain at you’.”
Majorca laughed. “Since when did you have any love for cops?”
“Shut up! I was a law abiding teen, I didn’t do no B and E’s like my bros. Besides, I got a newfound respect for them, seeing things from the other side like this.”
Mill jumped in again. “Same old civy talk, man. They say they don’t want us and don’t need us one second. Next second, they act like we should have been here in the first place and didn’t need permission.”
“Goddamned mixed messages! Like dealing with a damn woman!” Whitman looked at Saunders with a sudden look of fear. “Uh, no offense ma’am!”
“None taken, dickhead.” She looked around again and noticed the absence of Tomlin. “Where’s the FNG?”
The others looked back and forth at each other. One by one, they began to reconstruct his whereabouts from what they remembered.
“Uh, didn’t he wander off, say he was going to make a move at the lovely young girl who came walking by?”
“Yeah, when was that? An hour ago?”
“Shit, you don’t think he got an invite back to her place, do you?”
“Who knows? Fucking eh if he did!”
“People here hate us, but that fucking white bread shit gets some anyhow? What the fuck is up with that?”
Saunders rolled her eyes. Months spent in the same barracks, the same mess halls, the same vehicle… and she was still the token girl in the boy’s clubhouse. Eventually, they looked back up to her to announce their findings.
“Sorry, ma’am. I think he snuck off.”
“Well, as long as he’s back for curfew and doesn’t do anything stupid, this night can’t get worse.”
Whitman laughed and raised his beer. “Oh, we can do plenty that’s stupid right here!”
His bottle held high, Whitman ran to the middle of the compound where the fires burned in some old oil drums. A second later, she noticed his pants falling to the ground, his belt apparently having been left unbuckled. Some men from other squads formed around him and began administering spanks and pretending to grind on him. Whitman continued to hoot and holler, shouting some carefully crafted obscenities involving gay porn and a good old fashion “field fuck”.
Saunders laughed. What else could she do?
