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IN THE BEGINNING
BY: DIANA M.

Chapter Eight

  Duke was awakened by the shrill sounds of children arguing outside.

  “Momma said I could use the ring! Momma! Momma, Jerry’s got the ring and you said I could use it!.”

  “Shut up Marty, I got it first!”

  “MOMMA!”

  “Baby.”

  “You kids better not make me come out there!” Two loud splashes marked the end of the argument. Duke sighed and resigned himself to consciousness. He turned and looked out the window to see the day bathed in bright sunlight. The clock bolted to the bed stand read 9:30.

  “Damn!” Duke quickly sat up. He regretted it immediately. How much did he drink last night? He rubbed the back of his neck and wondered if there was complimentary aspirin in the bathroom. He stood up to go and investigate, but was stopped by the sound of running water. Recollections of the night before flooded back to him. He sank back down on the bed. It hadn’t exactly been the best of ways to establish a leadership position over his new troop. He held his throbbing head in his hands and felt extremely stupid.

  The water stopped, and a few minutes later the door to the bathroom swung open with a creak. Duke looked up to see Scarlett step out wrapped in a towel, her hair done up in a sort of turban. She blushed, “I, uhh, thought you might still be asleep,” she laughed nervously and clutched tightly at the towel wrapped around her. Duke found it impossible to look away.

  “Some screaming kids by the pool...” He waved vaguely towards the window.

  “Oh, of course. Annoying monsters. Sometimes they make me very glad I’m single,” another nervous laugh, “well, I woke up and thought I’d just scrub myself clean,” Duke tried not to think too hard about the images that brought to mind, “you were still asleep, I just tiptoed by..I uhh..thought you’d sleep longer, so I didn’t bring a change of clothes.” She blushed again.

  “Any hot water left?” Duke stood-slowly for the sake of his head, and stretched luxuriously. He finished by cracking his neck. When he looked back, he found Scarlett watching him. He glanced down at his t-shirt and boxers, and back up at her. “What?”

  Her blush deepened, “Nothing..nothing... I’m sure there’s plenty of hot water. Absolutely,” She took a step towards the door connecting the two rooms, “I even left you a towel,” Scarlett smiled broadly.

  Duke crossed his arms over his chest and began to feel self conscious, “Well, I guess I’ll get in there, strip down and hose off-” his voice caught in his throat. To any other recruit, it wouldn’t have mattered. In this case, however...

  Scarlett quickly walked over to her room, “Yes, well, I’m sure you want to get in, I mean climb..I mean get wet.. Umm, I mean..oh Hell!” she went in and quickly slammed the door.

  Duke cursed quietly to himself and went into the bathroom. The mirror was steamed over, and a humid mist hung in the air. Apparently, she liked really hot showers. “Stop it, Hauser,” Duke mumbled to himself. Things were going to be awkward for some time. “Idiot.” He peeled off his underwear and climbed in, pulling the shower curtain closed. He turned on the water and let it run over his head and down his face. What had he been thinking last night? Things had gotten close. A few more beers and he might have washed two careers down the drain. Still... He remembered the way she had looked up at him over the rim of her glass the night before. The sound of her voice as she whispered nervously, inviting him to stay. I had almost cracked with anxiousness-or was it anticipation? “It was the alcohol, dickhead.” his voice echoed against the tiles. Question answered. Case closed. Over. Finito.

  Duke tried in vain to think of something else as he soaped himself clean. He rinsed off and looked around for the tiny complimentary bottle of shampoo. It was nowhere to be seen. He peered around the shower curtain and saw two empty bottles in the trash can. Great. She must have used both bottles on that red mane of hers, thick as it was. Thick, luxurious, silky to the touch. Sliding softly through fingers and... “AAARRRGGHHH! Leave it alone! It’s forbidden fruit. So you’ve got to forget about it. There’s more important things to do.” Duke looked down, “You, too.” He grabbed the bar of soap, lathered his hair, and felt extremely sorry for himself.

  Five minutes later, Duke climbed dripping out of the shower and rubbed his head with a dry towel. It still ached dully. He jumped at a knock on the door. “Yes?”

  “Do you think we have time for breakfast? I’m starving.”

  Duke’s stomach rumbled at the mention of food. He, too, was hungry, but he wasn’t sure it was a good idea to eat anything just yet, “Me, I could murder a cup of coffee. But we’re running pretty late. I had hoped to be on base by now.” He wrapped the towel around his waist and pulled the door open, surprising her.

  “Oh!” She stepped back , “I didn’t think you were done. I thought you would shave, or something.”

  “I will, but I hate talking to a door.” Duke walked over to the chair by his bed and pulled his dress pants from the pile he’d left the night before. He stealthily snagged a pair of boxers from his duffle and went back into the bathroom, “Hang on a sec, and I’ll be closer to decent,” he shut the door and stepped into his underwear and pants. Zipping the fly, he opened the door.

  “You seem decent enough already,” She blushed and quickly looked down. Duke wasn’t quite sure how to take that. He went back to his bag and grabbed his razor and shaving cream. He had forgotten to get them when he retrieved his pants. Duke put it down to nerves. It was somewhat comforting to see that Scarlett was just as uncomfortable. Back in the bathroom, he stood in front of the mirror and covered his chin and upper lip with lather. He saw in the reflection that Scarlett was already fully dressed. She was probably packed as well. Duke smiled to himself at the thought.

  He could see that she was watching him in the mirror as he slid the razor across his cheeks. It made him self conscious, and he managed to nick his chin. “Damn!” A thin trickle of blood wandered into the foam that ran along his jaw line. Duke sucked in a mouthful of air to stop the stream of obscenities he would have normally uttered. Behind him, Scarlett laughed.

  “I’m guessing you swear like a sailor when you cut yourself shaving.”

  Duke smiled at her reflection in the mirror, “Usually. Hurts like Hell. Then you’ve gotta put after shave on it,” he carefully finished the rest of his face and washed the remaining foam off with a quick splash of water. Toweling off his face, he turned to look at her, “I’ll bet you used to watch your father shave.” Duke decided to skip the Old Spice today, after all.

  “Not really. My father has had a bushy beard for as long as I can remember,” she sat down on his bed as he walked past and shoved the razor and can of cream back into the pocket of his duffle. He pulled out a clean t-shirt and pulled it over his head, and sat down to put on his dress shoes. H e used a sock to polish the toe of one shoe before he put it on. She handed him a dress shirt from the pile on the chair.

  “Thanks, but I’ve got a cleaner one in my duffle here,” he rolled the dirty shirt into a ball and looked in his pack for the one he had folded carefully in tissue to avoid wrinkles “I could use the tie, though,” he slid his arms into the shirt and quickly did up the buttons. He glanced at her as she wordlessly handed him his tie. It occurred to Duke that the only women who had ever seen him dress were his mother, and those who had been awake the morning after in time to see him go. He suddenly felt very aware of how this situation might sound out of context. Hell, it sounded pretty suspicious in context, especially if one added the words ‘morning after’. Nervously, he tried to knot his tie and found it giving him more trouble than usual. His fingers just wouldn’t follow his mind’s direction. He tried again, to no avail, and sighed in frustration.

  “Here,” Scarlett came over and took the tie out of his hands, “you’re going to hurt the yourself, yanking it around like that,” Duke found himself looking down at her as she deftly maneuvered the ends into a crisp knot. She pursed her lips tightly together in concentration. The sweet smell wafting up from her hair was intoxicating. She finished, and smoothed the tie down on his chest, “There, all done.” She smiled up at him.

  Duke once again found himself at a loss for words. He was caught in those eyes, that smile. Her hand still rested on his chest. He felt his heart start to pound, and stepped back quickly before she could feel it. The mood was broken. Duke quickly turned away and crammed his dirty shirt into his duffle bag, “we’d better get moving. I have to pack up my old quarters and get Pulaski. It could take all day.”

  He grabbed his bags and headed for the door. He opened it, and stood for a while letting his eyes adjust to the bright light outside. He jogged to the car and realized that he had forgotten the keys. Turning back, he ran right into Scarlett. “Sorry, forgot the keys,” he chuckled, “can’t load up without the keys.” She had already grabbed her bags. With a free hand, she held up the keys to the sedan and gave the a short jingle.

  “I grabbed them from the dresser on my way out.”

  “Ahh, quick thinker. We could use one of those.” Duke chuckled again, nervously. He wondered if she thought he was as big an idiot as he did. He certainly sounded like one. He opened the trunk and dropped his bags in. He stepped back and held his hand out for her luggage, “Allow me.”

  She slowly handed over her bags, “Um. If you don’t mind, I think I’ll spend the day in town.”

  Duke was surprised, “You sure?” She didn’t look sure

  “Uh huh. I saw a movie theater on the way in, and I’ll bet there’s a nice quiet library in town. I’ll get lunch and eat it by the river.”

  Duke put her bags in the trunk next to his, slammed it shut, then leaned against it on both hands. He sighed. She boosted herself up and sat on the trunk next to him.

  “You weren’t planning on flying out from Benning, were you?”

  “No. No, as a matter of fact, I was going to ship my stuff out from there, but I had us booked on an evening flight leaving from the Columbus airport up near the university,” Duke stared at his hands and wondered if perhaps he hadn’t met her expectations. He had been somewhat looking forward to spending the day with her; showing her around Benning, showing her off to that prick of an L.T. as he flashed his new shoulder patch and escaped finally from the man’s inane control.

  “Well, then, you can pick me up in town. I’ll be at the Bullseye from 5 on. I’ll get a salad or something for dinner. You and Pulaski could join me. I’m sure he’d like to get his hands on some real food before shipping out,” he could tell from the sound of her voice that she was smiling. Duke couldn’t bring himself to meet her smile. Before he had been scared of getting into something with her. Now, he was scared of having messed up any chance he had. God, this was confusing.

  “Was it something I did? “ he said half jokingly. He looked at her and tried to appear jovial. She smiled broadly back.

  “Of course not!”

  Duke stopped smiling, “Was it something I DIDN’T do?” his mind flashed back to last night. She’d asked him to stay, didn’t she? Perhaps it wasn’t just the drink. Maybe she was hurt that he hadn’t stayed. He might have insulted her. Idiot! He had the chance, and let it pass him by. Maybe he should have-

  “No, “ her voice cut him off mid-thought, “no, it wasn’t. You’ve been the perfect gentleman, really.”

  Therein lies the problem, Duke thought to himself. “You sure you’ll be OK?”

  She smiled again, “sure I’m sure. I’m a big girl now, I can take care of myself.” A bus pulled up to the curb. The placard over the windshield read ‘town center’. “Look, I bet that bus will take me right where I want to go.”

  Duke looked at her glumly, “It will.”

  “Well, I’d better hurry, then. You too. See you after five!” She rushed off to the bus and climbed in. The door creaked shut and it took off in a cloud of black smoke. Duke watched it go, cursing to himself. He sighed deeply, climbed into the sedan and drove towards Benning. Once again, duty called.

*********************************


  Duke packed the last of his belongings into a cardboard box and sealed the lid with a strip of brown tape. He stood up and stretched, feeling his back pop as the vertebrae slid back into place. He looked around at the bare walls and was amazed at how much bigger the room looked, now devoid of any clue of his being there. He took the box over to the now empty desk and addressed it with a sharpie marker. From the street number, there was no way of telling that it was actually going to the new headquarters. The address Duke was writing was the same one he would sent to his mother, a mail hub in nearby Keystone City. Mail for the Joes would collect there, to be picked up by an unmarked van driven by whomever was doing mail call that week. It was tedious, but kept family members and civilians one step away from the truth, and thus one step away from danger.

  Duke loaded the boxes onto a nearby cart and took them down to the mail room. It was annoying how much it cost to ship a few packages these days, especially if you wanted them arriving in one piece. He drew the attendant’s attention to one box, “ see that writing there? It says ‘fragile’. See to it that box avoids the normal abuse you ham-handed twits normally put my mail through, “ the attendant knew Duke well, a few months go, he had been sweating under heavy ruck with him at his back.

  “What’s in it sarge?”

  “Like you need to know. In that box there just happens to be a crystal ball given to me by my father, and to him by his father. And my father is dead, so I’d be really upset if anything happened to it, right?” Duke turned on his heel and headed for the door.

  “What does he do, tell the future?” the attendant mumbled under his breath.

  In a heartbeat, Duke was back at the desk, “I sure as Hell do, soldier. I’ll tell you yours right now,” he put his hand to his forehead and closed his eyes for a second. Opening them, he drilled an icy blue glare right through the attendant’s face, “I see my box arriving all dented and bashed. Then I see me taking out my crystal. Look, it’s all in shards. It’s hazy, soldier, but I think I can make out me grabbing the biggest, sharpest shard of crystal and coming back here to shove it up your ass.” Duke leaned forward, pushing the attendant back with an icy stare until the man was nearly off balance, “the future is in your hands soldier. If I were you, I’d take steps to keep my ‘vision’ from coming true.”

  “Yessir.”

  Duke growled low in his chest.

  “Yes sergeant!”

  “That’s right, kid, I work for a living,” Duke strode out of the mail room, leaving the attendant to fret the care of his boxes. He smiled to himself. Damn, he was going to miss that.

  Looking at his watch, Duke discovered it was time for lunch. Might as well say goodbye to the commissary. Not that he would miss the food. The camaraderie would be the hardest thing to leave. Duke had enjoyed the mid-day break; time enough to take a load off and talk to a few friends, or to just sit quietly and read the paper.

  He stepped through the door, went to grab a tray, and turned around to find himself face to face with the L.T. He snapped to attention and saluted.

  “I hear you’re leaving us Sgt. Hauser.”

  “Yessir. New assignment sir.”

  “Odd. I never received any sort of REQUEST for you to be transferred from my command. I find it distinctly insulting. You were promoted without my input,” the L.T. picked absent-mindedly at a nonexistent speck of dust on his sleeve.

  “I’m sorry sir,” arrogant prick. Most officers would have put him at ease by now. Duke gritted his teeth. He was glad to be nearly free of the bastard.

  “Yes, well, you’ll be happy to know that I have appealed your transfer order. Those desk jockeys at the Pentagon can find someone else’s staff to steal.”

  “Of course, sir.” Duke felt his head begin to pound. He doubted the L.T.’s appeal would hold up, but it could cause migraines. He had dressed down Armbruster. He COULD try the same thing with the L.T., but he didn’t bother. The man had too much ego to let a subordinate even get that far. The soft-palmed nitwit had never seen a battlefield, yet had a good chunk of Benning’s Special Forces school under his thumb. He treated his staff like slaves and the troops like equipment.

  “I’ve worked out a new assault plan, I wanted you to go over it with your students.”

  “Sir. I’m scheduled on a flight out this evening, sir.”

  The L.T. face spread in a thin smile, “Yes, well, I’ve taken the liberty of canceling your flight. Rank has its privileges, sergeant.” he waved in the direction of his office, “why don’t you come to me after lunch and we’ll go over my new design?”

  Duke had an answer for that. Enough was enough. “Well, sir, you see-”

  “He won’t have time to meet you, lieutenant. Call’s come from above. A General Abernanthy wants him back in Washington before tomorrow morning,” The Colonel smiled at Duke over the L.T.’s shoulder. The L.T. spun around and saluted hastily.

  “But Colonel Howerton, Hauser is a valued asset to the program. He’s irreplaceable!”

  “Never heard you tell him that, lieutenant.” Colonel Howerton glanced at Duke, “At ease, son.”

  “Thank you, sir.” Duke slid into an ease stance.

  “I received an angry call from the General this morning, boys. Seems someone has canceled his new Top’s flight and challenged his transfer orders. Orders I recall reading and signing off on myself.”

  “That was me, Colonel,” the L.T. snorted righteously, “damn Pentagon bureaucracy thought they could step around me and take my men. Well, they can think again.”

  “They don’t have to think about it at all, son. They’re in the Pentagon. They do what they damn well please.”

  “But sir-”

  “No buts about it, son,” Colonel Howerton sounded exasperated, “You’ve managed to piss off a well regarded General without even meeting him, son. That’s quite an accomplishment, even for you. Don’t find yourself a way to add a Colonel to that list,” he pointed a finger at the L.T.’s chest, “you’d best let the man go, ‘cause you’re fixin’ to open a can ‘o’ worms bigger than you know. And I’m not about to let you call down that hail ‘o’ shit on my base.”

  Duke smiled to himself. Colonel Howerton turned to him, “Go about you business, Top. I know you have to pick up that tank jockey over in the 3rd. Get some grub and go get your man.”

  “Yessir. Thank you sir,” Duke joined the line to grab a burger. He caught the end of Colonel Howerton’s conversation with the L.T. as he left.

  “Sir, I don’t understand why you’re letting him go.”

  “Lieutenant, that man is wasted here.”

  “We all are, sir.”

  “No, Lieutenant, we’re not. He’s ten times the soldier you are. All you’ll ever amount to is a fancy paper pusher. Right here is the best place for you.”

  The L.T. was quiet. Duke didn’t have to look to see the rage simmering just beneath the skin of his face. It was delicious. Then the Colonel spoke again.

  “Lieutenant.”

  “Yes, Colonel?”

  “Your fly’s open boy.”

  “Yes, sir.”

______________________________________________________

Continued in Chapter Nine!
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