Victory Road. Mark Bowlin
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Название: Victory Road
Автор: Mark Bowlin
Издательство: Ingram
Жанр: Книги о войне
Серия: The Texas Gun Club
isbn: 9781612547589
isbn:
Bill Spaulding protested for the group. “Gia, thank you, but these must have cost a fortune. We can’t take these.”
She shook her head and wagged her finger at her friends. “You can’t turn down a gift from a Neapolitan. Besides, my landlady and her daughters made them all just for you—I couldn’t knit to save my life. She is so grateful to Perkin that she wanted to do something nice for him and his friends. Did he tell you what he did?” The men shook their heads, and while Perkin looked embarrassedly off into the distance, she said, “He paid my rent for a year, and bought a large ham and all sorts of fresh food from the black market for Mrs. Casetti and her girls. We have been busy canning it all for the winter. It may not sound like much, but simple things like rent paid in advance and a few kilos of tomatoes and flour are enough to keep her daughters out of prostitution. We have so little, and you Americans are so generous that she asked me what she could do for Perkin. I said a jumper would be nice. So she made one for each of you. Please accept them. It will get very cold in the mountains this winter, and I don’t think that you, you…,” she grinned, “cowboys understand what true cold is.”
“I don’t know what a jumper is, but I sure appreciate the sweater. I hate the cold—I can’t remember the last time it froze on the ranch.” Sam was delighted with his present. It was hard to find clothes big enough to fit his frame.
“Excuse me, gentlemen.” The speaker was Sergeant Jack Younger. The sergeant was Sam’s platoon sergeant and a very capable soldier, and he had several Able Company soldiers in tow. As he was in the presence of his company commander, he knocked out a sharp salute that was casually returned by the officers sitting at the table.
“What’s up, Sergeant?”
“Sir, me and the boys wanted to know if we could borrow Miss Gianina for a minute. There’s supposedly a supply of Mussolini stamps left at the post office yonder that you have to ask for, but we can’t seem to find anyone who speaks English. Every time we mention Mussolini, the fella behind the counter starts turnin’ red. It’ll only take a couple minutes. Please, ma’am?”
“I didn’t know you were a pederast, Sergeant,” Sam said.
“I ain’t, sir!” cried Sergeant Younger. He too started to turn red in the face.
“Sergeant, I think he meant philatelist,” intervened Jim Lockridge quickly.
“I’ll be happy to help.” Gianina stood up and motioned for the officers to sit. She kissed Perkin on the cheek and whispered in his ear, “You stay here and explain to Bear what the difference is. I can’t wait to see his face. Finish your lunch and maybe we can go back to my apartment again. Think about that while I’m gone.”
The officers sat at the table and watched Gianina and the four soldiers walk the hundred yards to the post office. Knowing that she was being watched, she put a flirtatious swing in her step and turned partly around once to blow a kiss to Perkin.
“My God, Perk,” sighed Spaulding. “You don’t deserve a girl like that.”
The other officers agreed wholeheartedly, and Perkin basked in their jealousy. There was a lengthy discussion of Gianina’s beauty and intellect, during which Perkin showed his friends the medallion of Saint Michael she had made for him. After expressing their amazement at its detail, the conversation switched to the distinction between buggery and stamp collecting, and they were still laughing at Sam’s mistake when an earsplitting crack followed by a deep rumbling sound emanated from inside the post office. All of the soldiers except Perkin hit the ground and covered their heads. To the combat veterans, it was like being under attack at Salerno again. Perkin slowly came to his feet and stared, disbelieving, at the façade of the stone building. Its large portico had collapsed, and smoke and dust were pouring out of the shattered windows. Screams could be heard from inside the building, and then the walls and the roof began to crumble as though they were tipped dominoes. The screaming abruptly stopped.
“Oh my God…Gia!” Perkin shouted, and he began to run towards the collapsing building as he’d never run before.
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