Bombers Moon

The fire went out sometime near dawn.Chuck woke up in the thin morning mist, shivering with cold and not remembering when he fell asleep.Louie was about to slide into his arms, warm breath on Chuck's neck.Chuck froze in place, listening to Louie's breathing motionless, trying unsuccessfully to wake him up.The second lieutenant woke up with a start, apologized softly, and moved away. The two adjusted their positions awkwardly in the dark, their clothes rubbing against each other, making a slight rustling sound.Chuck coughed lightly, crossed his arms, and tried to preserve his body temperature.

"The fire is out."

"Thanks, Sergeant, I couldn't see it myself if you didn't tell me."

Chuck pretended not to notice his sarcasm, "I can go pick something up and order another one."

"Maybe it's not necessary." Louie's voice came from the darkness, a little hoarse. "It's almost dawn."

As far as Chuck was concerned, sunrise was still far away.The sky was a solid, cloudy inky blue, with a few pale, thin stars above the horizon that hadn't disappeared yet.He stood up, stretched his stiff neck and shoulders, wrapped strips of cloth around twigs, lit them, made a crude little torch, and dug into the thorny bushes for fuel.Louie didn't say anything, it was too dark for Chuck to see his face, and the lieutenant might have fallen asleep again.

It took him more than 10 minutes to get the new fire ablaze, branches crackling and tiny sparks rising in smoke that quickly disappeared.Chuck helped Louie closer to the fire, inspected the wound, loosened the tourniquet a little to keep the muscle from dying, replaced it with a new one, and tightened it again.Louie was visibly shaking now, with cold sweat on his brow, and Chuck asked twice if he was okay, and both insisted there was nothing to worry about.

"Father would say it was 'a little sting.'"

"My dad would say, 'fuck it, get me the whiskey and the horse tranquilizer'."

"I don't mind having a drink right now."

"Whiskey or sedative?"

"Maybe together."

"Why hasn't the base found us yet?"

"Maybe there are no farmers around here, no one saw the plane. Give them a little time, it's better than waiting at sea for rescue, believe me, I tried."

"I don't envy you at all."

Chuck threw a small piece of bark into the fire, and for a few seconds the flames looked like they were going to be extinguished, before finally doggedly crawling up the edge of the bark, licking the new food and devouring it.Suddenly there was a rustling sound in the grass, and something was approaching.Both were alert, and Chuck subconsciously picked up the parasail knife and stared at the swaying weeds.

A dog emerged from the grass, wearing a loose collar, its oily black fur almost melting into the shadows, its firelight eyes visible only.Chuck put down the knife, reached out, and approached the dog cautiously.The dark animal turned and ran, and after a while, a dirty little girl appeared, with short, unkempt brown hair and a smear of soot on her right cheekbone, clutching a sharpened stalk in one hand. With the wooden stick, the other hand is pulling the collar of the black dog.

"Hello, little one—"

The kid ran away before Chuck finished speaking, leaving the bloodstained soldier half-kneeling by the fire in bewilderment.He glanced back at Louis and spread his hands. "By accident, I assure you I have always been very popular with children."

Louis showed half a smile: "It's not hard to imagine."

"You don't believe me."

"Why do you think that, Sergeant?"

Chuck's attention was attracted by other things, and shaking light spots appeared in several directions at the same time, quickly gathering towards the fire under the tree.First came three farmers with rusty lanterns, then a strange young man in Air Force uniform with a flashlight.The little girl with the dog stood far away from the light circle cast by the wind lamp, staring at this group of strange adults with wide eyes.Chuck waved to her to thank her, and the little girl put her arms around the big dog's neck, and buried half of her face in its fur, as if trying to hide inside.

The car was about a kilometer away, but fortunately the farmers brought a simple stretcher made of canvas-it was originally used to move wounded livestock on the pasture-together to lift Louis to the side of the military truck and put him in the back seat.Chuck climbed in and sat next to him.

The pilot in the cockpit was from Kenly, the Air Force base next to Beacon Hill, which guards the narrow strip of airspace south of London to the sea. "The Pevensey radar station received a distress call last night," the man explained, turning to look at them in what Chuck wished he'd focused on the road, "but suddenly the two planes disappeared from the radar, The observers couldn't get in touch with them anyway. We asked the poor farmers one by one, 'Sorry, ma'am, did you happen to see the plane fall from the sky?'. Guess who helped in the end?" For dramatic effect, he There was a pause, and neither Chuck nor Louis responded, "...a fisherman, he was 4 nautical miles away, and he happened to climb onto the deck to smoke, and saw them crash-land on the beach." The personal pronouns he used throughout were "They", as if Chuck and Louis are not the protagonists of the story, but ignorant and curious laymen.

The truck headed north, bouncing over uneven dirt roads.Every time the carriage jolted, Louis' breathing became more rapid.Chuck wiped the cold sweat off his brow with his sleeve, touched his hand, and held it.Louis said nothing, and took a few minutes before gently pulling his hand away.

It was finally daylight when we arrived at Kenly Base, and the doctor was already waiting, carrying a stretcher, and took over Louie.Two nurses took over Chuck and led him into a small room that smelled of lime.There is only a set of tables and chairs and a sink, and a gray cabinet for storing medicines is placed against the wall.The nurse pointed to the wooden chair.Chuck sat down obediently and let the nurses work on the wound without saying a word, watching as they dropped balls of blood-stained cotton balls into the kidney-shaped tray.

The wound required four stitches.Chuck left the small ward in a daze, feeling like he was covered in blood and the smell of disinfectant.He stopped one of the nurses and asked her where Louis was. The nurse didn't know who Louis was, and it took a while to realize, pointing to the other end of the corridor vaguely, "Operating room, he will be out soon , if you want to wait for him, go to the empty room."

Chuck didn't know which room was empty, they all looked the same, so he had to try one by one.The first room was locked, the second was occupied, a man sleeping under a stained quilt, showing only dark hair and a bandaged hand, Chuck quickly closed the door and walked into the second room. Three rooms—empty at last, with a solitary hospital bed without sheets or pillows.For some inexplicable reason, a cracked glass vase lay on the bare mattress.Chuck took the vase to the windowsill and lay down on the bed, looking at the sunlit ceiling.

Chuck didn't realize he had fallen asleep until Louie woke him up.The second lieutenant had already put on a clean shirt, his right leg was wrapped in a thick bandage, and he was leaning on crutches.

Chuck sat up and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Good morning."

"I spoke to Captain Millston on the phone and we can go anytime."

"Back to Beacon Hill?"

"No, Canterbury, go home." Louis moved a bit, shifted his focus, and leaned against the wall, "You come with me."

Chuck stared at him for a while, as if he couldn't understand: "Where are you going?"

"Didn't I just say that? Canterbury."

"why?"

"Obviously, I won't be able to go hunting anytime soon. Secondly, I need an honorary driver and errands. You have the right to refuse, of course, but the captain would have sent you to the Communications Department if I hadn't won you the holiday. Help, after all, you only suffered a little skin trauma."

"I got four stitches."

"Then it looks like you'd rather go back and send a telegram?"

"No, sir, I'd rather go to Cantley."

"Canterbury." Louie corrected, leaning on crutches to move out the door, Chuck stood up and stretched out his hand.The other party shook his head and refused his help, "Kenly Base kindly lent us a car, it's right outside the door. Drive carefully, Sergeant, I don't want to die on the road."

"When have I let you down?"