The Spirit of the Corps » Band of Brothers

21: At the Elbow and the Hip

"Poland?" said Violet. All of them shot doubtful expressions at her and she shrugged. "What? They were invaded first."

"I don't think we're goin' to Poland, Boo," said Mabs affectionately, jostling her arm with her elbow. Ever since Charlie had reported back to the other girls that George now had a nickname for Violet, said nickname had caught on very quickly. It was now relatively rare for anyone to call Violet by her real name, her fond epithet taking its place for how well it suited her.

Charlie could only be grateful that Floyd's nickname for her hadn't caught on quite so well.

Violet tilted her head to the side, considering. "At least it probably wouldn't be so hot." And thus Mabs was reminded of how hot she was.

"Damn, if it's like this when we get into combat I'm gonna have to walk around naked under my ODs."

Charlie lifted a hand to cover her mouth as she simultaneously gaped and giggled. Even having known and lived with her for months, Mabs never ceased to surprise her with her openness. Charlie had never met anyone quite like her and was sure she never would again.

"I'm sure plenty of the men would love that, Mabs," Autumn said, grinning as she spoke.

The thought seemed to amuse Mabs. "Yeah, I think so." She sighed dramatically. "I'm wasted as a nurse, you know. They should'a made me a USO girl or somethin'."

Charlie laughed. "Can you dance?"

"No."

"Then maybe you could be a model instead."

Mabs accepted this. "Sure. And that'd earn me enough money to study math at college, instead of nursin'."

This comment only half-surprised Charlie. She'd known that Mabs had only trained to be a nurse because it was a way to get a degree without having to pay tuition fees - Violet had done the same. But she hadn't known that Mabs wanted to go back to college and study math instead. She'd known Mabs had a gift for solving equations but not that she wanted to pursue it properly.

Charlie smiled at the image she had forming in her head of Mabs as a mathematician, delivering a university lecture to a class of awe-struck college boys. "I can see you doing that," she said, smiling over at Mabs. "Studying math and then teaching it."

Mabs smirked. "Well, I'm not sure about teachin', but studyin' it, sure." She shrugged, smiling into the sunshine until she wasn't. Her enthusiastic smile died on her lips. "We'll see. After the war, maybe."

Charlie watched her for a moment, even as Mabs forced a smile and continued to traipse onward. Lately, Charlie had been feeling like the only one who was scared. Even the boys walked around laughing and joking, seeming carefree and entirely unfazed that their training was picking up. Now she wondered whether everyone else was simply better at hiding their fear than she was. Maybe they just wanted to pretend they weren't scared in the hopes that, when the time came, they wouldn't be.

The theory reassured her, though she had no way of knowing whether she was right. Either way, she angled her path closer to Mabs' and looped an arm through hers. Mabs smiled at her and she smiled right back, and they walked the rest of the way together, joint at the elbow and the hip.

When they finally came upon the practice field, the paratroopers were already there, as was Lieutenant Maddox. The boys were in formation, their backs straight and eyes forward as they were given some sort of debriefing for whatever they'd been doing before. Maddox turned as they approached and picked her way to them, then had them stand in their own little formation perpendicular to the paratroopers. Don Malarkey was directly in Charlie's line of sight as she stood at attention. She had to force back a grin as she watched him surreptitiously glance at Maddox's back as she walked back and forth in front of the line of nurses.

"Hollister!" Maddox barked. "What are you looking over there for? What's over there that's so interesting, Lieutenant?"

Don looked down at his feet with a smug little grin as Maddox shouted at Violet. Charlie forced herself to keep her face neutral even as her mind raced with questions about the nature of Don's current relationship to her commanding officer, who just so happened to also be his ex-girlfriend.

As the paratroopers' CO dismissed them, George Luz's voice rose up out of the crowd. "Sorry, ma'am, that was me!"

If Charlie hadn't been frightened of what Maddox would say to her if she got caught, she'd have rolled her eyes. Of course it had been George who had distracted Violet, who was usually so good about following orders. Why was she not surprised?

Lieutenant Maddox didn't bother to acknowledge George. "Lieutenant Hollister, if you can't even stand in formation without getting distracted by the soldiers, how do you expect to be able to do your job when they're lying on a bed in front of you?"

Scattered laughter emerged from the crowd of boys all watching them stand at attention. Charlie couldn't see anyone now - her line of vision was empty except for the sky and the rolling fields ahead of her - but she knew Maddox had whirled around to face the laughter when her voice carried in the opposite direction on the breeze.

"You think this is funny, soldiers?" she demanded, her voice wintery cold even in the summer sunshine. "You might look at my nurses and see a bunch of pretty girls but your lives are going to be in their hands not too long from now. And when that moment arrives, when you're lying on an operating table with your vital organs in their hands, are you going to think it's funny then if they can't do their jobs?"

Every bit of laughter had stopped. Charlie was sure every bit of breathing had even stopped. She had certainly not let any air in for a while.

If nothing else, Lieutenant Maddox knew how to bring down the mood.

Satisfied with the silence she was answered with, Maddox went on, "My nurses didn't try to distract you when you were stood at attention. Pay them the same respect." Charlie imagined her inclining her head towards the paratroopers' CO when she said, "Sir," before turning back to face the four nurses still standing stock still and staring blankly ahead of them.

"Lieutenants," Maddox said, addressing the nurses now and resuming her authoritative pacing, "you're here today to train in the basics of hand to hand combat. Hopefully, you won't ever have to use what you learn. Probably, you will." She came to linger in front of Charlie, right in her line of sight.

Charlie didn't dare move her eyes to properly take in Maddox's expression, but she could tell there was something hard in her gaze as she sized Charlie up.

"So concentrate," Maddox said.

Charlie gulped, and Maddox moved on.

"You'll each be paired with a soldier twice your size. You'll have to learn to use what you've got to work against them. I'll be handing you over to First Lieutenant Meehan to make a start." With one final hard look at the four nurses standing before her, Maddox gave a satisfied nod. "At ease. Dismissed. Head over to the lieutenant and await his orders."

"Yes, ma'am," the four girls recited in unison.

Maddox nodded and then retreated, going off to stand with who Charlie assumed were the officers of Easy Company.

Charlie let her gaze wander over to the boys standing in huddles scattered across the practice field, casual and easy as they laughed and talked with each other. For the next couple of hours she'd have to try and fight one of them.

When First Lieutenant Meehan called for everyone to gather, her heart was leaping wildly in her throat.