The Spirit of the Corps » Band of Brothers

41: Here and There

The bartender was off and making the drinks so fast Charlie was sure he must have at least cricked his neck, but the next thing she knew she had a shot glass and a normal one lined up in front of her.

"How much do I owe you?"

The barman gave a toothy grin that Charlie guessed was supposed to be charming but really was just dorky. "On the house," he said with a wink.

Charlie thanked him as Mabs blew him a kiss, and then they both turned to each other to take the shot.

"To the first of many shots we'll do tonight," Mabs said, holding up her shot glass and waiting to cheers Charlie's.

Charlie laughed. "To the first of a reasonable amount of shots we'll do tonight," she corrected, clinking her glass against Mabs'.

The both of them threw their shots back at the same time, Charlie scrunching up her entire face in disgust at the taste while Mabs simply smiled, invigorated.

"Y'know, I don't think there's such a thing as a 'reasonable amount of shots'," Boo said, appearing out of the crowd with George's arm slung over her shoulders.

"Sure there is!" George exclaimed, shaking his head to dismiss the idea.

"How many's that?" Mabs asked, already sipping from her vodka lemonade.

George shrugged. "Eh, maybe five - six, if you're lookin' to end up -"

"Whatever you're going to say, don't," Boo cut across him, though when she looked up at him her smile was so adoring Charlie felt her chest go warm.

"Aw, come on, Boo, I was just gonna talk about this one time in boot camp when -"

"George!"

"I wanna hear the boot camp story!" Charlie said, laughing as she swirled her straw around her drink, trying to make the vodka less potent.

"Boo, sweetheart, I promise it ain't anything dirty," George said, his shoulders shaking with laughter at whatever memory he had swirling around in his head. "It ain't the one about Skinny and the train, if that's what you're thinking."

"Skinny and the train," Mabs repeated, looking thoroughly fascinated. "Tell me more."

"It's disgusting, Mabs," Boo said, shaking her head at George. "Trust me, you don't wanna know."

"Oh, we absolutely do," said Mabs, her eyes bright. "Now you just gotta tell us!"

Boo shot George a look of half-hearted annoyance and he returned it with an adoring smile. He pressed a kiss to her temple, murmuring, "Sorry, sweetheart," before turning back to Charlie and Mabs and beginning, "So, the story goes..."

He went on to tell a story about Skinny Sisk and his girlfriend from back when the company had been training in Georgia at Camp Toccoa, and how they'd been caught getting intimate on some train tracks. 'Getting intimate' was not, of course, the terminology George had used, but Charlie had blushed so hard when he'd explained just what they'd gotten up to that she couldn't bear to even recall the words lest she give herself heat stroke or something.

Apparently, a train that had been coming down the tracks had had to perform an emergency stop, the driver had called the police, and Skinny had ended up getting a court martial for the incident. His explanation of the event, according to George, had been, "Well, sir, she was comin', I was comin', and the only one who had any control over the brakes was the damned train driver."

Mabs burst into delighted laughter as George told them that last bit, but Charlie just looked between her and George, confused. Even Boo was wearing a grimace in an attempt to conceal her laughter, and Charlie had no idea what the joke was.