From Dusk Till Dawn

Chapter 17: Unfiltered Letters and Conversations- Joseph's pov

"Are you that simple-minded Hartley Hansen?" Parker gives the young man a shake of his head.

"Do his drawings go against the rules?" Hartley racks a hand through his golden hair. Out of nowhere Parker tugs Hartley's arm pulling him behind the counter. Parker begins whispering to him quite loudly.

With them deep in conversation, I find a good opportunity to slip back to my barrack. I'll just rewrite it later.

When I arrive inside the cold living quarters I've been living in, a few men are in a deep game of gin. When they see me enter they turn to greet me before returning to their game.

Around this time pa stops by to ask what I did during the day. He's supposed to be planting fields and cooking lunch for the soldiers. It's a rather ironic job for him since he's always refused to cook dinner for his family. Other than that we act like complete strangers. To me it's better that way.

In an hour I'm supposed to head over to the cafeteria for dinner duty. Every night I serve food and clean up. During the day I help fix the soldier's automobiles and electricity fixtures in their luxurious barracks.

I'd rather be fixing things than farming with pa. Laying down on my cot I stare longingly out at the window at snowy mountains beyond our camp. Ever since I arrived I've had these troubling dreams about escaping the gates. I'd run as fast as I ever dared to run and I wouldn't stop until I spotted two angels with the faces of George and ma.

When I did sleep, dreaming of them was the most comfort I'd hope to receive in this prison I'm encaged in.

"Joseph, wake up we have to be at the cafeteria in five minutes." I feel a nudge at my shoulder. My eyes fling open to Gilbert, a thirty year old man with dark, olive skin.

"Yes, of course, just give me a second." I wave him to go ahead. Gilbert and I are the only ones in our barrack who serve at the cafeteria.

My boots lie right at the corner of my bed on the spotted dirt floor. I hastily slide them on and rush to the mess hall. Snowflakes begin to fall as I approach the cafeteria. Stopping in place, I gaze up at the sunset that makes the snowflakes seem iridescent. I'm instantly reminded of how angelic Louise looked the first time I saw her. How lost and afraid she looked until she saw me and I saw a sense of relief enter her raw eyes.

And even after with her face full of worriedness and the snow matting her hair, somehow still made her appear even more beautiful. If only I saw her again, just once more.

Feelings aren't something I'm partially great at. Could she feel the same way? How heartbroken was Louise when she showed up to the theatre and I wasn't there?

I've had crushes on other girls at my school when I was younger but none of them made me feel so happy and free the way Louise did when I'm with her. She gave a sense of belonging in her presence. Perhaps, I feel this way so strongly, because I have so much hope bottled up that she feels the same.

Nevertheless, I decide to bury these confusing feelings for her down and head to work.

"The big man is going to lose it when he finds out you're here late." Gilbert makes some room in the kitchen so I can help cut vegetables with him. Gilbert began speaking in Italian but switched back to English since it's what we're recommended to speak here.

There are some men, I came to find out, couldn't speak a single word of English. Soldiers had to wait for one of us to translate to what they said in English for the poor men. I understand how frightening it can be to not understand a single word when you speak another language.

When I first got to America I knew a good amount of the English Language but there were some I hadn't learned yet.

Not knowing some words in english was one of the reasons I was bullied. It was cruel and unfair.