Bombers Moon

It was not so much the birdsong as the silence that woke Louis up.Air Force bases are filled with noise at all times: aircraft engines, blaring electric bells, hurried footsteps in corridors and banging in hangars.But at the moment, there is only silent sunlight in his bedroom, and the cat raised by his mother has probably gone to patrol the roof, because the larks on the grass are singing happily.Louis turned over, squinted his eyes slightly, and looked out the window. The clouds cleared, leaving a clean and sunny day, and the Americans must set off in groups again.

The maid had already arrived quietly, the curtains were fastened with brass hooks, and the neatly folded shirts were placed on the chair according to Louis's habit.He got up, changed his clothes, reached for his uniform on the hook, changed his mind immediately, dug out a gray suit jacket he used to wear before joining the army, and went downstairs to the dining room.

My father was away, and I went to London early in the morning.The mother wears glasses and flips through a newspaper at the table.The cat is not on the roof, but curled up at the end of the dining table, the tip of its tail wagging.The first cat in the family was named Soot. It was a gray and black tabby cat. It accompanied my 21-year-old grandmother all the way from Austria to the UK. After it died, all cats inherited this name. The one on the table is already the fourth generation.

"The newspapers say that the Americans are coming to our base, and from the tone of their tone, it looks like tomorrow will end the war."

Mother always said "our base," as if she were flying the plane herself.Louie bent down and kissed his mother's cheek, which smelled like irises, a smell his mother had associated with for as long as Louis could remember.

"We need people, you know, and they're not that bad, they're all a few." He thought of Chuck, and couldn't find the right adjective for a while, "They're all eager people, a little reckless, but roughly Know what you're doing."

"I'm glad you're going to London at last."

"It's not decided yet, Mom."

"What's there to hesitate about?"

Too much.Louie smiled, grabbed a roll, and declared that he needed fresh air.Mother saw through his old way of dodging the topic, complained that it was exactly like father, but did not stop it.Louis slipped into the sunroom, where there was a door leading to the drawing room, from which he and William used to jump through the window into the garden because they were too lazy to walk down the long corridor.Louis took the exact same path today, climbing up the window sill with a piece of bread in his mouth, and jumping into the soft grass.

It wouldn't be fair to say the estate was completely untouched by the war, but compared to the Air Force Base, it's like a small piece of the old world preserved in a glass enclosure, with fountains still gurgling, weeds and shrubs trimmed, It gave way to a trail deep into the woods, where deer's hooves were in the wet mud, but no one would hunt here for a long time.Uncle Albert went to the Foreign Office and was posted to Spain from 1939, working at the British Embassy in Madrid.Uncle was the only one in the family who expected the war to start, but he couldn't see the end of it either.

Louis bent down to avoid a overgrown branch, and continued to walk deep into the woods, pushing aside the ferns blocking the way, and listening to the sound of water.The creek should be not far away, it is the high water season, and the sound of running water is obvious.For a moment he suspected he was lost, but a stout oak tree provided unmistakable guidance.Whenever he wanted to be alone when he was a child, he would come here, and even William could not find him.If it had been winter, frosty leaves would have piled up under the trees, but now the stream formed a shallow pool in a hollow in the ground.Louie spread his coat on the floor and sat down, watching the water trickle over the mossy stones.Maybe leaving Beacon Hill wasn't such a bad decision, some battles need to be fought with real guns, and others need to be fought at a desk.He was well aware of this, but choosing to leave his squadron, whatever the premise, felt like a betrayal.

A squirrel scuttled through the sparse grass and up the oak tree.Louis simply lay down, looking at the sunlight sifted by the canopy, hoping that the long-lost peace would appear as before, but it never came.Instead, he recalled the burning countryside near Hornchurch, the flaming condenser snapped, white smoke billowing from the engine, and being forced to parachute out of a dead plane to avoid being burned alive, watching the flames The fire spun and fell towards the farmland, bursting into a dazzling fireball.He fell into the woods and the parachute got caught in a branch, nearly ripping his right arm out of the socket in his shoulder.Louis struggled to reach the paratrooper knife, cut the paracord, and fell heavily to the ground. He lay there for a while among the dead branches and rotten leaves, looking at the gently shaking leaves and the broken sky in the gaps.He hadn't slept well for three days and was too tired to get up.Two fighting planes flew over the treetops, machine guns roaring.In the distance, a Stuka bomber enters a dive curve, emitting its trademark scream.

Louie blinked and sat up.All the noises and phantoms disappeared, the creek flowed peacefully, and the small fish as long as the index finger wandered between the cracks of the rocks, methodically pecking at the algae growing on it.The squirrel looked at him warily from a high branch, its little nose twitching.The young second lieutenant stood up, patted his coat, put it on his arm, and returned to the mansion the same way.Time to send a telegram to Mr. Dawson.

-

Chuck squinted in the sun.

On the distant horizon there is a cloud shadow, which may later develop into a downpour.The ground crew was busy hauling the battery on a trolley back to the hangar.Louis' plane was still parked where it was, and the second lieutenant had disappeared for three days, supposedly on vacation.

"You're staring at his plane again, which is scary."

Chuck looked away and patted Jody on the back of the head: "I didn't."

"It's useless to stare, you know. Linden just went to rest, not dead."

"I have no interest in his whereabouts."

"Why not? I'm interested." Chuck raised his hand again, and the little machine gunner quickly dodged this time, "Did you know his dad has a knighthood? I want to know how people like them go on vacation Yes, maybe shower with bills every day."

"Where does anyone use money - what do you think about every day?"

Jody raised three fingers seriously: "Money, go home, girlfriend."

"Shut up, Jody."

"Shut up, Jody." Jody deliberately imitated his tone and made a face, "You should go, nanny, the birds are waiting for you outside."

The accurate term should be "the few birds left".The Ninth Air Force stationed in North Africa had spent the summer seconding hard-won fighter jets from the Eighth Air Force in preparation for a still-secret operation, and today was drawing blood for the third time.Half of the sixteen bombing units that Chuck was in charge of had left, and the rest needed to undertake additional transportation tasks.Fly to Egypt through neutral Spain to drop supplies for the British infantry retreating to the Alamein line of defense.

As usual, the transport fleet departed a little after eight o'clock, counting the time to refuel midway, and took advantage of the last bit of sunshine to return to Biegun Mountain after the evening.The birds were going straight to the bar, and Chuck was about to go with them when he caught sight of the blue car parked at the edge of the lawn.He nearly crashed the car against a utility pole not long ago.

"Chuck?"

"I have something to do, you go."

He walked to the car.Louie wasn't there, and the hood was hot to the touch, probably just back.Chuck got into the nearest hangar and turned around. Several ground crews on duty greeted him. Chuck waved back and didn't talk to them much.He poked his head into the pilot's lounge, which was also empty.Chuck hesitated for half a minute, and decided to go to the dormitory to try his luck.

Louie's room was at the corner of the corridor, and Chuck debated himself against the wooden door. One voice told him to turn around and leave, and another urged him to knock on the door.Just when Chuck made up his mind to listen to the second voice, Louis just opened the door and came out, and the two almost ran into each other face to face.

"What's the matter, Sergeant?"

"No," Chuck blurted out, scratching the back of his head, struggling to make up an excuse, "I was just, just passing by. I was actually looking for, uh, a pencil. Don't know where I left it, so I looked around, Maybe you can find it. I didn't know you came back, what a coincidence."

Louie raised his eyebrows, and even if he saw through Chuck's excuse, he didn't say anything.

"I like that pencil, sir," Chuck added weakly.

"I can see it." The second lieutenant looked at the flight equipment that the sergeant had not had time to take off, "Back from hunting?"

"No, transport plane, North Africa."

"Your phrasing is worse than I remember."

"You talk as pleasantly as I remember, sir."

Louis shook his head, closed the door, and walked outside.Chuck trotted a few steps and followed.

"Aren't you looking for a pencil, Sergeant?" Louis asked without turning his head.

"It's okay to look for it later."

"Good luck. You don't have to follow mine, by the way."

"I didn't 'follow' you, we went the same way. Are you sure you are not interested in hearing about the fighting in Egypt?"

"I'll let you know if I want to hear it, but not for now, thank you."

"Were you packing just now? Sorry, I didn't mean to look, but the door just happened to be open—"

Louie sighed, stopped, and turned to look at Chuck.The two were in the foyer now, the setting sun pouring in through the glass, a dull orange, the edges of the shadows sharpening.An officer happened to be coming down the stairs, and Louis waited until he was out the door before speaking.

"Sergeant, I have something to tell you."

Before he could finish the sentence, the shrill siren sounded.The Beacon Hill base hadn't heard this sound for a long time. It was a signal to remind the pilots to immediately enter the state of combat readiness.Louis and Chuck looked at each other, rushed out the door, and ran to the hangar.

The two of them were the first pilots to reach the runway, which was an unusual time, most of them were in the bar or the cafeteria.The ground crew had quickly pushed the fighter jet onto the runway, and Chuck climbed into the cabin first without taking off his flight equipment.Louie took a little longer to strap on the parachute pack with the help of the ground crew.The two Spitfires took off one after the other and climbed according to the dispatcher's instructions.

"Hurricane Team at Tammeer base requesting reinforcements," the dispatcher explained over the radio, "A Canadian convoy has been attacked with six Dornier bombers and an unknown number of escorts, perhaps twenty or so. The 64th Squadron has also received a request for support and will join you later."

"Got it, over." Louie's voice came from the radio, slightly distorted.

Chuck glanced at the setting sun. The long summer days were drawing to a close, and there might be two or three ten minutes of daylight left. The Spitfire had no radar, and the return trip might be difficult, if there was one.The thin cloud seemed to be stained with blood, and two fighter jets crossed the cloud and flew towards the sea that was gradually shrouded in shadow in the distance.