The Spirit of the Corps » Band of Brothers

51: Dutch Terms of Endearment

Exchanging a glance first with Skip and then with Alex, Charlie turned back to Malarkey and tilted her head at him, waiting for the punchline.

All he said was, "Ain't she great?"

Charlie quirked a tiny smile. "Malark, you know I love you, but I'm not sure why you're so happy about her rejecting you."

"And not just rejectin', either," Alex added, barking out a laugh now that Charlie had broken the silence, "downright readin' you to filth."

"Eh, I'm gonna have to agree with Mal on this one," Skip said. When Charlie turned to him in surprise he went on, "She really does sound great. That is one smart woman."

Malarkey was undeterred by their ribbing and simply threw bits of hay he'd been tugging apart at each of them. "Fuck you guys, alright. If she really weren't interested she wouldn't have wasted that much time telling me how uninterested she supposedly is."

Charlie supposed that was true, but then again, she still didn't know Henry all that well. But of all the things she did know of her, she knew she didn't waste her time. Regrettably, Malarkey might just have been right. Charlie would never tell him that, though; he really didn't need the ego boost, nor did he need to get his hopes up any higher.

Autumn returned, then, from where she'd gone to relieve herself in a patch of trees just to the left of the field hospital. That was something Charlie was still having to force herself to get used to; she didn't think peeing outside would ever be something she considered normal. Or rather, she hoped it wouldn't.

"Slow day in the field hospital today," she said as she plopped herself down between Malarkey and Skip. "Just talked to Mabs and Boo on my way back and they're almost bored to tears."

Charlie dipped her chin and watched her hands fiddle with the piece of hay Malark had tossed at her. "Well, that's a good thing. When it's busy it's bad news."

Autumn hummed her agreement. "I just don't get why we have to be on shift all the time when there's nothing even happening. None of us are getting hardly any sleep with all the hours we're pulling and no one's been seriously wounded since Bill got pulled off the line two days ago."

Bill had been pulled off the line after riding a motorcycle between two of the outposts - that's how thin the line was on the Island. He was hit by a sniper in his right leg and then promptly crashed the motorcycle, fracturing his right tibia and getting some shrapnel lodged in his right buttock in the process. He'd made joke after joke even while doped up on morphine while Charlie had worked to get it out, but she'd seen so many of the men in the company's backsides by now she was barely even fazed by it. It seemed to be something of a rite of passage for Easy Company to be wounded in the behind. She was sure she'd still yet to see her fair share of them.

"What's Henry doing?" Malarkey asked, trying to be casual but not succeeding.

Charlie and Autumn shared a look before Autumn explained, "She's in the field hospital all hours of the day and night. I have no idea when she's sleeping, if at all, because I never see her out of it."

"She in there now?"

Autumn stared back at him blankly. "I'll give you a guess."

"Right." Malarkey gave her a toothy grin. "In that case, I'll see you all later." With that, he climbed to his feet and made his way out of the barn, on his way to irritate everyone within a mile radius of the field hospital, Charlie was sure.

"Think she'll come around?" Alex asked mildly, lighting up a cigarette. Skip reached to take it out of his mouth once it was lit and Alex swatted him away, grumbling curses at him all the while.