We Happy Few | Band of Brothers

Chapter 29: Got a Penny?

In December of 1944, Easy Company was stationed in Mourmelon-le-Grand, France. The new Company CO, Lieutenant Dike, was working the men and women hard, having them march up and down the tarmac over and over again as if there was a magic number that needed to be reached.

It hadn't taken Easy Company long to figure out that Dike was no Winters; he even had a nickname already: Foxhole Norman. The nickname came to be when the Paratroopers found that, on more than one occasion, Dike preferred to stay as far away from the action as possible—away from the war and safe in a foxhole. 

By that point in time, the company was only at sixty percent strength, and most of that was from replacements and new guys. Margot and Annie, along with the remaining Toccoa men, were the only ones in Easy who had done the full two years of training and had served since the USA had joined the war. 

One victory of being in France, however, was the weekends off. Many men spent their weekend passes on trips to Paris, but since the main activities were heavy drinking and picking up women, Margot and Annie tended to take a hard pass. Margot did end up going once or twice just to appease the men who wouldn't leave her alone, and while she did end up enjoying herself a little for the pure fact that she wasn't on base, she felt bad for leaving Annie alone. 

So most weekends, the two women would spend time together doing a bunch of different things. Sometimes they sat quietly and played cards, other times they would read Annie's latest letter from home or compose the next one to send out, and if they simply just could not think of what to do, there was always a movie playing.

If there was one good thing to come out of Mourmelon-le-Grand, it was the strengthening of the relationship between the tall, raven-haired machine-gunner and small, blonde medic. 

Staring up at the black and white screen, Margot sat back in her chair and half paid attention to the film that was being shown. A lot of the men were on base for that weekend, with a few having returned from the hospital like Guarnere and Buck, so the movie being shown was one that Margot and Annie had already seen a few weeks prior.

And apparently, it was one that Luz had seen as well because he would not stop talking. "Look at me, I'm John Wayne," he spoke loudly from the second row, behind Margot, Toye, and Lipton. "The costume department set me up with these great Navy whites. What do you think?"

Annie rolled her eyes and folded her hands over her chest, trying her best not to slap her hand over his mouth from her spot next to him. "Luz, shut up." Toye spun around in his seat, his arm snaking over the back of Margot's chair. 

"I'm trying to watch this," Lipton added.

"I've seen this movie thirteen times, okay?" Luz explained as if it made up for his blatant inconsideration for the people around him. Annie knew he was just trying to be funny, but it was also starting to get on her nerves as well.

Joe let out a small, barely audible groan, and Margot could tell he was getting annoyed. "Well, I haven't, so shut up."

"Watch the movie, it's fine." Luz gestured to the screen, indicating that he wouldn't talk anymore.

Margot let out a small chuckle as Joe turned back around and exhaled sharply. Leaning over, she kept her voice low so she didn't interrupt Lipton's viewing experience. "I've seen it before too," she told the frustrated man. "I'll fill in the blanks after."

Before Joe could respond, Malarkey came running in, calling Muck's name all the while. "Shut up!" Joe and Lipton snapped at the same time.

"You two are wound up so tight." Margot lifted her arms and rested them over the shoulders of the men on either side of her. "I'm sure the talking will stop now."