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Diffstat (limited to 'CH-5.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | CH-5.txt | 10 |
1 files changed, 5 insertions, 5 deletions
@@ -41,7 +41,7 @@ The Denny's was, as Norm had said, probably the nicest Denny's she had ever seen The 'eleven at lenny's group was ensconced in a giant booth in the back corner closest to the parking lot. Norm spotted her as she came in the door and waved her over, he was obviously quite proud of her, or himself for knowing her, Chase wasn't sure, and it was clear that Norm had upped his status with the group considerably by bring an attractive young woman to the table. -Chase tolerated some leering she might not have were she not trying to ingratiate herself a little bit, at least with Norm and Charley Shummaker, who, according the Norm, knew some of the older WWII era men in the squadron. Shoe as Shummaker was universally known to his friends, was older than the rest of the men, but had retained more of his hair and, despite the weathered face, looked not unlike the instinctively trustworthy faces found in home loan brochures. His hair was a deep silver and was kept slicked back atop his head, a slight wave from a cowlick in the back. She wanted to compliment him on his hair, on his lucky genes, but doing so would require explaining why she knew what he looked like in 1954. +Chase tolerated some leering she might not have were she not trying to ingratiate herself a little bit, at least with Norm and Charley Shummaker, who, according the Norm, knew some of the older WWII era men in the squadron. Shoe, as Shummaker was universally known to his friends, was older than the rest of the men, but had retained more of his hair and, despite the weathered face, looked not unlike the instinctively trustworthy faces found in home loan brochures. His hair was a deep silver and was kept slicked back atop his head, a slight wave from a cowlick in the back. She wanted to compliment him on his hair, on his lucky genes, but doing so would require explaining why she knew what he looked like in 1954. Shoe took it upon himself to explain the group to Chase. She settled in to the booth, wedged between Norm and Shoe and proceeded to travel back in time with Shoe whispering in her ear, guiding her around the table telling the unit info and background of all the men in the booth. Most had not been in the 234th, though two others had not come over to Korea until the end of the war. "All they ever did was eat Dim Sum and chase whores in TK," Shoe waved his hands dismissively, but good naturedly at the men, TK and Turner. "Least we could land our planes" shot back Turner. @@ -59,7 +59,7 @@ She nodded thinking about Norm's lecture. "I know the gist of it, North and Sout Shoe nodded, "more or less I suppose. Did you know the war never ended? Most people assume there was truce or an armistice or something, but there wasn't, just a little cease fire agreement. That's why we still have a massive military presence in Korea. You go over there some time, go up to the DMZ and have a look. That war is still going on, you have to see to understand. Might be that no one is shooting right now, but the war is definitely still going." Shoe was staring at his coffee, appearing to drift off somewhere. "Where was I? Oh, right," he smiled and glanced around the table. "It was late in the war, maybe two weeks before the ceasefire. We never really knew what was happening on the ground, but for us it had been weeks since any serious anti-aircraft guns had been firing. Partly maybe because we had backed of the bombing so the diplomats would look better at the ceasefire talks. Maybe it was partly because the gunners knew the talks were happening too. If they don't fire no one knows where they are, no one calls in an air strike. The other guy wants to live too you see... not just me, that's what I learned over there, the only people that want a war are the people that don't have to go to it." Shoe laughed bitterly. Chase glanced around the table and noticed that the other conversations had stopped. The rest of the men were nodding along with Shoe. -"Jets came in in Korea you know? We were still flying propeller planes, turbo props they called them at this point. But the jest were faster and those jet boys were pulling all the bombing missions late in the war. Toward the end, even before the ceasefire talk started we stopped doing any bombing, they had us dropping leaflets. You know, little propaganda flyers we'd spread all over the hills, try to convince them to throw down their weapons. Stupid assignment, god I hated those gook mail runs. Hell of a thing to risk your life for, some paper. Mind you, we knew that paper was just going to wind up shit smeared in woods anyway. I'da preferred the fuckers used leaves. Pardon my French. But I dunno, maybe it worked. Maybe it did something. I mean it's not like there was much else. Radio I guess, but the more isolated troops, the ones dug into the valleys, they weren't going to get any radio up in the mountains. It's not like we had all these phones and gadgets you kids have today. We didn't have all that see?" He leaned into Chase and gently elbowed her in the ribs. +"Jets came in in Korea you know? We were still flying propeller planes, turbo props they called them at this point. But the jets were faster and those jet boys were pulling all the bombing missions late in the war. Toward the end, even before the ceasefire talk started we stopped doing any bombing, they had us dropping leaflets. You know, little propaganda flyers we'd spread all over the hills, try to convince them to throw down their weapons. Stupid assignment, god I hated those mail runs. Hell of a thing to risk your life for, some paper. Mind you, we knew that paper was just going to wind up shit smeared in woods anyway. I'da preferred the fuckers used leaves. Pardon my French. But I dunno, maybe it worked. Maybe it did something. I mean it's not like there was much else. Radio I guess, but the more isolated troops, the ones dug into the valleys, they weren't going to get any radio up in the mountains. It's not like we had all these phones and gadgets you kids have today. We didn't have all that see?" He leaned into Chase and gently elbowed her in the ribs. "You're kidding?" Chase gave him a deadpan look. @@ -67,7 +67,7 @@ Shoe nodded, "more or less I suppose. Did you know the war never ended? Most peo Chase raised her eyebrows. But Shoe seemed to have not even considered what Chase was thinking about. -"The stick is important, but you have to work your feet too, see. There are two pedals down there for your feet, stomp on the right one you go right, stomp on the left one you go left. Pretty simple right? Well we're out this day flying somewhere over North Korea. Anyway someone took a potshot at me. Probably with a fucking hunting rifle or something, pardon my French young lady. Anyway this son of a, this--guy gets lucky and puts a bullet into my plane. Doesn't do any real damage, but it blows right through my left foot. They never could tell me if it was the bullet that went through my foot or some piece of metal it tore lose. Either way it hurt like a son of a bitch but, truth be told, we'd all dropped out guards a little bit because the talks were actually happening, rumor had it we would be out of there in a few days. I mean, that was the end right? Turned out that was true, but anyway... Still, flying is dangerous in and of itself, but shit, after you've been shot at while flying for three years flying with hardly anyone shooting at you seems like a piece of cake. Until someone decides to shoot at you again." +"The stick is important, but you have to work your feet too, see. There are two pedals down there for your feet, stomp on the right one you go right, stomp on the left one you go left. Pretty simple right? Well we're out this day flying somewhere over North Korea. Anyway someone took a potshot at me. Probably with a fucking hunting rifle or something, pardon my French young lady. Anyway this son of a, this--guy gets lucky and puts a bullet into my plane. Blasts into the engine, cuts some hoses and then ricochets back anbd blows right through my left foot. Well, actually they never could tell me if it was the bullet that went through my foot or some piece of metal it tore lose. Either way it hurt like a son of a bitch and all I know is one second I'm fine, headed home to the ship and then next I'm half blind for smoke and there's a hole in my foot. Not good. Truth be told, we'd all dropped our guards a little bit at this point because the talks were actually happening, rumor had it we would be out of there in a few days. I mean, that was the end right? Turned out that was true, but anyway... Still, flying is dangerous in and of itself, but shit, after you've been shot at while flying for three years flying with hardly anyone shooting at you seems like a piece of cake. Until someone decides to shoot at you again." Chase instinctively glanced under the table, but he was, naturally, wearing shoes. "I take it you made it back okay?" @@ -81,11 +81,11 @@ Chase glanced around and noticed that everyone was nodding. Shoe's story was cle "So then what happened?" -"Well, I have a hole in my foot at this point and that's making it very difficult to steer the plane. But I manage to fly her back, one footed so to speak. And I bring her in real gentle like and land." Shoe broke into a smile and everyone at the table began laughing. +"Well, I have a hole in my foot at this point and that's making it very difficult to steer the plane. The engine is leaking oil, pressure gauges are spinning like tops and I've lost my radio. So Canton here, he's using hand signals, trying to find out what the hell is wrong with me. We drop back a bit and fly lower, heading into a cloud so we hide the smoke. It's one thing to fly over people that are tired of war, it's another thing to limp along trailing smoke. That draws fire from event he most uninspired troops. But I manage to fly her back, one-footed. I tell you what, I was never so glad to see a ship as that day. We dropped down out of clouds just off the coast and then there's the TK ship, turning into the wind... Man, I still remember that feeling, that feeling of wow, I'm going to make it. So then I have to come in on my own, no one to call the ball, nothing but flags, but I managed to hook the third wire, damn near perfect landing." Shoe broke into a smile and everyone at the table began laughing. "What?" -"He never put the gear down on the plane," Canton leaned into her ear. "He was so damn worried about steering he forgot to put the landing gear down." Canton slapped the table and began to laugh again. "He did do a picture perfect belly landing though. But of course command was furious about the plane." Canton lowered her voice, "squad commander at the time swore Shoe would never fly again on his watch." +"He never put the gear down on the plane," Canton leaned in to make himself heard over the laughter at the table. "He was so damn worried about steering he forgot to put the landing gear down." Canton slapped the table and began to laugh again. "He did do a picture perfect belly landing though. But of course command was furious about the plane." Canton lowered her voice, "squad commander at the time swore Shoe would never fly again on his watch." "Did he?" |